2014-15 NBA Power Rankings: How Every Team Stacks Up After 3 Weeks of Action
If the NBA were Hogwarts—and with all the witchcraft and wizardry its players are able to pull off from night to night, it just might be—we'd still be waiting for the Sorting Hat to split all 30 teams into their respective houses.
Do LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers belong among the high-achieving elites in Gryffindor? Or are they destined to settle in among the ho-hum inhabitants of Hufflepuff?
Is there any hope for Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to slide out of Slytherin? Can the Golden State Warriors legitimately launch themselves from Ravenclaw into the ranks of title contenders over the long haul? Will Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook return in time to keep the Oklahoma City Thunder from flunking out entirely?
And have you tired of this particular Harry Potter comparison yet?
Yours truly may or may not have inched closer to a clearer picture of the Association's hierarchy last week. Let's see if we can come closer to snatching the Snitch this time around.
30. Philadelphia 76ers
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The Philadelphia 76ers had a shot at their first win of the almost-month-old season on Wednesday. They were within five points at the start of the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics, only to see the visitors pull far enough away to establish a comfortable double-digit cushion that lasted until the final buzzer sounded.
And so, the Sixers, at 0-11, remain the only team in the NBA that has yet to scratch since the 2014-15 campaign began. Philly is just seven consecutive losses shy of the league's record for season-opening futility, set by the then-New Jersey Nets in 2009.
29. Oklahoma City Thunder
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Has there ever been a team with as much hope for a happier tomorrow that's as far down in the rankings as the Oklahoma City Thunder are at present? Probably not.
They're not just low on this particular totem pole, either. A 107-100 loss amid the thin air of the Denver Nuggets' home court dropped the Thunder into sole possession of last place in the West by way of a 3-10 record.
Reggie Jackson's been scuffling since a hot start, shooting just 27.3 percent from the field (and 11.1 percent from three) over his last three games. Lance Thomas and Jeremy Lamb are still in the starting lineup. And, of course, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook remain on the mend.
But, as ESPN's Royce Young noted, OKC hasn't come close to losing hope:
"Even with the losing, there's something somewhat spiritual happening for the Thunder. If you're looking only at box scores and results, you won't see it, but there's a certain character the team is showcasing. No, it's not translating to wins -- yet -- but the consistent effort, the constant energy, the ever-present resiliency have been remarkable in the face of extreme adversity.
"
That's all well and good, but if the Thunder can't eke out a few more wins before their dynamic duo returns, their deficit in the standings may be too deep to make up.
28. New York Knicks
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Do you hear that? That combination of screeching and sirens coming from the island of Manhattan?
Don't worry, that's just New York Knicks fans losing their you-know-what over their you-know-what-y start to the Derek Fisher era. They fell to 3-10 after getting blown out on the road by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But it's not the hallowed triangle offense that's letting New York down; it ranks right in the middle of the pack in offensive efficiency. Rather, it's the team's 28th-ranked defense that's the greatest cause for concern.
As The Wall Street Journal's Chris Herring sees it, there may not be much hope for a turnaround on that end in the Big Apple: "The Knicks aren't dealing with an effort problem. If anything, they're losing because of a lack of defensive talent and odd, if not flawed, strategies on that end of the court."
The impending returns of Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani (per the New York Post's Marc Berman) don't figure to change that.
27. Detroit Pistons
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It's been a decade since the Malice at the Palace, and the Detroit Pistons appear to be as far away as ever from returning to the championship-caliber form that took the floor against the Indiana Pacers on that fateful night.
The Pistons now stand at 3-9—just a half-game better than the Knicks—after watching Eric Bledsoe save the Phoenix Suns' bacon with a late layup. Detroit's current three-game losing streak is its third such slide of the young season.
The team's defense has improved to the middle of the pack, but the offense has cratered into the bottom three, just ahead of those of the Thunder and Sixers. It doesn't help that Andre Drummond and Josh Smith are both struggling on the interior, or that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope won't get his act together after starting the season on the shelf, or that Jodie Meeks won't boost Detroit's second-worst effective field-goal percentage.
It's tough to expect a team that's been this bad for this long to turn things around in a hurry, even with a talented roster and a smart head coach in Stan Van Gundy to guide that rebuild. Clearly, this is going to be a gradual process in the Motor City, one that might not pay any perceptible dividends for a while.
