NBA Power Rankings: Stock Up, Stock Down as 2016-17 Season Tips Off
We made it: Real NBA games are upon us.
No more 14-minute stints for starters (except Joel Embiid...maybe), no more divining meaning from games against Maccabi Haifa or the Shanghai Sharks and, most mercifully of all, no more couching every evaluation with some form of "Hey, but we all know the preseason doesn't matter."*
As an exhibition season farewell, we've compiled one last set of power rankings.
Risers and fallers now get nifty arrow graphics to denote the direction of their momentum since last week, and though there hasn't been much movement, a few injuries and uncertainties have cropped up to nudge teams up or down.
For now, rankings are based on health, performance and roster construction. Soon, though, we'll have wins and losses as the main criteria—which...I mean, finally, right?
*I still get to use it in these rankings, though.
30. Philadelphia 76ers
1 of 30
↓ 1 Spot
The Philadelphia 76ers are getting pulverized in their exhibition games.
After beating the Boston Celtics, they lost five straight by an average of 16.2 points. And while we should be conditioned by now to discard short-term results when it comes to this team, it's still difficult to ignore a continuing failure to compete.
At least Joel Embiid already looks like a stud, leveraging his immense physical tools into 33 free-throw attempts in his seven preseason games despite playing more than 14 minutes in just two of them. Already, it's clear he'll overwhelm most opponents with size and speed, forcing them to foul.
With Ben Simmons, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel all missing the vast majority of the preseason, Embiid was Philadelphia's largest source of optimism by far. Exciting as he was, it's just not enough.
The Sixers are in the back of the pack again.
29. Los Angeles Lakers
2 of 30
↓ 1 Spot
The Los Angeles Lakers haven't been much better than the 76ers, but at least they have all hands on deck.
D'Angelo Russell had a pair of 30-point games, and, critically, Brandon Ingram increased his scoring volume and efficiency in each of the Lakers' first five preseason contests. Julius Randle remains mostly inefficient and incapable of passing, but if you were expecting him to join L.A.'s other two lottery picks in the maybe-he's-a-star category, you clearly didn't watch him last year.
As for Ingram, the scoring totals (he put up 21 against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 19) are the result of the slow acclimation all rookies endure.
"I think just gaining confidence," Ingram told Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. "Gaining confidence each and every game."
His half-beat of hesitation and lack of physical strength remain concerns, but watching Ingram step into an in-rhythm three on the wing is enough to keep the glass of his potential more than half-full.
He and Russell, who keeps showing flashes of the innate pick-and-roll instincts you want in a point guard, are the reasons L.A. climbs ahead of Philly.
28. Brooklyn Nets
3 of 30
←→ No Movement
When teams start talking earnestly about culture and take to calling their operation a "program," I'll admit it: I'm suckered.
So it is with the Brooklyn Nets, whose general manager, Sean Marks, hired a new coach in Kenny Atkinson and are now building deliberately after years of short-sighted spending and vet-grabbing. They don't really have a choice since the Boston Celtics own their first-round picks for the next 50 years or so, but at least the Nets are being thoughtful with their rebuild.
Marks, late of the San Antonio Spurs, is the guy bringing culture/program chatter, per Ben Detrick of The Ringer: "The 2016–17 Brooklyn Nets are the expansion team they never took the time to be four years ago. Your New Brooklyn Nets are bad, likable, and hopeful. Expectations, bloated salaries, and empty promises from Russian oligarchs are gone."
There's something simple and refreshing about the Nets recognizing what they need to be. It feels good, but perhaps we should stop romanticizing one of the league's worst teams—at least until next week.
The Nets are far under the cap and could, therefore, be a destination for a salary dump with a nice pick attached. If they win 27 games and earn a future asset this year, that'll constitute success.
27. New Orleans Pelicans
4 of 30
↓ 2 Spots
Anthony Davis suffered a sprained right ankle in the New Orleans Pelicans' third-to-last preseason game, according to ESPN.com's Justin Verrier. And though AD will be ready for opening night, the injury created a frighteningly familiar feeling.
And so it begins.
Or, actually, and so it continues.
