NBA Power Rankings: Which Teams Have Over and Underachieved This Season
This is not a 1-30 ranking of who the best team in the NBA is. Instead, I'm looking at each team and ranking where they stand right now, before the All-Star break, and deciding have they over or underachieved or been completely neutral on expectations. Teams closer to 30 means they've been a massive disappointment and the 1-10 are the teams who have given their fans more than asked for in the first half.
30. Cleveland Cavaliers
1 of 30
We knew LeBron leaving would be a huge loss, but I certainly never would have guessed it would be 9-46 bad.
The Cavs lost ten games, won one, lost 26 in a row, won one, then gave the Wizards their first road win of the season. This season has been a complete disaster and I don't see how it will get any better any time soon.
Dan Gilbert set the expectations that this team would win a title before the Miami Heat.
That alone is why the Cavaliers are the most disappointing team in the league so far.
29. Houston Rockets
2 of 30
The Rockets were supposed to ride Yao Ming's 24 minutes a night into the playoffs as a top six seed. Kevin Martin, Aaron Brooks, Louis Scola how could this team not be a test for the Lakers?
Yao Ming gets injured. Memphis improves. Houston finds themselves in last place in the Southwest division.
Expectations were high for this Rockets team. 25-30 does not meet them.
28. Milwaukee Bucks
3 of 30
24-28 gets you the eight seed in the East right now.
Milwaukee trails that mark by 4.5 games.
This is essentially the same team that almost made it to the second round of the playoffs last year. They signed Corey Maggette and Drew Gooden in the off-season. Andrew Bogut has played 44 out of 53 games.
This team has no excuse not to be in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
27. Utah Jazz
4 of 30
We do not know what happened to make Jerry Sloan leave. All we do know is that a team with a top five point guard in the league, one of the best front courts in the game, and a decent string of perimeter defenders is free falling their way down the playoff seeding chart and will most likely be passed by Portland and Memphis soon.
Expectations of a four seed for this team were not unrealistic. Now they are a seven seed who is 4-6 in their last 10 and is without their hall of fame coach.
26. Phoenix Suns
5 of 30
The gamble this off-season was to let Amare go because his knees were too risky and Steve Nash was ultimately what made that pair work.
Whoops.
With every MVP caliber game Amare has in New York, Phoenix fans groan that a year after they were in the Western Conference Finals they're struggling to get into the playoffs.
Time will tell if passing on Amare's "weak knees" was the right decision, but it certainly looks crazy this season.
25. Detroit Pistons
6 of 30
This team is a complete mess.
The roster doesn't make sense. TMac is now running the point. There seems to be no strategy on whether they should trade Hamilton and/or Prince.
20-35, 17.5 games back of Chicago. Hard to believe in 2008 they made the Eastern Conference Finals.
24. Charlotte Bobcats
7 of 30
Was their post-season berth last year a fluke?
Looks that way this year.
However, Silas is bringing new life to this team and they knocked off the Celtics recently to show that maybe a seven or eight seed is in reach.
23. Washington Wizards
8 of 30
Why can't this team win on the road? Yes, they just won in Cleveland, but that doesn't really count.
This team is 14-13 at home and should have this .500 record overall. John Wall at the point, the emergence of Nick Young as a scorer, Kirk Hinrich as your shooting guard, Blatche and McGee down low, the lineup has the talent and they've proven they can win in Washington D.C.
Losing on the road shows a lack of mental toughness and Wizards fans should expect more from their young team.
22. Denver Nuggets
9 of 30
Two ways to look at the Denver Nuggets first half of the season.
Optimistic: Even with all the Carmelo Anthony rumors, the Denver Nuggets are 1.5 games out of fifth place!
Pessimistic (realist): The Nuggets have no excuse not to be a top five team in the West and they should have been trying to go out and make a trade to bring someone in to help Melo rather than spending three months shopping him around.
Denver has managed their team poorly this season, but on the court they've done alright.
21. Sacramento Kings
10 of 30
The Kings went 25-57 last season so its hard to make the case that expectations should have been too high. With 13 wins so far this year, the Kings will have to go 13-18 the rest of the way to pass their 2009-2010 mark.
The disappointment has not been with the wins and losses, it's the new fiasco going on with Demarcus Cousins, the high draft pick who the Kings hoped wouldn't be a discipline issue.
Also, Tyreke Evans who is still having a good season is down from last year in points, assists, and rebounds. A rookie of the year should put up bigger numbers his next season even if it's only a 0.1 difference.
20. Golden State Warriors
11 of 30
Take the number fiver scorer in the league, add a 41 percent three point shooter scoring 18.8 ppg, throw in a 6'9 swing man giving you 16.4 ppg and a big man giving you nearly 16 and 10 a night and somehow this only equals a 24-29 record?
