• Hollinger’s rankings weigh recent games more than older ones. This makes sense, since power rankings generally like to reflect recent play rather than an entire season. That’s what records are for. And most I believe will argue that the team has played well recently – 7-3 over the last 10, for instance, with wins over San Antonio and the huge victory over Atlanta.
• The Sixers also have, despite a below .500 record, the indicators of a being a pretty good team. The next three bullets go deeper into this statement.
• While the Sixers have blown more than their share of close games, they have made up the difference with some big victories. As such, the Sixers are outscoring their opponents by more than a point per game this year, which is usually considered a better indicator of future success than overall record.
• Over the last 14 games (25% of the schedule), the Sixers have outscored opponents by over 6.7 points per game, inflated heavily by the wins over Atlanta and Minnesota of 20+. That heavily favors the Sixers in this ranking structure, as explained earlier, where recent record and point differential are of the utmost importance.
• Strength of schedule is also considered – the Sixers are outscoring opponents by almost 7 points per game, while the average opponent’s record during that timespan is over .500. They’ve also played more road games than home games, which is also considered – both big victories occurred on the road.

All in all, the high ranking reflects the Sixers recent success and plays down the horrible start to the season, while also being inflated especially due to the win over Atlanta (which I believe does not factor the absence of Al Horford – I still need confirmation on this). Even if the system isn’t completely reflective of the best teams in the NBA (I believe I can safely say the Sixers are not a top 8 NBA squad right now), it just feels good to be included in the top 10.

And, by the way, if you saw this coming at the beginning of the year, well, I might want your opinion on some other matters.

• “On Friday night, Iguodala drove the left baseline and, somehow, noticed that Meeks was drifting along the three-point line way out on the right wing. Pretty sure no one in the arena saw Meeks except Iguodala. Meeks made the three. Moral of the story? Iguodala loves playing with Meeks. Think back on the last few years: to whom would Iguodala kick the ball out after driving? Usually, to someone who would either miss the shot or not even find the open space to begin with. Meeks is the first solid perimeter option who can also defend, rebound a little bit, and create his shot in transition.”

For a minute, let’s look back to the beginning of the season, at the roster for the first game of the season. Our starting 5:

1. Holiday
2. Iguodala
3. Kapono
4. Brand
5. Hawes

And our bench: Williams, Young, Turner, Nocioni, Speights, Songaila, Battie.

Yeah, there was no Jodie Meeks. He was inactive along with Craig Brackins. While Brackins remains glued to the inactive list with an almost healthy roster, Meeks has become a key member of the Sixers rotation. How has this happened? Well, some of it had to do with just getting an opportunity with injuries. Andre was injured and Doug gave Jodie the nod off the bench. He hasn’t looked back since, with several major performances: the 20-point first quarter against Charlotte, the off-the-bench outburst against the Heat, and his 24-point game in the revenge-win against Chicago the most notable.

Meeks’ overall numbers aren’t all that memorable: he averages under 10 pts per game in only around 25 minutes. And he’s not great at much other than 3-point shooting: he gets just 1.7 REB (he really does rebound a little bit), 1.0 AST, and 0.6 STL. In other words, Jodie has to shoot well to have any production on the stat sheet.

His success from distance this year, however, has opened the floor for everyone else to do their things. The proof is not in standard numbers, but here’s something to back me up. The best two Sixers lineups have Jodie in them according to both raw and adjusted plus/minus. Heck, the lineup of Brand-Young-Iguodala-Meeks-Holiday was third in the NBA among ALL lineups when NBA.com Stat Guy John Schuhmann called it “the lineup of doom” (the lineup currently sits seventh, according to BasketballValue.com).

In essence, Jodie may be just as valuable for his potential contribution (and the effects that would have on the opponent’s defense) as he is for his actual contribution. And while his impact may not show up on your basic stat sheet, it certainly shows when watching the game. And I imagine Andre really does like to play alongside him, since it works pretty well.