One thing I like to do after the first week of NBA regular season action is to overreact to the early standings for the hilarity of the Power Rankings. Put too much weight into the results of the early games the first week or so, and just see how much it screws up what I thought the rankings would look like going into the season. It creates a lot of chaos within the rankings, and most fans enjoy the fun that is had. Other readers and subscribers end up hating it. I get a lot of questions along the lines of:
“Oh you really think the Magic are better than the Lakers? Clown!”
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Last season, the Golden State Warriors got demolished in the first week of the season, and I dropped them in the rankings from one of the best teams to one of the worst teams. In fact, I think I dropped them all the way to 30th. A couple of Warriors fans took umbrage with that overreaction. Funny enough, as the season went on, it turned out to be coincidentally prescient to have them at the bottom. They were brutally terrible last season and never really got competitive. Sometimes, the overreaction ends up justifying itself.
Other times? I’ll throw a team into the top of the rankings, and they’ll make that look foolish, no more than one week later. If I’m lucky, it will be a fortnight before that overreaction looks dumb. But here’s the thing about it: It’s fun to overreact.
I’ve played the game of trying to be measured and thoughtful, but it makes no sense to do that at the start of the season. We talk ourselves into what we want to believe and ignore the small sample size when it’s our team. So why not overreact along with everybody else for a couple of weeks before everything settles in?
That’s what we’re doing this week.
Here’s how the Power Rankings work:
• It’s up to my discretion how the rankings shake out each week. For some teams, they’ll be hit in the short-term. Others will be given the benefit for the long-term.
• If I have a team ahead of another team, there’s no reason to ask why they’re ranked above the team you like. The answer is pretty simple: I think that team is set up better for success.
• Leave a fun, snarky comment toward me, a team or a player and it will likely get picked by Wosny Lambre for our Power Rankings podcast, for subscribers only, which has Wos reading the best comments each week. Or it might even make The Restricted Area, our new NBA show on The Athletic’s YouTube channel.
• Only 15 teams will be deemed worthy of a GIF or video each week. That’s to help cut down on eating up your data and computer’s processor.
• This is supposed to be fun so let’s have fun with it.
The Power Rankings heading into Week 2 of the 2020-21 regular season begin now!
1. Los Angeles Lakers (⇔Previously 1st), 2-1, +16.0 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Clippers, Win over Mavericks, Win over Wolves
Week 1 overreaction: Having both Anthony Davis and LeBron James available isn’t necessary. The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t perform well on Ring Night, but most teams don’t perform well on Ring Night. So what did they do the next two games? Blew out the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day and then demolished the Minnesota Timberwolves to close out the week. LeBron James was good but not unreal (by his standards) against Dallas. Anthony Davis didn’t play against Minnesota, which was missing Karl-Anthony Towns. The rotation is so deep for the Lakers that they could cruise to the 1-seed in the West without having these guys consistently contribute.
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Why are they ranked here? Even when overreacting to some of the other performances around the league, the Lakers are still tops.
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2. Brooklyn Nets (⇑Previously 5th), 2-1, +16.3 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Warriors, Win over Celtics, Loss at Hornets
Week 1 overreaction: They’re the best contender in the East. While the loss to Charlotte really wasn’t defensible, I love what I saw from the Brooklyn Nets in the first week of the season. They have a lot to work on, and I still have no clue why DeAndre Jordan is starting over Jarrett Allen. Allen is so much better than Jordan at this point in their careers, but that’s for Steve Nash to work out with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Even with the loss to Charlotte, they look sharper than Milwaukee, Boston, Miami and Philadelphia so far. Long way to go, but a great start for the Nets.
Why are they ranked here? I might be setting myself up for failure for believing in this team already, but Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving look great so far.
3. Indiana Pacers (⇑Previously 16th), 3-0, +10.4 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Knicks, Win at Bulls, Win over Celtics
Week 1 overreaction: Domantas Sabonis is easily their best player. Victor Oladipo has been good. Malcolm Brogdon has been good. T.J. Warren and Myles Turner have been good. Sabonis has been on another level when it comes to leading this Indiana Pacers squad to start the campaign. He’s putting up 24-11-7, knocking down shots, and he even had the winning bucket against Boston to close out the week. Nate Bjorkgren is running everything through him like it’s his dad. For the basketball nerds, Sabonis is must-watch right now.
Why are they ranked here? Sure, they beat two bad teams, but the win over Boston was legitimate.
