By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The NBA and its public have never endured a more depressing summer. Never, ever. Tim Donaghy, Eddie Griffin, Greg Oden, Seattle and its Sonics, Isiah Thomas and the Knicks in court ... it's too often been horribly bad or sad news.

Yet it's time to move on -- or at least try -- and this is the best first step we've got. The return, after an absence of 167 days, of your beloved NBA Power Rankings.

This is where you click for a (human) pulse-take on the NBA, starting with our annual training camp edition from the committee (of one). For the purposes of review, allow me to share my usual reminder that this set of rankings measures each team's standing and outlook heading into the season and is not a predicted order of finish.

How last season ended and how good a team is projected to be in 2007-08 are only part of the equation at this early stage. How each team fared in the summer factors in as well, along with a dash of totally subjective whim. For example: It might be premature to bestow title-contender status on Boston, but the Celtics make the monumental leap from No. 29 in the final 2006-07 rankings to No. 2 after two blockbuster offseason acquisitions that upstaged the whole league. (Acquisitions, it says here, that do give them a real shot to win the wide-open East.)

The next batch of rankings will appear on Oct. 29, one day before opening night, after all 30 teams have a month to show us something. The rankings will then continue every Monday throughout the regular season. Click here to comment on the first helping.

Editor's note: Last Week and Record categories are from the final Power Rankings of the 2006-07 regular season.

• Rank them yourself!