New Orleans lost 351 games to injuries in 2015-16, per Verrier, the second-largest total for any NBA team during the last decade. The list of wounded for the upcoming season is already long: Tyreke Evans and Quincy Pondexter may not be back until January, E'Twaun Moore is fighting a bad heel, and both Terrence Jones and Robert Sacre have missed preseason time, per Verrier.
The Pelicans won 30 games last year, then saw their two best shooters (Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson) leave in free agency. Forget about Evans and Pondexter and the rest of the supporting cast; if Davis has another injury-riddled season, New Orleans will have a hard time equaling its modest 2015-16 victory total. The downside here is catastrophic.
Maybe Davis will be healthy to start the season and will carry the Pels to a .500 record. But his latest injury is a reminder of how ugly this could get.
26. Phoenix Suns
5 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
Hey! So here's something: "[Eric] Bledsoe had an effective field goal percentage of 48.9 percent on pull-up jumpers, the fifth-best mark among 84 players who took at least 200. Devin Booker (35.3 percent) had the fifth-worst mark," according to John Schuhmann of NBA.com.
This is less a knock on Booker than a reminder of who should be doing what for the Phoenix Suns this year.
Booker should take a leap that earns him Most Improved Player consideration—his form and feel make him a very promising prospect. But Bledsoe is the guy who should be handling the ball, making the decisions and taking the big shots.
Injuries and Booker serving as the lone bright spot last year make it easy to forget how good Bledsoe can be when fully healthy—which seems to be the case heading into the season.
Phoenix benefits from my fear of an injury apocalypse in New Orleans. If it moves any higher this year, it'll probably be due to Bledsoe leading the way.
25. Milwaukee Bucks
6 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
Moving on from Michael Carter-Williams puts some added pressure on Matthew Dellavedova as the Milwaukee Bucks' only established point guard, but getting Tony Snell from the Chicago Bulls makes the exchange worth it—only if you believe 2015-16 was an outlier for the rangy shooting guard.
"Snell's .361 three-point shooting was adequate in 2015-16, but he suffered a massive slump inside the arc," ESPN.com's Nate Duncan noted. "Snell devolved from 49.4 percent on 2s his second year to only 38 percent last season, despite taking more than 56 percent of his shots from that range. At the rim, he dropped from an outstanding 67.5 percent to an atrocious 47.8 percent."
It's entirely possible Snell's step back last year was just him establishing his true talent level after an anomalous 2014-15 campaign. If that's the case, the Bucks swapped one dud for another.
But if Snell can use his length and any established catch-and-shoot accuracy from long range to contribute at something close to replacement level on both ends, he could help keep the Bucks on the outermost fringes of the playoff chase.
24. Sacramento Kings
7 of 30
←→ No Movement
"Every game is like a microcosm of the season, where you can just go away if you want and make it easy," Sacramento Kings head coach Dave Joerger told reporters after his team's 92-89 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 18 (via James Ham of Comcast Bay Area). "Or we can be known as that team that's hard to play against every night and that takes a lot of mental fortitude to do that possession after possession ... And that's what we're working on."
Joerger can only hope the final week of the exhibition schedule isn't a microcosm for the season, because that stretch was marked by disjointed play, Ty Lawson missing team flights and Rudy Gay giving the least convincing "I'm happy to be here" reassurance ever. As ESPN's Zach Lowe noted, Gay pleading innocence on trade rumors is disingenuous.
Add all of this up and you have a preseason that feels uncomfortably familiar for the Kings—one marked by shaky play and unaligned agendas.
Maybe Joerger and a new roster will keep old habits from resurfacing, but unless we see some meaningful change soon, it'll be hard for Sacramento to climb any higher.
23. New York Knicks
8 of 30
←→ No Movement
A jury found Derrick Rose not civilly liable for rape, which shifts the focus of the New York Knicks point guard from one court to another.
Now, he'll have to make up for the two weeks of practices and preseason games he missed during his trial. It's a problem of substantially lower real-world significance, but it's one that'll shape New York's early season.
Joakim Noah told Steve Popper of the Bergen Record (h/t USA Today): "It’s a blessing to have him come back. I don’t even know what to say. It’s great that the truth came out. But at the same time we didn’t have our point guard for all of preseason."
Offensively, the Knicks have performed well without Rose, which means they can afford for his reintegration to be gradual on that end.