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4. Orlando Magic (⇑Previously 23rd), 3-0, +6.9 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Heat, Win at Wizards, Win at Wizards
Week 1 overreaction: Markelle Fultz is their most important player. I know Nikola Vucevic is their All-Star center. I know Aaron Gordon is their Swiss Army Knife on both ends of the floor. Evan Fournier is the sharpshooter, and Terrence Ross is the spark. But Fultz being able to push the tempo and put the defense on its heels is what makes the Orlando Magic go this season. The jumper from deep still isn’t there, but he’s making nearly all of his free throws. Fultz being overwhelming athletically as an attacker is giving them life early on.
Why are they ranked here? They always seem to beat the Heat, but the wins over the Wizards will look better as the season goes on.
5. Cleveland Cavaliers (⇑previously 29th), 3-0, +11.6 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Hornets, Win at Pistons, Win over Sixers
Week 1 overreaction: This team is fun! And like … in a fun way. Not in a bad way. J.B. Bickerstaff has the Cleveland Cavaliers pushing the tempo and making good decisions on the court. Collin Sexton is never someone I’ve been that high on, but he’s playing incredible basketball. Darius Garland looks like a completely different player than the overmatched rookie season we saw. Larry Nance Jr. is a shot of adrenaline every time he’s on the court, and Andre Drummond has been mostly positive. They just need to stop wasting possessions by getting him post touches.
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Why are they ranked here? We’re having fun with the Cavs. They’ve been pretty dominant in the first three games, even blowing out Detroit in a second overtime period.
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6. Atlanta Hawks (⇑Previously 20th), 2-0, +14.7 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Bulls, Win over Grizzlies
Week 1 overreaction: Apologize to Trae Young. OK, I don’t think we actually need to apologize to Trae Young, but I do find it odd that there are people who don’t believe he’s actually quite good. I understand the issues he has on the court, especially from a defensive standpoint. However, his offense is so good that even a little bit of help on both ends of the floor will make his impact so positive. When he makes moves like this, it’s just hard not to appreciate the way he sees the game on that end of the floor.
This pass fake from Young was sorcery. It got Valancuinas to run out and froze Allen on a critical bucket. pic.twitter.com/Lfw4iRBfXE
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) December 27, 2020
This is the worst he’s going to be for the next decade-plus.
Why are they ranked here? Wins over the Bulls and Grizzlies aren’t amazing so far, but I like how this revamped supporting cast is performing.
7. Miami Heat (⇓Previously 3rd), 1-1, +4.5 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Magic, Win over Pelicans
Week 1 overreaction: Adding Tyler Herro to the starting lineup feels like an overreaction by the Miami Heat. I wonder how much this will be matchup dependent or if the Heat will lean into this, as not to potentially hurt any confidence. If that’s even possible with Herro. I love the Heat bringing Goran Dragic off the bench. It was a great balance to what they wanted to do last season. However, I think starting Avery Bradley and bringing Herro and Dragic off the bench. It’s also … me second-guessing Erik Spoelstra, whom the GMs just voted as the best coach in the NBA.
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Why are they ranked here? They always lose to the Magic, it seems. But they bounced back with a quality one over New Orleans.
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8. Philadelphia 76ers (⇔Previously 8th), 2-1, +0.3 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Wizards, Win at Knicks, Loss at Cavs
Week 1 overreaction: This team flat-out can’t compete with Joel Embiid out of the game. The numbers over the first two games wouldn’t exactly prove this to be true, but look how they got dominated when they played without Embiid against Cleveland. In the first game of the season, he pushed Thomas Bryant around like he was a mop. In the second game, he did whatever he wanted against Mitchell Robinson and Julius Randle. But in the game against the Cavs without him? Andre Drummond couldn’t be stopped. Embiid has to be out there.
Why are they ranked here? The Embiid-less loss to the Cavs was bad, but I like what I see out of the supporting cast so far this season. It’s the mix the Sixers need around Embiid.
9. Phoenix Suns (⇑Previously 13th), 2-1, +4.9 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Mavericks, Loss at Kings, Win at Kings
Week 1 overreaction: Mikal Bridges is their third-best player. I’m tempted to call him their second-best player, but that would be too much of an overreaction. However, watching Bridges so far this season confirms my hopes that the bubble wasn’t a fluke for him, but a promise of things to come. He was one of my favorite players coming into the 2018 draft. I figured he’d be able to score some and knock down 3-pointers, while also being able to defend in most situations. I didn’t envision him eating someone’s face every time he guards him. Bridges is a monster.
