Aww, f*** it.
1. Memphis Grizzlies…Team Grindhouse has been every talking head’s buzz-team for 3 seasons now, but there’s a reason for that. This team is loaded, has a style a play that’s not for the weak of heart to play against, and they actually have their full compliment of players right now, with Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph healthy at the same time for the 1st time in seemingly forever and Darrell Arthur back to sure-up their front court rotation. Experience and the fact that the West’s other 3 top teams (the Spurs, Thunder, and Clips) all provide interesting foils for the Grizz are their biggest hurdles, but be warned: this team is nasty.
2. New York Knicks…It pains me to put the Knicks this high, but then again it’s hard not to based on what I see on the court. How can a team that looked that bad at times last year make this big of a leap when all they did was get even older and slower? Well, the 1st thing is that they have basically moved Carmelo Anthony to the power forward position full-time, and it looks like he may have actually finally got it (changing from a just a scorer to a playmaker, which in turn has made all of his teammates better). 2nd, they have basically adopted the old Mike D’Antoni offense. You wouldn’t think those old heads would fit into a run-and-gun style, but Jason Kidd knows how to spot up behind the 3-point line, and Rasheed Wallace, Kurt Thomas, and Marcus Camby all know how to run a pick-and-roll when Tyson Chandler needs a blow. 3rd (and most importantly), they are taking and making 3’s at a historic pace right now. If that continues, it could be a special season in New York.
3. San Antonio Spurs…As as good as they look at times I wonder if sometime this year the Spurs will begin to resemble that team that has seen better days. It’s tough to make that argument when they have the league’s best record, beat this ranking’s number 1 team in their only matchup to date, nearly won in Miami with their JV team, and were only a couple games away from playing in the Finals last year with basically the same squad, but something tells me this season is going to end badly for them. I hope I’m wrong.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder…Many (including myself) wondered aloud whether OKC should have let things play out with the James Harden situation instead of being proactive and trading him, but it actually looks like a smart move at this point. Kevin Martin isn’t nearly the player Harden is, but he may actually fit the Thunder’s needs better. He doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective, whereas Harden did, and as good as he was putting the ball in his hands would also take it out of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s hands as well. Those 2 have also raised other parts of their games (numbers up in assists and rebounds for both) this year, but it’s Serge Ibaka’s leap in offensive production (going from 9.1 points per game last season to 14.3 this season) that has made the Thunder look the smartest of all in the trade’s aftermath. Oh, and they just happen to be on an 8 game streak to the good, best current run in the league.
5. Miami Heat…Miami 5th to start out? After winning the title and adding Jesus Shuttlesworth? I wouldn’t call it a championship hangover because the Heat still have the 2nd best record in the East, and they do seem like they play with some we got this championship swag now, but they also appear to be on cruise control in certain games. Still, if I were them, there wouldn’t be much that would worry me about their start so far…except their 2 games against the Knicks. After 2-plus seasons, I still don’t think they have solved their point guard problems, and in both of those games Raymond Felton was able to get into the paint, draw defenders, and kick the ball out to open shooters at will. While being a different kind of player, Baron Davis had similar success against Miami in the regular season and playoffs before breaking his entire knee. Both guys were able to out-quick or bully their way past Mario Chalmers and or Norris Cole to score or set up other guys…before his injury, the Heat only had a clear advantage when New York sent Davis to the bench to play JR Smith at the point (yuck). Miami’s best solution would be to play their funky, non-point guard, amoeba type lineup, but they can't do that all the time, and either way the Knicks present a real problem for the Heat in the East this year.
He still got game.
6. LA Clippers…I had questions about chemistry and playing time when the Clips signed or traded for every available player in the universe this offseason, but this team is going to be a problem for opponents all season long. Jamal Crawford, (fat) Lamar Odom, Eric Bledsoe, and Matt Barnes give them the deepest bench in the league, and you still have Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to deal with on a nightly basis. If Griffin continues to at least take (making them is a bonus, but he at least has to take them to keep the defense honest) open 18-footers off the pick-and-roll, it’s going to open the offense up for the whole team. Did I mention they are right behind OKC with a 7 game winning streak of their own? No? Ok, well there you go.
23. LA Lakers…No bottom 5 this week, but I will give you a team that has definitely been among the dregs of the league up to this point. The Lakers have lost 3 straight, 7 of their last 10, and are 4-8 since D’Antoni took over as head coach. I had some doubts about their overall team speed and health as an older unit as well as their lack of a bench, but I didn’t expect them to struggle like this at all. After firing Mike Brown, using the current roster in D’Antoni’s previously mentioned system has been nothing short of trying to smash a bunch of round pegs into the squarest holes ever. Pau Gasol has been hurt, but D’Antoni doesn’t want him on the court anyway. Steve Nash was the engine that made D’Antoni’s offense go in Phoenix, but Nash is a few years older, hurt now as well, and doesn’t have the Suns’ miracle training staff to fix him up anymore. If LA thinks Nash’s return is going to be a magic cure-all for everything that ails them, they better hope they kept the receipt for that purchase. Dwight Howard continues to be a liability (as he has his whole career) at the end of the game from the free throw line, but D’Antoni refuses to sit him because he doesn’t want to scare Howard off from resigning with the Lakers in the offseason. Even besides all that, the Lakers have basically none of the spot-up shooting necessary to make his offense work, and that along with Nash’s injury has caused Kobe Bryant to bring the ball up the court, somehow pass to himself a few times without travelling, and shoot possession after possession. Kobe’s individual stats are great this year considering the point he’s at in his career, but the Lakers are also something ridiculous like 1-10 in games where he scores 30-plus points. So then what exactly is the solution? Is there a solution at all? They are a complete mess. Their best hope for this year is to trade an unhappy Gasol away for like 3 quality role players (preferably 2 shooters and a point guard)…wait, hold that thought. Of course that’s what will happen…they are the Lakers after all. The rest of the league always lines up to be taken to the cleaners in trades by LA.
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