Quarter Season Power Rankings
1 (Initial ranking -1).
@Instinctive – I would say Instinctive’s team is looking even better than it did a month ago. Haliburton is in the All-NBA conversation, Mitchell is playing the best ball of his career, Derrick White can’t miss a shot.
2 (2).
@scoobus – I feel like there is one missing back court player from competing with Instinctive for #1. There has been some injuries, but nothing sounds major. I think Scoob is a tier above anybody else below.
3 (3).
@dunfee555 – Nearly the entire team is having career years – Tatum is a legit MVP candidate, Turner, Vassell, and Stewart are all playing by far their best basketball of their career, OG, Garland, and KCP are all playing at a very high level. The sore thumb is still Collins, who is probably out of the rotation here and the team is probably a shooting PF away from competing with the two above.
4 (4).
@trader jake – I still just don’t love the overall fit of Green and Holiday with Jokic but Bane is probably now the second best player on the team (he would have been worth his draft slot here if he made 10x the money) but otherwise, the shooting is looking worse this year from pretty much everybody else across the board (other than McDaniels). The D is capped by Jokic, and the O is capped by a lack of shooting.
5 (unranked). Kev4029 – Cade was struggling a bit before he got hurt but this team still needed him as I didn’t draft much of a backup PG (George Hill is probably maxed out as a 10-12 mpg guy in this format). Still, Giannis is the best player in the NBA, Siakam was playing at a top 10 level before his injury, and most of the rest of the roster has been as advertised (but no better except for Trey Murphy). If TJ Warren can return here in the next week and is at his 2020 level, that may balance out the Cade miss and keep the roster afloat. After the draft I would have had me #2, but things have not gone quite as well as I hoped.
6 (8).
@the moops – Gobert and Barrett have been a bit of a disaster but most of the rest of the team is playing probably a little better than expected other than Brook Lopez who is having a career year shooting 40% threes, 50% from the field, blocking 3 shots a game, and the favorite to win DPOY. I think Gobert would be coming off the bench and suddenly a lineup of Morant, Brown (shooting over 40% from 3), SF of choice (Barrett, Wade, Martin), Wood, Lopez has enough 5 (down).
7 (5).
@Desert_Power – The good news – Curry was a steal at 15 and playing as well as ever, Poeltl has probably taken a small step forward, PJ Washington is playing better but otherwise things have been a bit of a disaster. Lebron has been hurt and playing the worst basketball since his rookie year, Keldon Johnson doesn’t look great, and Giddey still can’t shoot. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out, but for now the arrow is pointing down.
8 (7).
@Yo Mama – To move up this team needed the high picked young guys to take a step forward and Davis to stay healthy. Davis has done his part but Edwards has stagnated, Barnes has gotten worse, and Wagner is only showing incremental improvement. The PG trio of Brunson, Jones, and Alvarado is showing some improvement that should keep them competitive enough while Yo Mama hopes Edwards and Barnes can turn it on.
9 (6).
@Eephus – Towns has been arguably the biggest disappointment in the NBA this year even before he got hurt and most of the rest of the roster has been somewhere between where they were last year and a little below that level without anybody of consequence other than Mobley showing improvement.
10 (9).
@nysfl2 – My initial criticisms were fair (the team is all O or all D players) but I discounted the depth a bit and Mathurin is playing like the ROY and actually helping a team win IRL. Shooting has turned out to be a real concern though with Trae playing like total doo-doo. If everybody stays healthy and Trae gets back to previous levels, this team will be top half of the league, I think.
11 (13).
@chem X – SGA and Zubac are two fifths of the way to a good starting lineup and Kuzma is looking really good (better if he was making his threes). Overall, other than Ball not playing much yet and Herro not showing much improvement, things are generally looking better than I thought, but I don’t think it matters much.
12 (11).
@Frosty – Still not a believer in a team headlined in part by Murray and Sabonis plus the defense isn’t looking any better all the way down the line.
13 (10).
@Juxtatarot – A month ago I said this team would be either top 3 or bottom 3 by the end of the season – right now that’s trending toward bottom three unless Leonard can get healthy, Poole can start making shots, and a couple of the bench players step up a bit more.
14 (12).
@Jayrod – What I said a month ago: “I mostly like the starting unit, but there is a serious lack of shooting and general competency beyond the starting group.” I think that is showing to be very true and exacerbated by Harden being hurt and not making his threes. The bright spot has been Markkanen looking like an all-star.
15 (14).
@Dr. Octopus – Bol Bol! At least a team of Bol, Booker, and Butler looks like a fun time. Timelord will help when he gets back, Paolo still looks like the future superstar of the real draft, but Dragic and Cole Anthony are still a bad pair of PFs and there is really nobody else (other than Booker) who is going to be the lead creator.