26. Los Angeles Lakers
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If the Los Angeles Lakers had their way, the 2014-15 season wouldn't have started until Nick Young was ready to play.
At least, that would seem to be the case with the way L.A. has performed now that it has its Swaggy back. The Lakers are 2-0 with Young in the lineup—a vast, albeit momentary, improvement over a 1-9 start without him.
It certainly helps that one of those wins came against a Dwight Howard-less Houston Rockets squad, but with all the misery the Lakers had endured sans Swaggy P, is there really much need to pick nits with the results?
Not when Young is already back to racking up buckets (16.5 points per game so far) almost as quickly as classic quotes. As he said after the win in Houston (via Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding): "I leave a presence. I'm like Michael Jackson, Prince, all those other guys."
And who in Lakerland could argue?
25. Minnesota Timberwolves
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The Minnesota Timberwolves found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot this week: languishing toward the bottom of the Western Conference, with a key player popping up as a hot commodity on the trade market.
Granted, Corey Brewer is no Kevin Love. The Florida product's not about to wind up in the All-Star Game or bring back a top-notch prospect or two. But for teams in need of athletic wing defenders, like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, Brewer's 2.1 steals per game (fifth most in the NBA) look like a fine fit.
Just don't expect Timberwolves head coach/general manager Flip Saunders to give up Brewer without a fight. Per The Associated Press' Jon Krawczynski, "Flip on Brewer: he's just too valuable to us to move. Says he understands why teams with championship hopes want him."
Which is to say, don't be shocked to see Brewer in another team's colors if Minny continues its downward spiral in Ricky Rubio's absence.
24. Denver Nuggets
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So much for complete and utter chaos in the Mile High City. As soon as ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz released his stinging story about all that ails the Denver Nuggets internally, the team in question ripped off back-to-back wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Thunder.
OK, so maybe those two victories, or even one over the Indiana Pacers last Friday, don't portend some stunning turnaround in Denver. Indy and OKC were (and still are) missing key contributors, and Cleveland has yet to get its house in order.
The Nuggets, meanwhile, sport one of the NBA's six worst defenses, along with an offense that fits in the bottom half of the league, despite a return to something closer to the franchise's signature tempo.
We'll know better if Denver is ready to turn things around by the end of the month, before which time they'll face the New Orleans Pelicans, Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns (twice).
23. Charlotte Hornets
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Lance Stephenson's return to Indianapolis didn't go according to plan. "Born Ready" missed eight of his 12 attempts from the field (though he did tally eight rebounds, seven assists and two blocks), and his Charlotte Hornets saw their hopes for a win over the Pacers dashed by Solomon Hill's last-second heroics.
The Hornets certainly could've used a break. They'd lost four of their previous five outings, including a 15-point loss to the then-winless Lakers, a 25-point pounding at the hands of the Golden State Warriors and a 27-point shellacking in Dallas.
Clearly, Charlotte has plenty of work to do to get back to last season's playoff proficiency. The offense is still terrible, and the defense is on the brink of the bottom 10.
Dates with the struggling Florida teams over the weekend should offer Charlotte some reprieve...or serve as another cause to sound the alarm, depending on the results.
22. Brooklyn Nets
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For most teams, a five-game slide might induce some measure of panic. For these Brooklyn Nets, it's cause for concern but shouldn't be seen as anything truly momentous.
For one, none of those defeats have come by more than 12 points. That includes a triple-overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, an up-and-coming squad in the Eastern Conference.
The Nets, too, know a thing or two about slow starts. They were 3-8 at this same point last season and fell to 10-21 on New Year's Eve before winning 33 of their next 46 games and sneaking their way into the second round of the playoffs.
It helps, too, to have veterans like Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams to keep the sky from falling.
Not that the Nets should feel good about the way things are going so far under Lionel Hollins, but there's no need to summon the spirit of Chicken Little just yet.
21. Orlando Magic
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Want a clearer illustration of just how much deeper the West is than the East? Just look at what the Orlando Magic have done of late.
They went 3-3 during a recent six-game stretch against Eastern Conference foes, with close losses in Brooklyn, Toronto and Washington, and victories over the Knicks, Bucks and Pistons.
Respectable, right? Not when the West gets involved. The Magic needed overtime to dispatch the lowly T-Wolves prior to that aforementioned string, and they got their butts handed to them by the scuffling Los Angeles Clippers.