The Golden State Warriors should be the second best team in the league, but are in danger of being passed by the Los Angeles Clippers sometime this season.
The team has not been a massive disappointment, but they should be playing better.
19. Indiana Pacers
12 of 30
This is where the list starts to transition away from disappointment to slight disappointment.
The Pacers should probably be a little better this year, but sitting as the number two team in the Central division and the eight seed overall is not bad.
If they finish the year outside of the playoff picture then yes, this year is a disappointment. But as of now the Pacers are doing ok.
18. Portland Trailblazers
13 of 30
Once again, the disappointment is not really the Trailblazers fault.
Oden going down, Brandon Roy out for 31 games so far, Camby now injured, all of these were not what Trailblazers fans had envisioned at the beginning of the year.
However, a 30-24 record despite all these injuries, the emergence of LaMarcus Aldridge as one of the most exciting and dominant players in the league, and the teams in front of them (Nuggets, Jazz) having personnel/coaching problems of their own.
It's amazing that the Trailblazers still stay in the playoff picture year after year with their bad luck on injuries, but the fact that these continue to happen wears down the fan's morale.
17. Minnesota Timberwolves
14 of 30
The management in Minnesota made it very clear to fans at the beginning of the year that this team was not going to be great, but they were going to try hard and continue to build a solid team.
With the expectations set there, the T'Wolves have pretty much kept even.
Kevin Love's 21.3 and 15.5 a game was a very pleasant surprise. Michael Beasley transitioning smoothly to the small forward and scoring 19.9 a game also a plus. Last year they only finished with 15 wins, this year they have 13.
On the negative side, they shelled out a lot of money for Darko's nine points and five rebounds a night and 13-41 is still 13-41.
16. Los Angeles Clippers
15 of 30
They have an absolute star in Blake Griffin. Eric Gordon may be the fifth best shooting guard in the league. Baron Davis has played well, Deandre Jordan is emerging, and Randy Foye has had a few big games lately.
Kaman's injury was a disappointment and the 1-13 start was unacceptable. Since their atrocious start, the Clippers have been 19-21 and should continue at that pace (maybe not on their brutal road trip) in the second half of the year.
15. Toronto Raptors
16 of 30
This was a 40-42 team with Chris Bosh last season.
Sitting at 15-40 at All Star break could have been expected.
14. New Jersey Nets
17 of 30
There was really nowhere to go but up from last year's 12-70 season.
The fact that they have 17 wins already and will probably end up somewhere between 20-25 at the end of the year is good, but it's like a 350 lb contestant on The Biggest Loser shedding off 25 lbs, sure it's a start but the guy's still far overweight.
13. Memphis Grizzlies
18 of 30
The way they're playing right now winners of three straight, eight out of their last ten, is what I expected from this team earlier on.
They have a ton of talent on this squad both at the guards and in the post. They have positioned themselves right at the edge of the eighth seed and if they can get into the playoffs they will have met expectations.
Zach Randolph is having the best season in the NBA that no one is paying attention too. We know about Kevin Love and Blake Griffin, but Randolph's stats are not too far behind.
12. New York Knicks
19 of 30
Amare has been more than the Knicks ever could have imagined him to be this season.
Felton has thrived at point guard, Landry Fields is having a rookie of the year if-Griffin-wasn't-considered-a-rookie season, and Danilo Gallinari has learned to take the ball to the rim.
Pro basketball is back in New York City. Now the Knicks need to figure out how to avoid long slumps.
11. Atlanta Hawks
20 of 30
Both Joe Johnson and Al Horford made the All Star team.
Their winning percentage is only a little below last year's mark.
Last year, the Hawks finished third in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics are trying harder this year in the regular season (so far), the Miami Heat took the Cavaliers spot, the Orlando Magic improved, and the Chicago Bulls improved a lot. Finishing as the five seed this year would not mean the Hawks got worse, the other teams simply got better.
If they fall to the six or seven seed then they have disappointed.
10. Los Angeles Lakers
21 of 30
The Lakers are still the best team in the NBA. When they want to be.
Los Angeles, at times, seems to take games off and the result could be a three seed in the playoffs.
Now I'm not saying the Lakers can't win a Game seven in San Antonio or Dallas, but here's what their playoff route would be if it started today.
First round: Denver Nuggets
Second round: Dallas Mavericks
Third round: San Antonio Spurs
The Lakers will have a harder path this year to the finals. It will be interesting to see if they get there whether or not they will have enough left in the tank to beat Boston/Miami.
