Red, White, and Blue Power Rankings: 3/11-3/17

Well you may have noticed there were no rankings last week. Not sure what to tell you. There were some things going on that sort of distracted me from doing it. But, we’re back in action. This past week was the trade deadline and some of the teams in this “division” made a move.

News

Let’s review the trades that were made. Stephane took a look at all of the deals made on the deadline here. We’ll look at just our 6 teams.

Sixers: Got Sam Young from Grizzlies for Ricky Sanchez, who has yet to play in NBA.

Wizards: Wizards finally have moved on from JaVale McGee and Nick Young. McGee went to Denver and Young went to Clippers. Wizards got Nene and Brian Cook in return.

Clippers: As mentioned, Clippers have Nick Young. They gave up Cook. Not bad. They needed a SG that could score. Young can score, although they should probably look for a better option later.

Hawks: Ok technically, they didn’t trade players. But, they made a trade and so I’m recording it here. Hawks gave up a second round pick for cash.

Nets: Save the best for last, or something like that. Nets were one of the top teams rumored to be after Dwight Howard. It became evident that Magic were not trading him. Nets seem to be odd man out now. Will Deron Williams stay? Or will the Nets be moving backwards? They made a deal to get Gerald Wallace. They gave up Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams, and a future first-round pick. This was either to try and convince Howard to come, or Deron to stay. Or both. Or neither. In any event, I’ll have my eye on my home state team during the off-season right behind my Sixers.

Week Review

I want to start off by saying each team had a losing record. So, it’s the best of the worst sort of. And, because of this, I’m going to go off of record for the rankings this week. This may not be the best way to do it, but that’s where I’m going.

Clippers

Clippers went 2-3 this past week. they beat the Hawks, and Rockets. Both teams are decent. They lost to Warriors, Celtics, and Suns. It was an average week for them.

Hawks

Hawks actually went 2-2 but the 2 teams they beat were not as good as who the Clippers beat. Hawks beat Kings and Wizards. Lost to Clippers and Nuggets. Although, Hawks lost in OT in Denver and then the next night they went to LA vs the Clippers and lost there.

Sixers

Well…if you watched this past week of Sixers ball, then you’d understand why I’d feel upset. I want to put the Sixers in 7th place because I was so upset. But two things hit me: #1, there are only 6 teams in these rankings. It’d probably be hard to end up in 7th. Guess you had a heck of a week then. #2 I never allow my emotions to dictate how I rank teams. I’m a huge Sixers fan and if I relied on just emotion, Sixers probably in first most of the time. I look at each team in a neutral way. No favorites. Anyway, Sixers started the week off beating down the Knicks in NY. Then they lost to Pacers, Heat, and Bulls. It seems to me that maybe the Sixers are not as good as I thought.

Pistons

They went 1-2 this week. They beat the Kings while losing to Jazz and Suns. Pistons had a Pistons week I guess. Pistons allowed at least 105 points per game. So, I’d say defense needs some work, huh? Not like Kings, Jazz, and Suns will light up a scoreboard.

Wizards

Oh joy. 1-3. The Wizards lost to solid teams so they beat the Nets in the rankings as they also went 1-3. Beat the Hornets and lost to the Spurs, Mavericks, and Hawks. They lost by an average of 12.67 points. Yay.

Nets

Like I said, Nets went 1-3 on an easier schedule. Lost to Bucks, Magic, and Hornets. Beat the Raptors. While Pistons let teams score over 100 points regularly, the Nets only let the Bucks and Hornets get over 100. Meanwhile, in their games vs the Bucks, Hornets, and Raptors, the Nets ended up in the 90’s. In all, Nets scored 90.25 while their opponents went 94.25. A close loss during the week; but Nets lost by 16 and won by 14 so it sort of evens out.

Week Preview: 3/18-3/24

To me, this is the start on the big playoff rush. Pretty soon we should start to see teams needing only a few wins to lock up a seed. In reference to the Sixers, 45 games have been played. 21 games are left.

Clippers have a tough week. It includes a back-back-back plus two other games. They host the Pistons and then start their back-back-back. All three games are on the road. Ouch. But, they won’t be doing too much moving around. Pacers, Thunder, and Hornets. So, not too bad. Then, they end the week at home vs the Grizzlies. I can see them winning vs Pistons. This team is better than the Hornets but with that being the 3rd game in 3rd night, anything can happen. So I would expect them to beat the Pacers. We’ll have to see how well Nick Young fits in with them. They can beat Grizzlies too but we’ll go with 2-3.

Hawks have a week in which they can come out with a winning record. Cavaliers twice, Celtics, Nets, and Wizards. I’ll go with loss to Celtics, split two meetings with Cavs, and beat Nets and Wizards. We’ll see how well Wizards play with Nene though. But I’m still going with 3-2 for the Hawks this week.

Sixers. (sigh) Bobcats, Knicks, and Celtics. My heart tells me that they win all three. they had better beat the Bobcats. And I have always said they can beat Knicks and Celtics. Those two are at home too. 3-0. If they lose one game, I will officially start to doubt how good they really are and that great start they had.

Uh-oh, Pistons. They have 4 games this week. Clippers, Nuggets, Heat, and Knicks. God bless’em. They have best chance against Knicks but they have been looking better with their new coach. I don’t want to say Pistons get swept. I just have to go with 1-3. The way this season has been going, there have been many upsets and I think Pistons can pull one off. I hope.

Wizards…well they have 4 games and I can see 1-3. Grizzlies, Nets, Pacers, and Hawks. They have Nene, and when healthy, Nene combined with Wall should be something to see. The Nets have Wallace as their new guy so Nets may still have upper hand. Just like with the Pistons, I have no idea where this win is coming from but I think it can happen.

And then there were the Nets. Their future is looking slim right about now. Oh but this week looks pretty good. Cavs, Wizards, Hawks, and Bobcats. I can see win on Wizards and Bobcats. They could beat the Cavs too. It’s entirely possible they could sweep but unlikely. I’ll go with 2-2 but wouldn’t be surprised to see 3-1.

Again, this past week all of the teams didn’t do well. As it stands, Sixers seem to be the best out of these teams. We’ll never know about the Hawks since they were hurt from close to day one. But then again, each team has been dealing with injuries with this condensed season. Come next season, I better not hear about back-back games complaints. It could be worse.

I’m really looking for Sixers to bounce back. I say they can still win their division. I still believe this. But if Sixers lose their grip on 1st, I doubt they will get it back. Huge games vs Knicks and Celtics this week. Now is the time to show them who is boss.