To paraphrase an old cheer-squad standard, don't mess with the West 'cause the West don't mess.
20. Boston Celtics
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You might not think that the Boston Celtics would put up a ton of points. After all, their trade-bait roster isn't exactly replete with skilled scorers—unless you count the occasional explosion from Jeff Green.
It's not as though the C's are knocking down threes or getting to the line, either. They're bottom-five in three-point percentage (.305) and free-throw attempts (19.9) at present.
And yet, Boston is a top-10 club when it comes to offensive efficiency, piling up 106.8 points per 100 possessions.
It helps that the C's have made so many shots within five feet—19.7 per game, at a 62.5 percent clip. Rajon Rondo and his 11.8 assists per game have had plenty to do with that. So has Jared Sullinger's growth into a low-post scorer (16 points per game) and Kelly Olynyk's emergence as an inside-out threat (.758 within three feet, .440 beyond the arc).
Now, if only the C's could stop anyone—they're 24th in points allowed per 100 possessions—they just might make some noise in the perennially weak Eastern Conference.
Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe quoted Rondo as saying, "People still say it’s a rebuilding year for us but we really don’t look at it as that. The East isn’t as strong -- again."
19. Utah Jazz
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I heard some bozo was out on the Interwebz doubting Trey Burke's ability to hold down the starting point guard gig in Salt Lake City.
That dude (i.e. me) sure looked like a dummy when Burke nailed a buzzer-beater over former Michigan teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. to deliver the Utah Jazz another last-second victory, this time at the Knicks' expense.
Burke followed up that 13-point, eight-assist evening with a subpar showing (12 points on 4-of-15 from the field) against the Toronto Raptors, with Kyle Lowry's bulldog defense in tow. To Burke's credit, he bounced back nicely a few nights later, torching Reggie Jackson and the Thunder for 17 points and nine dimes.
That may not save Burke's spot in the long run, but for now, he's clearly the better option at the point for the Jazz between him and rookie Dante Exum.
18. Atlanta Hawks
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Who knew that DeMarre Carroll was such a crucial piece of the puzzle for the Atlanta Hawks?
Carroll has missed Atlanta's last four outings with a groin injury. In that time, the Hawks have followed up consecutive victories over the Jazz and Heat (to extend a four-game winning streak) with a calamity against the Cleveland Cavaliers and a loss to the lowly Lakers.
To be sure, the Hawks' early issues extend well beyond Carroll's absence, with Al Horford's slow recovery and a porous defense among the more pressing concerns. Nonetheless, the Hawks should be happy that Carroll's expected to return Friday against the Pistons, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore.
17. Indiana Pacers
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The Indiana Pacers are looking more and more like something out of a Monty Python movie: not yet dead, despite appearances to the contrary. They've won four of their last five games, the latest of which ended with Solomon Hill scoring off a missed Rodney Stuckey jumper.
The greater common denominator between those results? Roy Hibbert putting in work on the offensive end. The All-Star center went for a season-high 29 points against Utah, managed 16 points and 15 rebounds opposite Miami, dropped five dimes in Chicago and dropped another double-double (18 points and 11 boards) to stop Charlotte.
The Pacers, then, have Hibbert to thank for keeping them in the playoff hunt in the awful East, without help from practically half the roster.
16. Miami Heat
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The ominous cloud hanging over the Miami Heat's heads coming into the season has already begun to rain on their hopeful playoff parade.
No, not LeBron James' departure, though he and the Heat would probably be faring much better together than they have on their own thus far. And no, not Josh McRoberts' absence, since he's finally returned—and wasn't exactly a pivotal piece in the first place.
Rather, it's Dwyane Wade's latest setback—a strained left hamstring—that's hampered Miami's attempt to stay competitive in the post-King James era. The visiting Los Angeles Clippers dropped the Heat to 1-3 without Wade this season.
Now that James is back in Cleveland, Miami has little choice but to lean more heavily on Wade than it has in years. Trouble is, that leaves the Heat all the more vulnerable to slippage whenever Wade inevitably has to sit with one lower-body injury or another.
15. Cleveland Cavaliers
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Like Bono in search of his lost luggage, the Cleveland Cavaliers still haven't found what they're looking for.
Kyrie Irving is still searching for the proper balance between scoring and distributing. LeBron James, his comfort zone back in his home state. And Kevin Love, his place in the Cavs' offensive universe.
