Week 4 NBA Power Rankings Served Up With A Side of "Boring"

Man, did I pick a terrible NBA season to do a reoccurring power ranking post. So far, this condensed schedule has produced a very top and bottom-heavy league. Consequently, there has been virtually no movement from week to week in my top and bottom 5’s. Through the 1st 3 weeks, both my top and bottom 5’s have alternated between 6 teams each, and the order of my top 3 has been exactly the same every week…boring! If I had time to rank teams 1-30, there would be a lot of movement in the middle, but 1 man can only do so much. A little heads-up: don’t look for that trend to change too much in week 4 either. However, we do have 1 new face in the game this week, so bear with me…on to the rankings!

1. Miami Heat (PR=1, 26-7)…Another week without a blemish, another week (4 for 4) atop the rankings. New additions and improved chemistry between The Big 3 aside, the real reason for the Heat’s dominance this year: LeBron and Wade’s shot selection. James and Wade are both on pace for career highs in FG% and career lows in 3-point attempts per game.

2. Oklahoma City (PR=2, 26-7)…Are tied with Miami for the best record in the league, and just finished another perfect week as well, but Sunday night’s OT thriller against Denver may have showcased why the title might run through OKC for the next 5 years or so. In an off shooting night for James Harden (2 for 12), KD netted 51, Westbrook 40, and Ibaka not only had a triple double but clinched the victory with a game-ending block as well.

3. Chicago Bulls (PR=3, 27-8)…Ho-hum, the Bulls finished another strong week and rounded out the top 3 for the 4th consecutive time. More important than any game results though, the Bulls got back a certain reigning MVP by the name of D-Rose, and he doesn’t seem to be showing any effects of those lingering back and toe issues.

4. San Antonio Spurs (PR=4, 23-10)…Let’s make it 3 weeks in a row for my top 4 while we’re at it. I wanted to drop the Spurs just out of spite for playing their JV squad and losing by 40 to Portland the other night, but just couldn’t do it in good faith after they had reeled off 11 straight W’s. Love it or hate it, Coach Popovich knows what he’s doing.

5. Orlando Magic (PR=Not Ranked, 22-12)…Lookout, everybody! We have some new blood! It’s still inconceivable to me that the Magic can challenge Miami or Chicago (or a young and hungry Indy or Philly team for that matter) in a 7 game series the way their roster is currently constructed, but facts are facts, and following that ugly 4 game losing streak in late January Orlando has won 10 of 13 to get to the 3rd best record in the East. Despite some truly awful free throw shooting and having 1 foot out the door already, Dwight Howard (averaging 20 and 15 a night) is putting together another All-NBA type season.

Not a bad core-4 to have.

26. Toronto Raptors (PR=27, 10-23)…Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming of “boring.” Once again, I really, really wanted to drop Toronto further down. They are responsible for nearly 20% of this year’s wins for the 3 Eastern Conference teams below them in these rankings.

27. New Orleans Hornets (PR=28, 8-25)…The Hornets climbed another spot in the right direction this past week. They have as many wins (4) in their past 6 games as they did in their 1st 27. The bottom of the East is clearly worse than the bottom of the West (as evidenced by who’s populating these rankings), but New Orleans recent stretch seems to support that notion too (4 of those last 6 opponents hail from the East).

28. New Jersey Nets (PR=29, 10-25)…I watched some of that Nets-Knicks game from this past week, and the Nets shouldn’t be this bad. They also beat a Rose-less Bulls team in Chicago, which is still no easy task. They have a top 3 point guard in the league (Deron Williams), a good shooter (Anthony Morrow), 1 of the steals of last year’s draft (Marshawn Brooks), and a guy who is a serviceable, professional starting NBA power forward (Kris Humphries). Other than Humphries, I guess they are pretty weak on the interior, but there is no reason these guys shouldn’t be a borderline 0.500 team in the East. They finally got Brook Lopez back last week, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens as he works his way back into shape, but I expect the Nets to crawl out of the bottom 5 in the coming weeks…just saying.

29. Washington Wizards (PR=26, 7-26)…After climbing to their highest ranking of the year so far last week, the Wizards showed they can’t handle any form of “success,” and promptly dropped to the lowest position in these rankings this week. This team just has so many people that would be not fun to play with. For example, Nick Young and Jordan Crawford played a combined 69 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Kings, took a combined 42 shots from the floor, and together they only had 3 assists. Crawford did score 32 off the bench, but I’m sure that will only encourage him to keep gunning when he’s already 4 for 19 from the floor in the 4th quarter in their next game.

30. Charlotte Bobcats (PR=30, 4-28)…Do I still have to keep writing about this team? At least they ended what was a 16 game losing streak, but they celebrated that win by losing 2 straight to the Pacers by an average of 24.5 points per game. Their average point differential this year is a staggering -14.3, and if you’ve watched them play, you might be surprised it’s not worse.

Rising: Indiana (after a 5 game skid, the schedule helped them out with games against NJ, NO, and twice against Charlotte, and they’ve won 4 in a row) and Houston (sneakily rising in the Western Conference standings)

Falling: Atlanta (usually fake their way to a good regular season record at least, but key injuries may be too much to overcome this year), Milwaukee (seriously, what’s good about this team?), Utah (2-8 in their last 10), and Denver (would be on the outside looking in if the playoffs started today)