NBA Power Rankings: Indiana Pacers and Teams Quickly Rising
Here's a look at three NBA teams really starting to rise in the rankings as we near closer to the start of the season.
Indiana Pacers
Last year, the Pacers had to continually roll out Josh McRoberts and Tyler Hansbrough at the power forward position.
Even though Hansbrough started to look impressive as the season went on, he's much better served as a sixth or seventh man coming off the bench. Now, with the addition of David West, Hansbrough can move to that role.
In fact, West is a terrific mid-range player and will make everyone around him, specifically Danny Granger, better.
Throw in terrific role players George Hill, Roy Hibbert and Paul George, who is apparently 6'10" now, and the Pacers have a terrific young core.
Los Angeles Clippers
Duh. They gave up a couple of solid core players and one All-Star to get him, but Chris Paul still automatically makes this team better.
The Paul-Blake Griffin duo will be terrific, but Caron Butler, Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan are no slouches, either.
Don't sleep on rookie Travis Leslie and don't be surprised if someone like Mo Williams is traded for another solid big man.
All-in-all, the Clippers may have traded some talented pieces, but they have plenty more solid ones to step up. This is an underrated team in terms of depth and having the best point guard in the league usually helps.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies were already starting to get better at the end of last season and as a young team, they should continue that growth.
The best move they made this offseason was probably keeping Marc Gasol, and I think he's ready to take a big step forward this year.
Losing Shane Battier might hurt, but the Grizz are filled with a bunch of good, young guards. Tony Allen, Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, Xavier Henry and Greivis Vazquez, to name a few.
| 1. Dallas Mavericks | |
| 2. Miami Heat | |
| 3. Chicago Bulls | |
| 4. Oklahoma City Thunder | |
| 5. Los Angeles Clippers | |
| 6. Los Angeles Lakers | |
| 7. Boston Celtics | |
| 8. San Antonio Spurs | |
| 9. Indiana Pacers | |
| 10. Memphis Grizzlies | |
| 11. New York Knicks | |
| 12. Orland Magic | |
| 13. Portland Trailblazers | |
| 14. Atlanta Hawks | |
| 15. Denver Nuggets | |
| 16. Houston Rockets | |
| 17. Golden State Warriors | |
| 18. Philadelphia 76ers | |
| 19. Milwaukee Bucks | |
| 20. Phoenix Suns | |
| 21. Utah Jazz | |
| 22. New Jersey Nets | |
| 23. Sacramento Kings | |
| 24. New Orleans Hornets | |
| 25. Minnesota Timberwolves | |
| 26. Washington Wizards | |
| 27. Detroit Pistons | |
| 28. Toronto Raptors | |
| 29. Charlotte Bobcats | |
| 30. Cleveland Cavaliers |
