Iiiiit’s baaaack! My lovable, adorable, perhaps even sexy power rankings return for it’s second season. I wanted to do it last week but issues with hurricane Sandy (I live in New Jersey in case you missed it in my many bios) kinda slowed me down. Anyway, I’ll go over a brief review of what the rankings are about in case ya missed it.
Just like many sites like ESPN, NBA.com, and Yahoo! Sports does when they power rank the NBA teams, I rank the NBA teams but with a twist: The teams I rank have one thing is common and that’s that their team logo is red, white, and blue. So, the teams this year are the Sixers, Clippers, Wizards, Pistons, and Hawks.
If you’ve followed my posts from last season, well, just get ready for a few changes. I’m trying to use these power rankings to improve my own writing skills as I’m far from perfect. Stats will have larger role as well as team news from around the web.
What’s that you say? You’re ready to get on with the rankings? Well, let’s go!
Nov 8, 2012; Portland, OR, USA;Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul (3) dribbles around Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard (11) at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-US PRESSWIRE
Team News
This is the section where I briefly talk about some big news from the 5 teams over the week, if there are any to report. Also, injuries, rumors, and quotes.
Sixers: No real news. Not too many rumors floating around although I hear there’s some talk that maybe the Sixers are hiding something about Bynum’s knees. But it’s something that’s kinda floating around so we can’t be too sure. But I guess that’s a rumor huh? Anyway, injury reports are from Basketball-Reference.com. Injuries include Bynum and his knees, Jason Richardson and his ankle, and Kwame Brown with a calf strain.
Clippers: No team news to report. Well, Blake Griffin did sign with Jordan Brand early this season. Rumors are silent. Injuries are Chauncey Billups, Grant Hill, and Trey Thompkins.
Hawks: Hawks don’t have anything major going on. They weren’t able to reach an extension with their PG Jeff Teague. Might be some problems this offseason but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Hawks have had some injury concerns in the past. Last season, Al Horford went down for a long time. Even this season has some injury concerns although at the moment only Johan Petro is listed as an injured player.
Wizards: Wizards’ making the news as being one of the two teams that have yet to win a game. And they do have a slight excuse as their star PG John Wall is out with an injury. He is eying a return as early as late November. Nene is also out for who knows how long. I’m sure the Wizards get a win before their stars return, right?
Pistons: Remember when I said there were two teams that are still winless this season? Well, Pistons are one of them. Sadly, the stellar play of Greg Monroe is wasted. He actually got a triple double, the first triple double by a Piston since 2004 by Billups. Pistons have been healthy too, unlike the Wizards. Only Corey Maggette is out for the Pistons.
Stats Leaders
Which team is the best in scoring? Defense?
PPG: Clippers, 104.33
OPP: Sixers, 88.33
FG%: Clippers, .502
OPP%: Sixers, .425
Based on those stats, it looks like Sixers are the best defensive team while Clippers score the most and shoot the best. Let’s look at some other stuff:
Pistons took care of the ball the best with 15.43 turnovers per game while the Clippers caused the most turnovers with 9.83 steals per game. They also block the most shots too with 7 per game. Sixers are the leading rebounding team. If there’s one common thing here it’s that the Sixers and Clippers are the dominating teams so far in this division. It was the same way last year.
Week Review
These are the official rankings, with some commentary provided in the way of weekly performance performance, overall record, and my personal opinion of where they should rank.
Clippers: 1 (-)
Team Record: 4-2
So the Sixers and Clippers both have the same record. So why did I go with the Clippers? Isn’t this a Sixers’ blog so they automatically get the advantage over ties? Well, the Clippers played better than the Sixers. They started the season off with solid wins over the Grizzlies and Lakers then fell to the Warriors and Cavaliers. Now, those two teams are not better than the Knicks, but, the Clippers still lost by only single digits. They rebounded by blowing out the undefeated Spurs and blew out the Blazers too.
Sixers: 2 (-)
Team Record: 4-2
Sixers’ first 4 games were just miserable to watch but they managed to go 2-2 in those. And then they had a quality win over the Celtics and then carried that over vs the Raptors. Jrue Holiday has been the top man leading the charge and that’s not a bad thing.
Hawks: 3 (-)
Team Record: 2-2
Hawks had an interesting week. They lost their first game to the Rockets so they took their wrath on the Thunder and beat them in OKC. Then they beat the Pacers and lost a close one to the Heat. Not a bad week. I think they may miss the playoffs but this is a team you can’t sleep on. Also, enjoy Lou Williams.
Pistons: 4 (-)
Team Record: 0-7
Just our luck we have the two worst NBA records in the league right now. Pistons get the green light I guess because they lost better? But really, Greg Monroe is a beast and while I do think it’s a situation where his stats are inflated from being on a bad team, he is a future star in this league. Also, the Pistons had a tough schedule. They faced the Rockets, Suns, Lakers, Nuggets, Kings, Thunder, and Rockets again. But wait! Pistons’ only home game was vs the Rockets on day one of their season. So it’s probably a lot of road wear on the team. Once they get back home, they should get a few wins.
Wizards: 5 (-)
Team Record: 0-5
Wizards are missing two of their best players but they’ve actually put up a fight. They faced the Cavaliers, Celtics twice, Bucks, and Pacers. They didn’t lose one game by more than 10 points. They took the Celtics to OT while on the road after losing to them by 3 points at home.
Week Preview: 11/11-11/17
An outlook on the next week coming. I predict records mainly while briefly breaking down each team’s week.
Clippers: Clips have 3 games this week, all at home. Hawks, Heat, and Bulls. I see Clippers beating the Hawks and Bulls, while losing to the Heat. So I predict a 2-1 week.
Sixers: Sixers have a nice week too. 3 games, all at home. And I think Sixers can win all three too. Bucks, Pistons, and Jazz. If the Sixers were to drop one, it would probably be against the Bucks. Quick guards Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings will provide some problems to a Sixers team that has shown problems with guard penetration. But still, I’ll go 3-0.
Hawks: So I said they would lose to the Clippers. They also face the Blazers, Warriors, and Kings. All on the road. But, as you can see, all of the games are in the same time zone so after the Clippers game, they’ll basically adjust to going up and down the western coast. Still, I see a loss to the Warriors but I think they beat the Kings. As for the Blazers, well, I don’t know. I’d like to think the Hawks win but I’m going with a loss as that will be the second game of a back to back after facing the Clippers. So I’ll go 1-3 for the week.
Pistons: The goal for the Pistons is to get win number one. Can they do it? Well, first game of the week is vs the Thunder, so nope. I said they would lose to the Sixers. Last game of the week is vs the Magic. I think combined with losses to the Thunder and Sixers would make the Pistons hungry and go all out on the Magic. So, I say Pistons go 1-2 this week.
Wizards: It would appear that the Wizards are in for a long rest of the year 2012. With their two best guys out for a while, the Wizards will have to step up their game to get their first win of the season. What about this week? Welp, the Bobcats are on schedule. So are the Mavericks and Jazz. If they were to win only one game this week, it’s vs the Cats. And I think they will do it so, just like the Pistons, the Wizards will go 1-2.
So that’s it for week one of the power rankings. If you followed me last year, you already know I do a lot of clowning around as the season goes on. Expect more of the same this season. Follow me on Twitter @DanteWrites because you’ll love my live game tweets during Sixers games. Or at least follow @SixerSense. Thanks for reading!