Love said after Cleveland's loss to the visiting San Antonio Spurs (via ESPN's Dave McMenamin):
"It's come to a point where I'm just trying to find myself in this offense. It's almost related to when you come into the league; usually the guys that dominate the ball so much tend to learn a lot quicker than a guy like myself, a big man. So I'm just trying to find different spots in the offense.
I'll just say we're 10 games in, we're looking at different stuff. I need to find myself. I think everybody knew coming in that we'd have to sacrifice, but at some point we're going to need some low-post scoring and some outside shooting.
"
That may be true, but scoring clearly isn't this team's biggest problem. More importantly, it can't stop anyone, as its defensive rating (107.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) would suggest.
Of course, those two sides are always connected. Perhaps the Cavs would be playing harder on defense if everyone had a clearer picture of where to be and what to do within the offense. That can be tough to figure out when there are so many gifted scorers on the same side.
But it's not a good sign if the team's winners-in-training—Irving and Love, in particular—are counting on their offense to dictate their defensive effort rather than the other way around. Count that among the lessons James has learned since he came into the league 11 years ago, and the ones that he'll have to pass on to his less battle-tested teammates.
14. Milwaukee Bucks
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We're less than a month into the 2014-15 season, and the Milwaukee Bucks are almost halfway to their win total from the previous campaign.
That says plenty about how bad the Bucks were in 2013-14, when they won a league-worst 15 games. But it says even more about how much better Milwaukee is now and the considerable room for improvement that remains.
The Bucks boast the stingiest defense in the Eastern Conference, thanks in large part to the tremendous collection of length, athleticism and youth that allows them to play Jason Kidd's preferred brand of aggressive defense. It's that defense that allowed Milwaukee to build a huge lead on Charlotte on opening night and scrap their way to a victory over the mighty Memphis Grizzlies.
This team could be in a considerably stronger position if its offense, ranked 25th in efficiency, had come through earlier. Fortunately for the Bucks, they're quickly figuring out that end of the floor, too. Brandon Knight has become a tremendous weapon at the point, O.J. Mayo's rediscovered his prior point-producing form off the bench, Giannis Antetokounmpo is thriving as a starter, and Jabari Parker is coming off the first of what should be many 20-plus-point games in his career.
It's no wonder, then, that Kidd jumped Brooklyn's aging ship for a spot at the controls of one of the NBA's most promising vessels.
13. Phoenix Suns
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The Phoenix Suns, at 7-5, have performed a bit unevenly so far this season, though not for the reason that most expected.
Sure, the loss of Channing Frye has hurt, though the Morris twins (and their combined 25.1 points) have done a more-than-passable job in his place.
The bigger problem, as it happens, has emanated from the team's presumptive strength: its point guards. How could that be the case?
Goran Dragic told AZCentral.com's Paul Coro:
"Because there's only one ball and we're all point guards. That's an easy answer.
It's hard. That's sacrifice. If Isaiah [Thomas is] playing well, he's going to stay in. Me and Eric [Bledsoe], it depends who is playing better and who is going to be on the court. The other guy is going to be on the bench. It's the way it is. We need to embrace that.
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The sooner they do, the better off the Suns will be in the cutthroat Western Conference.
12. Los Angeles Clippers
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Could a long road trip be the cure to the trust and identity issues that have plagued the Los Angeles Clippers in the early going?
"I'll tell you in seven games," Doc Rivers said when asked about that after L.A.'s loss at home to a short-handed Chicago squad. "I do like going on the road. I think it is an opportunity to find yourself."
So far, the Clippers seem to have done just that. They ran, jumped, dunked and shot their way to back-to-back blowout wins over the Magic and the Heat.
Of course, there are caveats to consider. Orlando is still clearly a work in progress, and Miami remains without a healthy Dwyane Wade. There will be tougher tilts to come on this month-concluding swing, with trips to Memphis and Houston on the docket.
As Rivers went on, somewhat ominously so in this context, "You can also lose yourself on the road, so we'll see."
11. Sacramento Kings
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Every win carries extra meaning for the Sacramento Kings, even those against squads as short-handed as the Chicago Bulls are without Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol.
For one, the Kings are still learning how to win in the NBA as a team. They've recently had a habit of blowing big leads, as they did in Dallas and Memphis, and at home against New Orleans.
Against the Bulls, though, a team that had demolished the Clippers in L.A. and had yet to lose on the road, Sacramento built a lead, rather than cede one, brick by brick.