Why are they ranked here? I hate the loss to the Kings, but the other two wins this season were impressive. They didn’t just win those two games. The level of basketball they played shows a great sign of things to come.
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10. Milwaukee Bucks (⇓Previously 2nd), 1-2, +4.7 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Celtics, Win over Warriors, Loss at Knicks
Week 1 overreaction: Giannis Antetokounmpo still can’t shoot. He’s 7-of-28 on jumpers and 4-of-16 from 3-point range. I don’t know if we were expecting him to look like Davis Bertans from deep or not, but the Greek Freak’s jump shot doesn’t look good so far. He’s also sub-60 percent on free throws after three games, and even lost a game because he missed a crucial one to send it to overtime. Giannis just has to keep chipping away at the jump shot problem. It won’t be solved overnight. But the Milwaukee Bucks have a harder game plan to execute in the postseason if he still can’t hit jumpers.
Why are they ranked here? Their only win is over a Warriors team that nobody believes in anymore. I’m not impressed by their first week.
11. Boston Celtics (⇓Previously 7th), 1-2, -8.9 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Bucks, Loss to the Nets, Loss at Pacers
Week 1 overreaction: Jaylen Brown is their best player. Is that an insane thing to believe? Probably. I thought it last season until Jayson Tatum took over and started dominating for the Boston Celtics. Then I just kept that take in my back pocket. After this first week, I feel good about it so far. It won’t hold, but Brown is really incredible on both ends of the floor. He’s been their leading scorer, and his defense helps lead the way for Boston. Tatum will be their best player next week and beyond, but Brown needs recognition as one of the best wings in the league.
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Why are they ranked here? They’re one banked in 3-pointer away from being 0-3 right now. 11th feels kind of generous after one week.
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12. Utah Jazz (⇔Previously 12th), 1-1, +6.8 net rating
Weekly slate: Win at Blazers, Loss to Wolves
Week 1 overreaction: Fair is fair after what I wrote about Jamal Murray. The bubble was a fluke! I fully expect Donovan Mitchell to shoot worse from 2-point range than 3-point range, whilst also finishing less than 40 percent of his shots within three feet of the rim. What’s interesting about the Utah Jazz’s strategy on offense this year is they really do seem to want to put up a ton of 3-pointers. They had 50 attempts in the first game of the season, and it dropped dramatically under the staunch defense of Minnesota when they managed just 34 deep attempts. Quin Synder’s team put up at least 40 attempts in a game 18 times last season. I think they’ll obliterate that this year.
Why are they ranked here? As impressive as the win over Portland was, the loss to Minnesota was just flat-out confusing. So I’m going to say they cancel each other out and stay here at 12.
13. Portland Trail Blazers (⇓Previously 9th), 1-1, -9.2 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Jazz, Win over Rockets
Week 1 overreaction: This team was overrated in the preseason! That’s a good overreaction to have, right? They got blown out by Utah in the first game and barely squeaked by half a Houston team in overtime in the second game. So we should definitely ignore the fact that the Portland Trail Blazers were a 3-seed with their core for two straight years before injuries ravaged the team last season, making Damian Lillard play the role of superhero. Or maybe the Blazers are going to be great and last year was an injury-riddled outlier? Also, CJ McCollum with 44 points, 8 assists, and no turnovers in the win over Houston became the 17th player to drop at least 40 and 8 without turning it over once. Only two players (Ricky Davis and Bradley Beal) have ever lost those games.
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Why are they ranked here? Portland got destroyed by the Jazz from deep and then squeaked by against half a Houston team. Felt like they needed to drop a bit.
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14. Dallas Mavericks (⇓Previously 10th), 1-2, +8.4 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Suns, Loss at Lakers, Win at Clippers
Week 1 overreaction: Luka Doncic is a bad 3-point shooter. There’s a difference between a guy who can’t knock down 3-pointers and a guy who has a low percentage because of the difficulty level of his 3-pointers. For the Dallas Mavericks star, the latter is probably the case. However, he’s still sub-32 percent (31.8) for his career after two seasons and a week. The Mavs need to set up some off-ball situations for him and get Doncic more catch-and-shoot opportunities. He keeps having to knock down hero 3-point shots, and he just doesn’t have that James Harden quality to the shot yet.