On D, however, New York has been one of the worst preseason performers. So if Rose plans on making a difference early in his return, he'd do well to focus there.
22. Miami Heat
9 of 30
←→ No Movement
The Miami Heat went to unusual lengths to squash a trade rumor involving Goran Dragic, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, as head coach Erik Spoelstra flat-out told his point guard there was no substance to a Basketball Insiders report of a swap centered on Dragic and Rudy Gay.
"That was really nice from Spo," Dragic told Winderman. "That's not his job to come to the players to say it, so I understand."
Fine. Nothing brewing just yet.
But let's keep this episode in mind as the Heat's season wears on and tanking perhaps becomes a more realistic option.
Under Pat Riley, Miami has not embraced gradual rebuilds. It clears cap space, bottoms out, aggressively improves its lottery odds and swings big in free agency. The debunked Gay-Dragic move would have cleared serious cash for a big free-agent splash in 2017, and it's exactly the kind of deal we should expect if the Heat aren't seriously competitive.
In other words: There's a good chance this No. 22 rank won't be the lowest Miami sees this year.
21. Chicago Bulls
10 of 30
↓ 2 Spots
It's hard to say whether it's more annoying or gratifying when the negative outcome everyone predicted comes to pass.
We all knew spacing would be terrible for the Chicago Bulls when they added Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo over the summer, but it happened anyway.
And now, guess what?
Stephen Noh of The Athletic described the struggles from the Bulls' Oct. 17 loss to the Charlotte Hornets:
"Teams are already exploiting the Bulls' weaknesses in the preseason. ... Coach Fred Hoiberg opted to start Taj Gibson and Robin Lopez on Monday, exacerbating the spacing issues. From the game's outset, Hornets coach Steve Clifford packed the paint and chose to mostly ignore Rondo, Butler and Wade when they didn't have the ball.
"
Because...yeah! Obviously!
There are corrective measures for this, headlined by posting up the guards, separating Rondo and Wade in the rotation, a time machine and, I don't know, hindsight?
Chicago is going to have a hard time scoring consistently, and everyone saw it coming.
20. Orlando Magic
11 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
Head coach Frank Vogel's teams always defend; it's a one-end-of-the-floor certainty that makes him (a little) like a reverse version of Mike D'Antoni. The hope is always for solid enough play on the other end—offense, in Vogel's case—to make the whole thing worthwhile.
Counterproductive as using Aaron Gordon at the 3 may seem, in Vogel's world, his length at that position combines with Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo to form a fearsome defensive frontcourt. So while points may be hard to come by unless Evan Fournier takes another step forward and Mario Hezonja makes a leap, it's easy to see this Orlando Magic team being one of the league's 10 best on defense. They may even have top-five upside.
Unfortunately, the preseason didn't point that way, with the Magic having surrendered a 29th-ranked 104.8 points per 100 possessions. But this is one of those times where I'm choosing to disregard exhibition stats, as the personnel and the coach won't allow that to continue.
The seeming assurance of good play on one end is the reason the Magic move ahead of the Bulls—even though Orlando has looked worse to this point. Call it an act of faith in Vogel.
19. Denver Nuggets
12 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
Let's go big picture on the Denver Nuggets.
They won 33 games last year while getting some of the league's worst point guard play from Emmanuel Mudiay, lost seasons from Jusuf Nurkic and Wilson Chandler, only 21.7 minutes per game from advanced-stat darling Nikola Jokic and 53 games from Danilo Gallinari.
Can half of those things improve this year? Can all of them?
Can Gary Harris continue his growth while Jamal Murray slots in as a promising third guard in the rotation? Can head coach Michael Malone get more cohesion from a team playing its second year in his system?
Denver was respectable last season despite a litany of obstacles. Maybe everything will go just as wrong this time around as it did in 2015-16, but that seems unlikely. And if a handful of breaks go the other way, it's not difficult to see a .500 record from this group.
Viewed that way, ranking the Nuggets 19th might be an undersell.
18. Washington Wizards
13 of 30
←→ No Movement
This may say more about my lack of faith in the Bulls than anything else, but Ian Mahinmi's torn meniscus, an injury that'll cost him 4-6 weeks, according to the Washington Wizards, doesn't feel significant enough to ruin the Wizards' ranking.