Or, rather, make by make.
Their cushion swelled to 15 in the third, fluctuating here and there, and ultimately finished at that size when the final buzzer sounded.
That keeps the Kings in the running for a playoff spot in the early going. A 6-5 record is still shy of the top eight out West, but the longer Sacramento can scrape together W's, the better its odds of making this season a meaningful one—whether it ends in the postseason or not.
10. Washington Wizards
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A three-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks is a pretty respectable result nowadays, especially for the Washington Wizards, who are knocking on the door of the East's upper crust.
Of greater import from that result, though, was who played. That is, Bradley Beal made his season debut, pouring in 21 points and three assists off the bench upon returning from a preseason wrist injury.
"It was a big lift, just to see him come out there confident, especially after so much time off," Paul Pierce told the AP (via ESPN). "Seems like he really didn't miss a beat."
That's great news for the Wizards, who got solid contributions from Garrett Temple in Beal's absence but won't reach their true potential without John Wall's backcourt pal playing like a budding All-Star.
9. New Orleans Pelicans
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Here's how murderous the Southwest Division is right now: The New Orleans Pelicans, at 6-4 and featuring early MVP favorite Anthony Davis, are in last place.
Good thing NBA divisions only matter insofar as winning one guarantees a team a top-four seed. Good thing, too, that they can count on "The Brow" and his 25.5 points (third in the NBA), 11.4 rebounds (fifth), 3.9 blocks (first) and 2.3 steals (first) per game.
It's on the rest of the Pelicans' core players—Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, in particular—to make sure they "brow" down to their 21-year-old cornerstone more frequently than they have. Otherwise, New Orleans could find itself among the many victims of the blood bath that's bubbling out West.
8. Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets have to hope that Dwight Howard's knee strain doesn't turn out to be anything serious. They've lost both of their games from which he's been absent, including a 98-92 defeat to the swagtastic Lakers.
That game, though, should give Houston hope for the long haul. James Harden finally had himself a Beard-like outing, piling up 24 points on just 11 field-goal attempts. Greek rookie Kostas Papanikolaou put up a career-high 19 points off the bench. The team as a whole knocked down 15 threes on one end and frustrated Kobe Bryant into a 10-of-28 shooting night on the other.
Howard will be back at some point, and the Rockets will be whole when he does. If there's any real cause for consternation in Space City, it's the fact that the Rockets have been handled by both of the actually good teams they've faced so far—a 119-93 annihilation in Memphis being the more worrisome of Houston's two such defeats.
Because, well, Dwight was out for the other one, against the Warriors.
7. Dallas Mavericks
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Don't look now, but the Dallas Mavericks are starting to look like they belong among the West's best. They've ripped off five wins in a row—blowing out subpar competition, battling back from a massive deficit against a solid Sacramento squad and watching Dirk Nowitzki save the day with a clutch three in Washington.
It's no surprise that the Mavs are once again kings of the offensive efficiency mountain. Rick Carlisle has proven a tremendous organizer of scoring wizardry, especially when gifted with skilled pieces like Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons.
But it's from the other end of the floor that Dallas can truly draw its championship confidence. The Mavs are approaching the top 10 in defensive efficiency, thanks in no small part to Tyson Chandler's return.
We'll know better about the Mavs' ability to contend in the NBA's stronger conference, though, when they face the Rockets in Houston on Saturday—assuming Dwight Howard is healthy enough to play.
6. Toronto Raptors
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Forget about surpassing last season's franchise-record 48 wins; this Toronto Raptors squad is well on its way to obliterating the 50-win plateau and climbing into the league's elite.
OK, so maybe we should pump the brakes a bit. They're still clearly a step below the Chicago Bulls, as they demonstrated in a loss last week.
But early indications point to Toronto being a force to be reckoned with as the season rolls along. The Raptors are one of two Eastern Conference teams, along with the Bulls, that can claim top-10 proficiency on both sides of the court.
And that, along with arguably the East's top backcourt in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, makes Toronto a bona fide threat to upset the presumed order in LeBron James' domain.
5. Chicago Bulls
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All things considered, a California split to start their seven-game road trip is a respectable outcome for the Chicago Bulls, especially with Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol both sidelined. This club is clearly Tom Thibodeau's deepest yet and has two-and-a-half seasons of experience sans D-Rose from which to draw when times get tough and its MVP isn't healthy enough to save them.