Why are they ranked here? As historic as the win over the Clippers was when they bested them by 51 (and 50 at the half), they didn’t look great earlier in the week. Need to see a little more cohesiveness for what was a tight group last season.
15. New Orleans Pelicans (⇔Previously 15th), 2-1, +0.7 net rating
Weekly slate: Win at Raptors, Loss at Heat, Win over Spurs
Week 1 overreaction: The Pelicans made a mistake not getting an extension done with Lonzo Ball. Is Ball ever going to be the franchise point guard he was projected to be at UCLA? Probably not. However, Ball was a good 3-point shooter last season, and he’s someone who can move the ball up the floor to push tempo. He’s also a better defender than most assume. He’s disruptive on that end of the floor often. They’re not asking him to be a traditional point guard here, but the ball should be in his hands more. Pelicans will want to lock him up long-term this coming offseason.
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Why are they ranked here? Didn’t like their Christmas Day effort, but the other two wins were good quality.
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16. San Antonio Spurs (⇑Previously 21st), 2-1, +5.1 net rating
Weekly slate: Win at Grizzlies, Win over Raptors, Loss at Pelicans
Week 1 overreaction: They’re going to restart a postseason streak. I think? Maybe? The San Antonio Spurs are going to be more competitive than they should be most nights. When you look at the potential of teams in the West, the Spurs should have received far more preseason consideration for the playoffs than they were given. Love what I see out of Lonnie Walker IV and Dejounte Murray so far, and I’m starting to wonder if they can get away with playing five guards throughout the game.
Why are they ranked here? They botched the end of the Pelicans game and should be 3-0. Still get to move up though.
17. Oklahoma City Thunder (⇑Previously 22nd), 1-0, +2.9 net rating
Weekly slate: Rockets postponed, Win at Hornets
Week 1 overreaction: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is as good as everybody thinks he is. He’s essentially a potential chameleon. Whatever you project him to be, he can look exactly like that, as long as you’re projecting a significantly good player. The Oklahoma City Thunder would probably love to have competitive losses all season and rack up lottery balls for 2021. But Gilgeous-Alexander might be good enough to keep them from finishing with that tie for the highest odds. I don’t think they’ll be play-in tournament good, but they’ll be pesky.
Why are they ranked here? Just had the one game because of a postponement. But they looked better than expected.
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18. Houston Rockets (⇓Previously 17th), 0-1, -0.3 net rating
Weekly slate: Thunder postponed, Loss at Blazers
Week 1 overreaction: I actually don’t have an overreaction here because they’ve struggled so much to field a team in the first week. So maybe let’s talk about that for a bit. It’s good that the NBA is being so careful about keeping guys off the court when there is the threat of COVID-19 being spread within the team/game/more. I’m hoping this brief outbreak and concern within the Houston Rockets organization is fine, and nobody suffers any real short-term or long-term effects, including the people they’re in contact with on a daily basis. As for their game against Portland, it was a ton of fun, and you love seeing two scorers duel it out. Maybe don’t leave the guy with 41 points open for a 3-pointer to help off a drive?
Why are they ranked here? I didn’t feel great about them heading into the season, but no wild swings after just one game this week.
19. Minnesota Timberwolves (⇑Previously 25th), 2-1, -6.4 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Pistons, Win at Jazz, Loss at Lakers
Week 1 overreaction: The wing problem actually isn’t a problem! One of the worries with the Minnesota Timberwolves this season is they’re a team built around two stars who don’t defend, and they hope to make up for that with a bunch of dynamic wings. They’re relying on Jarrett Culver, Malik Beasley, rookie Anthony Edwards and Josh Okogie to be consistently good each night. While the Wolves can’t make 3-point shots, Beasley and Edwards have been good scoring options. And Culver is actually one of the few guys hitting those deep jumpers.
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Why are they ranked here? The win against Utah was impressive, but with Karl-Anthony Towns dealing with that wrist injury, things will come back down to earth for them.
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20. Sacramento Kings (⇑Previously 24th), 2-1, -2.5 net rating
Weekly slate: Win at Nuggets, Win over Suns, Loss to Suns
Week 1 overreaction: Tyrese Haliburton will be their most consistent guard this season. Buddy Hield is a fine player, but he’s never a defender. Cory Joseph is a great defender, but his offense is spotty. De’Aaron Fox is obviously the most dynamic guard they have, but he goes through some wild shooting slumps. The rookie Haliburton will give the Sacramento Kings the steadiest hand they have. His shooting will mostly be there this season, and he doesn’t look like a threat to be sloppy with the ball. Him falling to 12 was some rare Kings draft luck.