The Wizards have Marcin Gortat as insurance, though it's scary to rely on Jason Smith and Andrew Nicholson behind him.
As long as John Wall is fully recovered from his own offseason knee surgeries, this is merely a hold-down-the-fort situation.
Seeing a $64 million signee go down before the regular season is a blow for Washington, but based on the assumption Mahinmi won't miss major time and won't suffer any adverse effects following surgery, the gap between the Wizards and Bulls still feels big enough to justify the status quo in the East.
17. Dallas Mavericks
14 of 30
↓ 1 Spot
The Dallas Mavericks don't have much margin for error.
Lose Dirk Nowitzki—or worse, watch as his decline accelerates—and the offense could be in major trouble. Lose Andrew Bogut, and the interior defense gets ugly. Get less than expected from Harrison Barnes, and the Mavs might not have enough to keep those hazy playoff dreams in focus.
As for that last one—Barnes needing to be pretty good for Dallas to have a chance—well, we've got some not-so-great news.
Tim Cato and Josh Bowe of Mavs Moneyball wrestled with the issue, with Cato writing:
"Outside of a single shot in the preseason opener—a shot I wrote 800 words about—Barnes reeeeeally doesn't look great doing things on offense except finishing cuts. Make no mistake, that's an important part of his game, and his chemistry with Bogut is already showing there! But in terms of creating looks, that's barely happening.
"
New beginnings are nice, and it's not usually smart to focus on the small sample size...except when it lines up with a player's entire career.
Barnes remains Barnes until proved otherwise. He'll try hard, defend ably and make enough open shots to justify minutes. But he's not going to evolve into a top option with Dallas.
That's clear now, and it means downgrading the Mavs a bit.
16. Minnesota Timberwolves
15 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
NBA general managers are in on Kris Dunn.
According to John Schuhmann's annual NBA.com survey, execs pegged the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard as the overwhelming favorite to win Rookie of the Year. He grabbed 46.7 percent of the vote, dwarfing Buddy Hield and Ben Simmons, who tied for second with just 13.3 percent.
That's strange, considering Dunn figures to start the season behind an established NBA talent. Ricky Rubio is in his way at the point, and it's easy to see head coach Tom Thibodeau trusting his defensive gifts and stewardship of the offense. Last season, Minnesota's offensive rating dropped 6.1 points per 100 possessions when Rubio sat, slipping all the way to a rate of 100.7 that would have ranked 27th in the league.
Is Thibs really going to take Rubio off the floor enough to give Dunn the minutes he'll need to run away with Rookie of the Year? Might there be a Rubio trade in the works?
The Providence product has a fantastic motor, competes like crazy and brings an attacking offensive style that stands out against Rubio's more deliberate, dice-you-up approach. There's a ton to like about the rookie, and maybe if the Wolves vault into the playoffs, it'll be because he's good enough to make Rubio an afterthought...or a trade candidate.
15. Indiana Pacers
16 of 30
←→ No Movement
"I think it's back," Paul George told Michael Marot of the Associated Press (h/t Fox Sports) when asked about the Indiana Pacers' title hopes. "Having David (West) and having Roy (Hibbert), that was a great unit. I don't want to jump the gun and say this is the best team I've played on, but it certainly could be."
This is one of those instances where, even though George was careful, qualified and outwardly confident in his team by necessity—don't kill the joy until at least November—he shouldn't have gone down this road.
Those Pacers teams he's referring to were good enough to reach the conference finals and push the eventual champion Heat to seven games in 2012-13. The next year, they won 56 games and the Heat needed six contests to beat them, again, during the Eastern Conference Finals.
This year's version is nowhere near that dangerous.
George included caveats and couldn't come right out and say his team had zero title hope. This is just a good reminder of what Indiana is, though: a mid-pack team.
14. Detroit Pistons
17 of 30
←→ No Movement
Head coach Stan Van Gundy is ready.
"I've been happy with our team's work ethic and how hard we've played throughout the preseason and wasn't tonight," Van Gundy told reporters following a 103-92 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. "I was really disappointed. I didn't think that we competed hard enough tonight."