But that's not going to keep Chicago in the championship conversation, unless the East turns out to be that bad. Rose's recovery hasn't progressed in a predictable manner since he first tore his ACL, and it certainly isn't going to straighten out now—and, yes, it's understandable (if not expected) for someone who's missed as much time to injury as Rose has to think about life after basketball. And why bash him for speaking his mind if candor is what we're looking for? Isn't that right, Bleacher Report's Sean Highkin?
"Of course he wants to be careful about his body. The alternative is winding up like former Portland Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy, who fought through years of injuries and ended up with a degenerative knee condition and a career over at 28. After everything Rose has been through, he'd be insane not to think long term.
"
Still, the sadly predictable has already come home to roost in the Second City: Rose is hurt, and so is Gasol, who can still clearly play at a high level, but only when his 34-year-old body allows him to.
The Bulls look like the best team in the East for the most part, but they won't for long if their stars can't and don't stay healthy.
4. Portland Trail Blazers
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The Portland Trail Blazers seem to be building a habit of rallying from big deficits. They battled back from 23 points down against the Hornets earlier in the season and dug themselves out of a 16-point second-half hole to upend the Pelicans, despite another brilliant night from Anthony Davis.
On the one hand, it's not a good sign that Portland is falling behind against inferior opponents, even this early in the season. On the other hand, though, the Blazers can take comfort in knowing that they have the defensive wherewithal and the offensive horses—LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, in particular—to turn things around in a pinch.
As head coach Terry Stotts told the AP (via ESPN): "That will pay off down the road in January and February because we'll know that no matter what, we have a chance to come back and win the game."
3. Golden State Warriors
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Surprise, surprise: The Golden State Warriors' rise up the offensive efficiency rankings has coincided with a decline in their detrimentally giving ways. They've turned the ball over 16 times or fewer in each of their last three games.
That may not seem like such a noteworthy accomplishment, but for a club that had handled the rock so casually during its first seven games—and throughout Mark Jackson's tenure as head coach—every bit of progress counts.
Shaun Livingston told NBA.com's David Aldridge:
"We want to contend for a championship, and doing that, it's all about the little things, attention to detail. And valuing the basketball, it doesn't seem like a lot through the course of the game, but it adds up. And those possessions are costly, and they've been costly to us in our losses.
"
The better the Dubs take care of the ball, the more opportunities there will be for the likes of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to score, and the more wins Golden State will rack up. Simple as that.
2. San Antonio Spurs
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The San Antonio Spurs still have a long way to go to recapture their championship form from this past spring—assuming they'll ever rekindle it at all.
"We'll never play any better than we did the last three games in Miami," head coach Gregg Popovich said after the Spurs' recent win over the Clippers in L.A. "It won't happen. You can't play any better than that at both ends of the floor."
This San Antonio team certainly can. The Spurs defense still ranks among the NBA's three stingiest, but that picture-perfect, point-producing offense is lagging, if not languishing, among the bottom third of the league.
Not that the Spurs' scoring struggles are beyond explanation. Kawhi Leonard got off to a slow start after missing most of training camp with conjunctivitis. Tiago Splitter, Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills—all key cogs in Pop's egalitarian offensive machinery—have been on the shelf.
Even so, the Spurs are taking care of business, maybe not every day, but often enough to put to bed any concerns of this dynasty crumbling in the weeks and months to come.
1. Memphis Grizzlies
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There's no shame in the Memphis Grizzlies losing to the East-leading Raptors in Toronto, certainly not when two of the team's starters (i.e., Tony Allen and Courtney Lee) are sidelined by a stomach virus and Vince Carter is left bleary-eyed by a touching pregame video tribute.
If you want to know how good the Grizzlies really are, flash back to their 119-93 thrashing of the Rockets two nights prior. Simply put, they ground up Houston, an early contender, like yesterday's garbage, rattling the Rockets into 21 turnovers and a subpar 8-of-34 shooting night from beyond the arc.
Memphis' defense is still a top-five outfit, and its offense, once among the least productive units in the league, is now knocking on the door of the top 10, thanks in no small part to Marc Gasol, with a career-high 18 points per game, looking like a legitimate MVP candidate.
Some more shooting would boost the Grizzlies' staying power, but for now, they appear to have the ingredients needed to concoct a championship treat.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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