2007-08 Power Rankings: Training Camp
RANK (LAST WK)		TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (2)	Spurs	58-24	Is this the season, after three titles in five seasons, that San Antonio finally goes back-to-back? Here's what we do know: Defending champs always start up here with the committee, even if they never repeat.
	2 (29)	Celtics	24-58	Sobering fact: No team with three 20-point scorers has ever won it all. But all Boston has to do is get to the Finals to meet expectations, which we keep saying is very plausible after the NBA's most spectacular offseason.
	3 (3)	Suns	61-21	A trade demand on the eve of camp from someone of Marion's stature would normally lead to a bigger rankings slide. But Phoenix has years of practice dealing with and winning when Matrix feels mopey.
	4 (5)	Rockets	52-30	No West team did more to help itself over the summer. But championship material? We're starting to hear such chatter, which seems a tad premature until T-Mac and Yao win a playoff series together. Agreed?
	5 (7)	Pistons	53-29	Maybe we're in the minority, but the committee keeps looking at a roster that wasn't blown up as many expected and keeps seeing the best Pistons team -- at least on paper -- since the squad that won it all in 2004.
	6 (1)	Mavericks	67-15	Dallas isn't starting so low because its season for the ages ended in first-round humiliation. Dallas is down here because it has to prove it can rebound from two extraordinarily painful playoff implosions in a row.
	7 (12)	Cavaliers	50-32	It's one thing to make zero changes to the roster, but now Varejao and Pavlovic don't plan to come to camp. In other words, 'Saturday Night Live' was likely the last time you'll see LeBron smile for a while.
	8 (10)	Jazz	51-31	The major doubt is not whether Utah has the talent to repeat last season's various breakthroughs. It's whether Utah will have the togetherness, after a trade demand from Kirilenko far more unsettling than Marion's.
	9 (11)	Warriors	42-40	As if the prospect of training camp in Hawaii isn't appealing enough, Golden State will have the unexpected privilege of claiming the brighter outlook of the two California teams camping in the 50th state. Sorry, Lakers.
	10 (4)	Bulls	49-33	The Bulls are on the short list of favorites to win the East, but you have to wonder -- given their inability to trade for KG or Pau -- how much they're second-guessing themselves for letting Tyson Chandler go.
	11 (9)	Nuggets	45-37	We didn't remember this at first, either, but the Iverson-and-Melo Nuggets were 10-1 in April. So maybe they were right to tweak minimally in the offseason and bank on K-Mart conquering his mountain of a comeback.
	12 (6)	Raptors	47-35	J-Kidd recently decreed that the Raps, as defending division champs, deserve Team To Beat status in the Atlantic. They'd settle for second place and a return to the playoffs, honestly, but welcome the rare props.
	13 (15)	Magic	40-42	No team from last season's eight playoff qualifiers in the East did more in the offseason than Orlando. Yet you'd struggle to find anyone picking newcomers Rashard and SVG to lift D-Howard into the elite right away.
	14 (13)	Nets	41-41	The suspicion here remains that the Nets have a better shot than anyone at eventually trading for Jermaine O'Neal. In the interim, they'll settle for a smooth return for Krstic and a resurrected Magloire.
	15 (18)	Wizards	41-41	He's an Internet legend with his blogs, interviews and quirks. He's also the new NBA Live video-game cover boy. But is he a leader? Maybe this is the season Arenas -- in his contract year -- lets us know.
	16 (19)	Hornets	39-43	No one knows for sure what sort of support awaits the Hornets in their full-time return to the Crescent City, but a return to the playoffs sounds realistic if they can find some consistent health there.
	17 (27)	Bucks	28-54	The Bucks were busier than most teams over the summer and spent a lot more than they usually do. So Sen. Kohl will inevitably demand big things from the team GM Larry Harris has assembled, starting with the Big Yi.
	18 (20)	Bobcats	33-49	Sam Vincent might be facing an unusual amount of pressure for a rookie coach if the guy who hired him (Michael Something or Other) shares the growing belief that the Bobs, in Year 4, should make a real playoff push.
	19 (14)	Lakers	42-40	Confidence in Lakerland is high that Kobe will indeed attend all of training camp. The mere fact that was ever in doubt, though, lets you know how turbulent this season is bound to be for the Zen Men.
	20 (8)	Heat	44-38	It's probably not encouraging that Riles -- who recently gave himself 'an F' for Miami's lack of offseason upgrades to a brittle roster -- responded testily last week to questions about Wade and Shaq's health.
	21 (30)	Grizzlies	22-60	Losing 60 games must have been a torturous farewell for Jerry West, but the Grizz have found credibility without The Logo faster than anyone expected after hiring Iavaroni and a flurry of summer improvements.
	22 (24)	SuperSonics	31-51	Blanket coverage of the team's uncertain future in the Pacific Northwest can only help Durant. He'll undoubtedly welcome focus on other matters given how much he and his young team figures to struggle in Year 1.
	23 (23)	Trail Blazers	32-50	Don't know that this will provide much consolation for devastated Blazermaniacs, but we've been assured Greg Oden will be eligible to win Rookie of the Year in the 2008-09 season if he sits out all of this season.
	24 (25)	Knicks	33-49	The new season begins with Balkman freshly injured and Isiah corralled in a Manhattan courtroom instead of introducing Zach Randolph at media day. It's a calamitous start, even by Knicks standards.
	25 (22)	Kings	33-49	We repeat: Sacramento's turn-of-the-century rise from perennial doormat to title contender was a fairy tale, but rebuilding this castle -- nearly three years after exiling Webber -- is proving a much tougher job.
	26 (28)	Hawks	30-52	The Hawks have a new logo, color scheme and pair of hot rookies. But Hawks Fever isn't exactly rampant when they've also inherited the league's longest playoff drought, at eight seasons and counting.
	27 (17)	76ers	35-47	Philly's first full season AAI (After Allen Iverson) begins with numerous question marks. The biggest of those: Do you see a core on the roster worth building around? Without a clear-cut franchise player, not yet.
	28 (16)	Clippers	40-42	If the injured Elton Brand is right about what the teammates he's left behind can do, this ranking and zillions of skeptics are all wrong. Says EB: 'You tell us we suck? Well, they're going to show you that we don't.'
	29 (21)	Pacers	35-47	Why do we keep dredging up the melee in Detroit? Because things should be gradually getting better nearly three years removed from that turning point in Pacers history. But they're getting worse.
	30 (26)	Timberwolves	32-50	You suspect that Mr. McHale won't mind starting Life After KG with what has to be the most faraway training camp in NBA history. Can't imagine he'll encounter too many disgruntled Wolves fans in Turkey.