NBA Power Rankings

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2009-10 Power Rankings: Preseason
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (1) Lakers 65-17 Good line from Professor Hollinger: Only team in the West that can beat L.A. is L.A. But that's why we keep bringing up Ariza, because the likelihood of Hollinger's scenario goes way up with Artest in Ariza's spot.
2 (3) Celtics 62-20 Let's assume that everything goes right and the Celts manage to stay healthy. Then what? As one trusted scout recently told the committee (of one): "They are big, long, athletic and very hard to guard."
3 (2) Magic 59-23 There's never a good time for a 10-game suspension, obviously, but the Magic -- with no fewer than a dozen guys vying for legit PT -- should handle Lewis' absence as well as any team in the league could.
4 (4) Cavaliers 66-16 The way last season ended combined with the stress ball this season will be -- given that the Cavs can't prove anything until the playoffs, plus all the LeBron uncertainty -- is why they start out of the top three.
5 (5) Spurs 54-28 The Spurs, for what it's worth now, are the clear-cut biggest winners of the offseason. How do we know? Because they wouldn't even be in the top five/championship conversation without their summer moves.
6 (7) Mavericks 50-32 Dallas is legitimately deeper than it was when it went to the 2006 Finals. The problem: San Antonio can say the same about its current team and the 2007 title team, but the competition at the top is so much deeper now, too.
7 (8) Trail Blazers 54-28 If preseason Greg Oden is the new Greg Oden, maybe it won't matter whether Miller starts or comes off the bench. Maybe we'll end up wishing we had touted Portland as the class of the Northwest Division. Maybe.
8 (6) Nuggets 54-28 Unlike Orlando, Denver doesn't have the depth or the reasonable early schedule to downplay J.R. Smith's seven-game suspension to start the season. Game No. 4 at Indiana starts a six-game Eastern swing.
9 (9) Hawks 47-35 One of my eds liked this line, so we're recycling: It's not something you print up on T-shirts, but the Hawks are indeed the clear-cut Fourth Best Team in the East after adding Crawford and Joe Smith and losing little.
10 (12) Jazz 48-34 The cynic in me wonders whether the best thing we'll wind up saying about Utah's season is that it has the Knicks' lottery pick. Korver's injury is already sending a here-we-go-again vibe reminiscent of last season.
11 (13) Bulls 41-41 Maybe we expect too much to peg Deng for a seamless return from injury to replace Ben Gordon, but there's enough here regardless for modest improvement leading into the pivotal summer of 2010. More than enough.
12 (10) Suns 46-36 Judging by our staff picks, it appears that I still like this team better than most. Guess it doesn't come as a huge surprise that this committee will pretty much be last off the ship when it comes to the SS Nash.
13 (11) Hornets 49-33 Okafor missed most of his first month in N.O. and doubts persist about CP3 and D-West getting sufficient scoring help from the wings. So brace yourself for the old line about how nothing's easy in the Big Easy for Paul.
14 (17) 76ers 41-41 The optimistic view for a team on the playoff bubble and on a tight budget: If Philly could go 41-41 amid all of last season's early chaos, Eddie Jordan's arrival should steady the Sixers right into the 45-win range.
15 (14) Raptors 33-49 Should the Raps overcome their shortcomings on D to get off to a good start, that should hush at least a fraction of the incessant chatter about Bosh's future. If they don't, though, you can probably do the math.
16 (16) Heat 43-39 If we were ranking the teams in order of which ones will endure the longest regular season, Miami would be a top-five lock with Cleveland, New York and Sacramento. 2010 must feel forever away for D-Wade.
17 (15) Wizards 19-63 Jamison's shoulder injury means they're still waiting in the nation's capital to see a healthy Arenas/Butler/Jamison trio in a regular-season game again. They've been waiting since -- no joke -- April 1, 2007.
18 (18) Pistons 39-43 What will keep me tuned in to a Pistons team overloaded with scoring guards but desperately lacking bigs and a setup man? The sense that they'll make a trade sooner rather than later to address the imbalances.
19 (20) Clippers 19-63 Every time I want to believe that my Clippers-versus-Lakers playoff fantasy has a shot -- like after hearing so much about how good Baron Davis looks -- I find myself reading about a new Blake Griffin injury.
20 (22) Rockets 53-29 Can the gutty little Rockets hang around No. 8 long enough for T-Mac to come back and drag them into the playoffs? Probably not ... but they won't fall as far in the West as teams like OKC and Memphis are hoping.
21 (21) Thunder 23-59 Leave it to Mark Heisler of the L.A. Times to neatly sum up our view that too much is expected from the young Thunder this season. "If this were a 25-and-under league," Heis writes, "you'd really like their chances."
22 (19) Bobcats 35-47 The team that should have signed Allen Iverson? The Bobcats have a glaring lack of scoring punch along with the coach in Larry Brown who understands AI best, as well as a Grizz-like need for a box-office draw.
23 (24) Pacers 36-46 The good news: Indy has exceeded my downbeat expectations two seasons in a row. The bad news: "Exceeding" expectations meant ninth place in the East both times, which is realistically Indy's ceiling again.
24 (23) Warriors 29-53 Sad but true: Until Stephen Jackson is traded, pretty much all you're going to hear out of the Bay Area are Jack stories, no matter how much promise we see from Anthony Randolph, Stephen Curry and Anthony Morrow.
25 (25) Nets 34-48 We repeat: If Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov gets approved as the Nets' new owner, you could argue that nothing else in Jersey matters much this season. Or would you rather talk about L-Frank's status?
26 (26) Knicks 32-50 You know who probably doesn't mind baseball season stretching into November? Can't see the Knicks complaining about being overshadowed for a couple more weeks given how l-o-n-g their season is bound to be.
27 (29) Bucks 34-48 Thought of one more reason to tune in besides Brandon Jennings' flamboyance and the Redd/Bogut comebacks. With Redd unlikely to opt out of next season's $18.3 million, Milwaukee is bound to shop him.
28 (28) Grizzlies 24-58 Just to clarify: For all our of fascination with the Grizz gambling on AI and Zach, we ask the question as much as you do: Why give Pau away, then trade for Randolph to pay him virtually the same money?
29 (27) Timberwolves 24-58 First Kevin Love stops tweeting to appease his bosses, then he goes down with a hand injury. Not the sort of start Minnesota was counting on in its hope that we'd all stop obsessing about Rubio's absence.
30 (30) Kings 17-65 One of our fave scouts says that the Kings -- with a hotshot rookie (Tyreke Evans) and our fave rook (Omri Casspi) -- will be better than folks think. Last in the West, though, remains their probable destiny.

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