That's mid-February SVG right there, a coach perfectly happy sending a message about his team's poor effort, even when, overall, things are going pretty well. (Detroit's net rating ranked eighth in preseason play.)
We knocked the Pistons down a peg last week because of Reggie Jackson's injury, and since he hasn't gotten any more hurt since then, there's no need for further slippage.
The Pistons will win more games than they lose this season. Van Gundy's demanding approach will see to that.
13. Memphis Grizzlies
18 of 30
↓ 1 Spot
"Don't panic. Everything is great. Everything is fine," Marc Gasol told reporters following an MRI on his surgically repaired right foot.
With all due respect to Gasol, who looks to be in phenomenal shape and whose MRI revealed nothing more than a bone bruise in an area unrelated to the surgery, seeing him leave the floor because of a right foot injury is always going to be cause for alarm.
We're not here yet, but we have to stay vigilant.
The Memphis Grizzlies are painfully thin, and losing Gasol or Mike Conley for any significant stretch would all but extinguish their playoff hopes. On the other hand, healthy seasons from both could lead to a 50-plus-win campaign.
Though Gasol seems to have dodged a bullet, this episode serves as a reminder of just how fragile the Grizzlies are. Every tweak, bump and bruise should probably be presumed fatal until proven otherwise.
Nobody's panicking, but we need to price in that uncertainty even more carefully.
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
19 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
If ever there was a team that needed the regular season to start, it's the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They (and we) can only take so much quote parsing and Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook relationship scrutiny. We hit the quota at least a month ago, and hopefully, meaningful games will shift the focus to something less tiresome.
OKC moves up because Memphis lost ground, and while it's reasonable to assume Westbrook will lead a competitive team this season, the potential for disaster remains.
Offensively, Oklahoma City has been lost without Russ in preseason play, and that's unlikely to change. With so little shooting and so few shot creators, the Thunder might produce a bottom-10 offensive rating.
That possibility is part of the reason the Washington Post's Tim Bontemps made OKC missing the playoffs one of his 10 bold preseason predictions.
I'm fully prepared for this to be the highest ranking OKC enjoys this year.
11. Atlanta Hawks
20 of 30
←→ No Movement
Tiago Splitter won't be ready to start the season,
Paul Millsap is getting into car accidents and played just two exhibition games.
The Atlanta Hawks may begin the year with only two point guards after waiving Jarrett Jack.
So things could be going better.
That said, there's still not enough negativity to drop the Hawks behind the Thunder, Grizzlies or Pistons—unstable and laden with question marks as they are. This crew has been fine in the preseason and particularly good on defense, where they ranked second in the league last year.
As long as Atlanta can get stops—something that might get even easier with Dwight Howard protecting the rim and Dennis Schroder harassing ball-handlers—it'll have a great chance to stick close to the top 10.
10. Portland Trail Blazers
21 of 30
←→ No Movement
We now enter the "Uh oh, that's a problem" injury portion of the rankings, as each of the next three clubs have incurred preseason dings.
The way Festus Ezeli's career has gone to this point—he missed the entirety of his sophomore year and hasn't played more than 46 games in a season since he was a rookie—it made sense to originally rank the Blazers as if he wasn't going to be a full-time contributor.
That's why the following Ezeli quote from Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune doesn't push the Blazers out of the top 10: "There’s no timetable (for a return) when it comes to this stuff. It goes by feel. Some days I feel good. There are good days and bad days, but there’s progress overall."
A fully healthy Ezeli playing at peak levels (basically the guy the Golden State Warriors got for the first half of last season) would vault Portland closer to the top five. He has the ability to make that kind of rim-protecting, lob-finishing, glass-cleaning impact.
But he can't stay on the floor, and his recovery from August knee surgery is the latest example.
The Blazers don't slip because, unfortunately, we knew this was coming.
9. Charlotte Hornets
22 of 30
↓ 1 Spot
Let's be real: Marvin Williams was never going to duplicate his breakout 2015-16 production, which included a career-high 40.2 percent accuracy rate from deep, along with his best-ever rebound rate, PER and effective field-goal percentage.
Heading into his age-30 campaign, Williams should have been one of the clearest regression candidates in the league. That's not to say he would have been in any way bad or unproductive. It's just that he was going to come down from the high a bit, and we should have priced in that decline when considering the Charlotte Hornets' ranking.