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
22 of 30
Expectations flew through the roof with this team after their six game series with L.A.
Surprisingly, the Thunder are doing a pretty good job improving on last year's season.
At 34-19 they have a better winning percentage than their 50-32 mark last year and are positioned right now as the four seed and division leader out West.
Durant will most likely win another scoring title, Westbrook is solidifying his rank in the top point guards, and Jeff Green continues to contribute decent stats.
Playoffs started today, the Thunder would be matched up against the Hornets in the first round. I would like their chances to get into the second round and battle the Spurs for 6-7 games.
8. Philadelphia 76ers
23 of 30
We all knew Doug Collins would be a good hire, but we didn't know he'd be this good.
If you look at the teams that made a big jump in the standings so far you see the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat, and the New York Knicks. The Knicks and Heat make sense because they added big time stars to their roster. The Spurs historic start doesn't really make sense, but San Antonio's continued success rarely does.
The 76ers rise from near bottom of East to possible six seed is impressive because they really didn't add anybody besides Evan Turner who hardly plays. They've won two in a row and seven out of their last ten including a victory over San Antonio.
Seems like a high ranking for Philadelphia, but they have far exceeded preseason expectations.
7. Orlando Magic
24 of 30
A lot of people felt they could be the one seed this year in the Eastern Conference.
Their lineup now is better than it was at the beginning of the year so Otis Smith deserves his credit. They just manhandled the Lakers and are only a few games behind the Bulls, Heat, and Celtics.
Eastern Conference Finals is the reasonable goal for this team and so far the Magic are almost on pace with this expectation.
6. Dallas Mavericks
25 of 30
Much like Portland, the disappointments in Dallas are not their fault.
Dirk's injury hurt and Caron Butler's season ending injury really hurts this team. But to be sitting at the two seed with a 38-16 record even with their unlucky roster damage is something to applaud.
If the Spurs were not having such a freakishly good season, 38-16 at the All-Star break would almost certainly be enough for home court advantage out West.
5. Miami Heat
26 of 30
If you judge this team on the ridiculous expectation of 72 + victories then yes, this season has been a disappointment.
If you judge this team on their 30-7 record after a tough start while getting used to a new roster, then yes the Heat belong in this top five.
No team has had so much scrutiny, so much hatred, and so much attention paid to them since maybe the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat have responded very well.
This team has shown they are within points of the Celtics, can defeat the Lakers in L.A., and gives LeBron a better shot at winning a title than his teams in Cleveland.
The Miami Heat will not win 72 games but they could land the number one seed.
4. Boston Celtics
27 of 30
Everyone on this team is doing a great job.
Perkins injury turned into Shaquille O'Neal logging in 20 + solid minutes a night. Now that Perkins is back, the Celtics look as good as ever and if they can return all their injured bodies they have positioned themselves well for another trip to the finals.
We'll see if Doc Rivers takes a different approach to the post-All-Star break season this year than he did last year.
3. New Orleans Hornets
28 of 30
To be honest, I have to Google who the Hornets have besides Chris Paul, David West, and Emeka Okafor.
What Chris Paul is doing in New Orleans to keep this bankrupt franchise alive in front of low attendance is truly impressive. The Hornets are the five seed out West right now and find themselves ahead of teams like the Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, and Portland Trailblazers. Who would have seen that coming?
If this team was 23-33 I would not be surprised or even say they're a disappointment. At 33-23 with that impressive 11-1 start, I think Chris Paul's name should at least be in the conversation for MVP.
2. Chicago Bulls
29 of 30
I probably could have titled this slide "Derrick Rose."
Even at full strength I would never have imagined the Bulls would be 2.5 out of first place at the All Star break this season. The fact that they are even in the running for a one seed when their only full time consistently healthy piece has been Derrick Rose puts this team as the biggest overachievers in the Eastern Conference.
My vote for MVP so far goes to Derrick Rose. The Bulls will be fun to watch in the second half with Noah returning to the floor.
1. San Antonio Spurs
30 of 30
Tony Parker's divorce may be the only disappointment in San Anotonio this season.
It's possible that they could go to the All-Star break this year with 47 wins. Even if they lose to the Nets (unlikely) and the Bulls (eh, possible) this week, 45 wins will still put them on an incredible pace. Here's some numbers:
Five wins away from last year's 50 win mark
15-13 is all they have to do the rest of the way to hit 60 wins.
27 wins away from Chicago Bulls 72 win season
.833 winning percentage. If this pace continues they will finish the year 68-14.
14 of their final 28 remaining games are against non-playoff (as of now) teams.
The Spurs are both the highest achieving team in the NBA and currently the best overall team at the All-Star break.