Why are they ranked here? This may feel low for them with two quality wins, but the win over Denver was more about the Nuggets than them. And the Suns evened things up.
21. Denver Nuggets (⇓Previously 6th), 0-2, -7.8 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Kings, Loss to Clippers
Week 1 overreaction: The bubble was a fluke! People in Denver were hoping that the bubble was something Jamal Murray could carry over into the next season and beyond. Through two games … it hasn’t exactly looked that way. He was brutal in the opening night loss to Sacramento with a 1-of-9 shooting performance from the field. He followed it up with a solid performance on Christmas Day (23 points on 9-of-20 from the field), but we’ve seen solid out of him. We want to see Murray light these guys up each night.
Why are they ranked here? Blew a home win to Sacramento in a pretty bad way, and then got beat down by the Clippers. They need to take a big hit this week but will be fine in the future.
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22. Toronto Raptors (⇓Previously 11th), 0-2, -9.6 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Pelicans, Loss at Spurs
Week 1 overreaction: The exodus of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka was too much for the Toronto Raptors to overcome! The defense has been rough in the first two games, but it will most likely settle down. I doubt they’ll give up 40 percent from 3-point range to every opponent. I am very intrigued by this bench unit from Nick Nurse so far. Norman Powell, Matt Thomas, Chris Boucher and a sprinkling of DeAndre’ Bembry. It feels a little barebones, but Boucher has also flashed some fun rim protection. Maybe Bembry can be a playmaker for them off the bench?
Why are they ranked here? They look pretty bad through the first two games, but I’m not worried long-term. They just had to take the drop with the overreaction climbs.
23. LA Clippers (⇓Previously 4th), 2-1, -10.2 net rating
Weekly slate: Win over Lakers, Win over Nuggets, Loss to Mavs
Week 1 overreaction: There is no way to overreact to a 51-point loss. I also don’t think we should underreact. If you lose by 51 and you’re a bad team, you should get roasted. If you lose by 51 and you talk about being a title-contending team, the jokes and ridicule are going to fly. And it’s not like this loss is something that just kept getting worse and worse and worse as the game went on. They were down 50 at half. And couldn’t even manage to keep it to 40-something by the end of the game. I don’t care that Kawhi Leonard was out. I don’t care about the Christmas travel schedule. They lost by 51.
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Why are they ranked here? They lost by 51 points! They’ll have to wear this for a week.
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24. New York Knicks (⇓Previously 27th), 1-2. -3.2 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Pacers, Loss to Sixers, Win over Bucks
Week 1 overreaction: Julius Randle will be a hot commodity at the trade deadline. OK, this probably won’t be true. But I do find the whole Julius Randle experience to be very confusing. I’ve never been big on him, but he puts up some impressive stat lines every once in a while. He’s hit the 3-point shot through the first week of the season. If he actually shot between 36 and 40 percent from deep, he’d be much more sought after. However, he’d still have to prove to be a part of an offense, instead of having to be the entire offense. This New York Knicks team has been frisky early, and they destroyed the Bucks.
Why are they ranked here? They aren’t 0-3 after that schedule this week. That’s not something anybody expected.
25. Memphis Grizzlies (⇓Previously 18th), 0-2, -10.3 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Spurs, Loss to Hawks
Week 1 overreaction: Last season was a fluke! I don’t really believe that, but it would be a lot more fun if the Memphis Grizzlies took one of those two games. Once again, they’re dealing with the absence of Jaren Jackson Jr., who is supposed to be the other main building block with Ja Morant. So far, Morant has been even better than advertised, but he just didn’t have the help to pull out wins this past week. They were way ahead of schedule last season and a regression wouldn’t be out of the question. But they’ll be exciting regardless.
Why are they ranked here? Both games were losses and each one was by double digits. It happens.
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26. Charlotte Hornets (⇔Previously 26th), 1-2, -2.3 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Cavs, Loss to Thunder, Win over Nets
Week 1 overreaction: This is an incredibly fun team. I don’t think there is nearly enough talent on this team. And the talent they have is mostly young and struggles with keeping concentration on the little things. However, this Charlotte Hornets team is so fun. James Borrego is a good coach. Their three-guard triumvirate of Terry Rozier, Devonte’ Graham and LaMelo Ball is a carousel of interesting moments throughout the game. If they had another solid big man, they could actually make a push for the play-in tournament.