An injury is something different.
According to the Hornets, Williams suffered a fractured left middle finger and will be reevaluated ahead of the regular season opener.
Williams is a vital floor-stretcher whose offensive contributions only became more important after the Hornets lost Jeremy Lin, Al Jefferson and Courtney Lee over the summer. Expecting regression and not having him at all (even if the absence isn't permanent) are two different things.
So we have to knock Charlotte down a peg.
8. Houston Rockets
23 of 30
↑ 1 Spot
It feels like a big deal to lose a good defender when you're already woefully short on them, so news of Patrick Beverley's knee surgery, from The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski, seems significant. He'll miss three weeks according to Woj, or 4-6 weeks, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
All the same, it doesn't result in Houston losing ground for a few reasons.
First, Beverley's uncertain health had been an issue throughout the preseason, so we factored it in to previous rankings.
Second, he's been a bit overrated as a stopper (he's fine, not great), and taking him out of the mix allows the Rockets to more fully embrace their offense-only approach by giving more minutes to Eric Gordon. That's a little exciting and, potentially, a net plus.
Third, the Rockets looked really good without him in exhibition play, posting a league-best plus-15.3 net rating. And before you say anything, yes, I'm aware it's the preseason.
If Beverley gets healthy and contributes, that's great. If he doesn't, Houston is still looking pretty darn good.
7. Toronto Raptors
24 of 30
←→ No Movement
Does ranking seventh in the league count as a slight?
To many Toronto Raptors loyalists, it probably does. Though the greater insult might be slotting them third in the East.
Look at it this way, though: Those of us expecting the Raptors not to run away with 60 wins and a conference title are doing head coach Dwane Casey a favor.
"I like when people underestimate us. It should motivate us, putting us as underdog," Casey told Chris O'Leary of the Toronto Star. "I told all our guys we have to earn their respect and do it over (again). It can't be a one-year wonder. We have to come out and prove to the league again that we're for real and that should keep our guys motivated and hungry."
The task ahead is marginally harder with Jared Sullinger out for 2-3 months following foot surgery, per Wojnarowski.
We here at Power Rankings, Inc. welcome the opportunity to motivate, and if the Raptors rip off a season that tops the franchise benchmark set last year, we'll happily accept the credit.
6. Utah Jazz
25 of 30
↓ 2 Spots
Maybe this drop is overdue in light of Gordon Hayward's fractured finger, even though the Utah Jazz's depth makes virtually any injury manageable. But the short-term loss of their best offensive player now combines with a troubling trend: The Jazz aren't showing much tactical progress in the scoring department.
No team took fewer three-point shots per game than Utah in the preseason, and as sensible as following a Memphis model is for a team with two hulking bigs and a defensive philosophy, it'd be nice to see the Jazz marrying that stout D to a more modern offensive approach.
They have the shooters: Even with Hayward out, Rodney Hood, Joe Johnson, Trey Lyles, George Hill, Joe Ingles and Boris Diaw all threaten opponents from long range.
For Utah to deliver on its massive potential, we need to see some threes fly. The Jazz don't have to become the Rockets or Warriors, but they must embrace more modern principles (and leverage all of that shooting talent, for crying out loud!) to stay in the top five.
Because they haven't yet, they tentatively slip out.
5. Boston Celtics
26 of 30
←→ No Movement
"It's been tough for the last few months trying to figure out how it's all going to work out," Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge said Tuesday night at the Celtics Shamrock Foundation Gala, per Brian Robb of Boston.com. "We have a deadline coming up and we're not looking forward to that."
That was the sound of a man fresh out of problems. More precisely, it was the sound of Ainge deciding between James Young and R.J. Hunter for Boston's 15th roster spot.
He picked Young, per Wojnarowski.
Everything else about the team has long been settled. Al Horford is the star in the middle, and a young, versatile, up-and-coming group fills roles around him. Drama, intrigue and injury concerns are (knock on wood) not issues here.
Everybody around the Celtics is moving all over the place: Clippers up, Jazz down. But this team remains a model of stability.
And there's no shame in holding strong at No. 5—which is where Boston stays unless Marcus Smart's latest ankle sprain lingers into the regular season.
4. Los Angeles Clippers
27 of 30
↑ 2 Spots
After years of clamoring from the outside, head coach Doc Rivers is finally relenting.
He'll separate Blake Griffin and Chris Paul's minutes more often this year, a move that should maximize the Los Angeles Clippers' two best playmakers while, hopefully, curbing the lead-squandering tendencies of the second unit.
"Doc said he wants to stagger more this year and it's something they'll have to do, even though he feels the bench is deeper than ever before," Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com reported.
It'll be subtle by necessity. Regardless of the Manu Ginobili-esque sense it'd make, Griffin isn't suddenly going to become a sixth man. Chances are, Rivers' plans won't affect more than a handful of minutes per game. But this is still important because of the options it creates.
Paul and DeAndre Jordan become deadlier surrounded by three other shooters with deep range. Impressive as Griffin's shooting growth has been, the CP3-DJ pick-and-roll would still be better with more spacing. And as a second-unit facilitator free of Paul, Griffin could set up scorers who'd otherwise struggle to get their own shots.
It makes sense, it should have happened a long time ago and it could lead to the best bench performance we've ever seen from the Clippers.
L.A. moves up as a result.
3. San Antonio Spurs
28 of 30
←→ No Movement
Forgive us if we're not persuaded by LaMarcus Aldridge's reassurances.
"I'm winning. Of course I'm happy," he said on The Jim Rome Show (via ESPN.com). That's why I don't buy into the rumors. I feel like I do my job here and I feel like I've done everything that they've asked. That's why I haven't bought into the rumors."
He's talking about the comments ESPN.com's Jackie MacMullan made about Aldridge not finishing the year with the Spurs—a rumor Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express News confirmed with league sources.
The situation's different, but this isn't the first time Aldridge has been down this road. In 2014, he said he was happy and pledged his commitment to the Blazers...then inked a deal with the San Antonio Spurs the next summer.
Is this a crack in the Spurs' perennially unblemished facade? Is it a sign we could see the team take a step back by trading Aldridge for a younger piece who is a better long-term fit alongside Kawhi Leonard?
It's at least interesting to think about, isn't it?
Not interesting enough to affect the Spurs' No. 3 ranking. But interesting.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
29 of 30
←→ No Movement
Life toward the top of the rankings is tough, as evidenced by J.R. Smith's new four-year, $57 million contract—which is not reflective of his broader market value, but which the Cleveland Cavaliers absolutely had to pay.
Cleveland's last loose end needed tying, and because the Cavs knew they couldn't replace Smith's production from the outside (being far over the salary cap will do that), they forked over the big bucks Smith couldn't get from other teams in free agency.
Smith will be back shooting threes and not wearing shirts for another run at a ring, which is a good thing for a Cavs team that lost Matthew Dellavedova and Mo Williams.
It's worth noting Smith is entering his 13th season and is now guaranteed more money in the next four years than he's made through his first 12 NBA years. There's a good chance this deal doesn't age well.
But the Cavs had to have him back. LeBron James' title window won't be open forever, and now certainly wasn't the time to get stingy. Cleveland's grip on No. 2 just got a little tighter.
1. Golden State Warriors
30 of 30
←→ No Movement
For the better part of two years, we've earmarked this space for Warriors worship.
We've lauded their historic greatness, their statistical incomparability and their aesthetic beauty—rightfully. Golden State has been the best team by just about every measure (3-1 Finals collapse notwithstanding) since before the 2015-16 season started.
In the interest of balance, then, we probably ought to discuss its vulnerability.
"He's what will ultimately prevent them from having long-term success," a team executive told ESPN.com's Ethan Sherwood Strauss about Draymond Green.
In a wide-ranging report on the Warriors' most combustible (and indispensable) talent, Strauss highlighted what many close Dubs observers have long suspected: Green's boisterous pride and unfiltered confidence have created significant organizational tension.
No collapse is imminent, but Strauss' reporting bolsters the feeling that arose after Green's locker room tirade in Oklahoma City last year: If this thing somehow goes bad, his personality, so integral to all the success so far, will have something to do with it.
These concerns aren't nearly enough to loosen Golden State's hold on the top spot, but they're worth filing away.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com.