Why are they ranked here? Great win over the Nets, but I didn’t like the way they played against OKC and Cleveland. Even with them being relatively close, I just wanted to see more.
27. Washington Wizards (⇓Previously 19th), 0-3, -6.9 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Sixers, Loss to Magic, Loss to Magic
Week 1 overreaction: The team culture is fixed in Washington. I don’t say that tongue-in-cheek either. Bradley Beal’s talent/leadership with the infusion of Russell Westbrook’s work ethic is a huge positive step for the Washington Wizards. The bench is so engaged with every big play. An atrocious fourth quarter sank them against Philadelphia. Same thing happened in both Orlando losses. If they can just avoid falling apart in the fourth quarter, they can close out some of these wins. As of right now, their opponents are averaging 41 points on 61.7 percent from the field in fourth quarters. But I do believe they have the right mentality as a team.
Why are they ranked here? Well, even with a fixed team culture, they’re 0-3.
28. Golden State Warriors (⇓Previously 14th), 1-2, -18.4 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Nets, Loss at Bucks, Win at Bulls
Week 1 overreaction: Bob Myers is terrible at getting shooting for this team. He did a great job of crafting the era of Golden State Warriors basketball that ruined the league. Everybody thinks of 3-point shooting when it comes to this Warriors era. However, it’s really just the Splash Brothers and Kevin Durant during that time. Everybody else is kind of mediocre when it comes to outside shooting with this team.
- In 2013-14, the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 32.8 percent from deep.
- In 2014-15 (championship season), the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 34.9 percent from deep.
- In 2015-16 (73-9 season), the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 37.7 percent from deep.
- In 2016-17 (championship season), the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 32.8 percent from deep.
- In 2017-18 (championship season), the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 35.9 percent from deep.
- In 2018-19, the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 34.7 percent from deep.
- In 2019-20, the non-Splash Brothers Warriors shot 33.5 percent from deep.
In seven seasons there, there’s one good shooting season for the supporting cast, one fine supporting cast shooting season (which included Kevin Durant’s shooting) and a lot of head-scratchers. Right now? Kelly Oubre is 0-of-17 from deep and 2-of-35 on non-dunk shots this season, according to NBA.com. Even though Curry hasn’t been good from deep, the non-Splash Brothers Warriors are shooting 32.2 percent from deep. The Warriors should try to find some shooting for this team; otherwise, their ideal offensive system isn’t going to mean anything.
Why are they ranked here? This team is bad. Really bad. Draymond Green getting healthy and on the court will help, but he’s not a miracle worker. Warriors need to rethink everything.
29. Detroit Pistons (⇑Previously 30th), 0-2, -8.4 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss at Wolves, Loss to Cavs
Week 1 overreaction: The Detroit Pistons aren’t awful; they’re actually artistically bad. In the first game of the season, they basically decided to tank the fourth quarter against the Wolves, as they dropped the final period by 15 points to lose by 10. Then in the second game against Cleveland, the Pistons tanked the fourth quarter once again, this time to allow overtime. And eventually, they got demolished in a second overtime period. In both games, they essentially let the bench lead the way in the fourth to ensure self-destruction. I thought the Pistons were going to be inept, but they’re actually surgical in the way they’re losing. It’s art.
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Why are they ranked here? This team is terrible.
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30. Chicago Bulls (⇓Previously 28th), 0-3, -13.2 net rating
Weekly slate: Loss to Hawks, Loss to Pacers, Loss to Warriors
Week 1 overreaction: This is the worst team in basketball. Except … I’m not certain this is an overreaction. The Hawks waxed the Chicago Bulls. The Pacers waxed the Bulls too. Then they were relatively in control of a home game against a Warriors team without two of their three best players. And blew it. Because they couldn’t figure out how to slow down Steph Curry in the second half, and then they allowed his brother-in-law to beat them on the game-winner. Terrible start to the Billy Donovan and Arturas Karnisovas era.
Why are they ranked here? They lost the 30 Bowl on Sunday to the Golden State Warriors. Loser was going to be 30th in the rankings this week.
(Illustration: Wes McCabe / The Athletic)
