Thread: NBA Power Rankings: Who are the league's best teams now?

In our post-Finals Power Rankings, we asked whether offseason chaos was on the horizon.

Welp.

Free agency saw Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving team up in Brooklyn, D'Angelo Russell join the Splash Brothers, Jimmy Butler take his talents to South Beach and Tobias Harris and Kristaps Porzingis sign max deals with Philly and Dallas, respectively. And that was just the first 24 hours!

The league has changed seemingly overnight, and we're here to make sense of where all 30 teams stand heading into a highly anticipated 2019-20 season.

rest - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...best-teams-now

2. Denver

The Lakers are criminally underrated in that article.

Originally Posted by King87

The Lakers are criminally underrated in that article.

too high. . . the jazz are better, and the warriors may still be as well, if they get a healthy klay back for the playoffs. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

too high. . . the jazz are better, and the warriors may still be as well, if they get a healthy klay back for the playoffs. . .

I disagree. The two best players on the court are LBJ and AD. The Jazz are also trotting out the most overrated player in the league in Rudy Gobert. But that's a different discussion for a different day. Boogie was playing well last year, and he still had moments in the finals when he was clearly hurt. He won't be what he was, but he's still one of the better centers in the league, with potential to be very, very good.

The Jazz are a very good team, and I do believe they should receive a high ranking, but not higher than the Lakers.
GSW could be very, very good. The reports of their death are probably vastly overstated.

I had to fix an error in that article.

1. Portland Trail Blazers
2018-19 record: 53-29
2020 title odds: 25-1
Previous rank: No. 10

Originally Posted by Northman

I had to fix an error in that article.

1. Portland Trail Blazers
2018-19 record: 53-29
2020 title odds: 25-1
Previous rank: No. 10

My man!

Originally Posted by King87

I disagree. The two best players on the court are LBJ and AD. The Jazz are also trotting out the most overrated player in the league in Rudy Gobert. But that's a different discussion for a different day. Boogie was playing well last year, and he still had moments in the finals when he was clearly hurt. He won't be what he was, but he's still one of the better centers in the league, with potential to be very, very good.

The Jazz are a very good team, and I do believe they should receive a high ranking, but not higher than the Lakers.
GSW could be very, very good. The reports of their death are probably vastly overstated.

Yeah, there is no way the jazz are better than the Lakers if both are fully healthy. That's just flat out disrespectful to LeBron and AD. I think people forget just how good AD is. He was in the MVP discussion last year before all the trade drama started.

Right now I think there are 3 tiers in the West. Tier 1 is LAC, LAL, and Denver. Tier 2 is Houston, Utah, and Portland. Tier 3 is a glob of teams vying for those last 2 spots including GS, SA, New Orleans, Dallas, Sac, and OKC. If Klay comes back healthy I'd bump GS up to borderline T1/T2.

Looking at all that, I really do think the 7 seed is about the ceiling for GS if Klay misses most of the year. If they finish in that 7/8 range and Klay comes back, that's going to be a dynamite first round series against one of those top teams.

Originally Posted by BroncoWave

Yeah, there is no way the jazz are better than the Lakers if both are fully healthy. That's just flat out disrespectful to LeBron and AD. I think people forget just how good AD is. He was in the MVP discussion last year before all the trade drama started.

Right now I think there are 3 tiers in the West. Tier 1 is LAC, LAL, and Denver. Tier 2 is Houston, Utah, and Portland. Tier 3 is a glob of teams vying for those last 2 spots including GS, SA, New Orleans, Dallas, Sac, and OKC. If Klay comes back healthy I'd bump GS up to borderline T1/T2.

The Lakers have two top five players, and everyone's trying to hate.

Rudy Gorbert doesn't want The Brow to run up on him like that. The Lakers pick-and-roll offense could be historic.

Regarding your tiers: I don't disagree much. The Clippers are ahead of everyone, but not by all that much. The Lakers have to two top five players. Denver has a great center, arguably the best in the league, and a great overall roster. That's a tough team.

Houston has a chance to be a top tier team. As much as I don't value RWB's empty stats, he does have a lot of value. The NBA is about talent more than anything else - if that backcourt does function, that's a dangerous team. I suspect Houston to be around a four or five seed. Utah is very good, but they don't have a single star player in a star driven league. Portland is dope as ****, and they could upset anyone.

As much as I wanted Kawhi, and the glory that comes with that signing, the West is wider open again.

I'm guessing either LBJ or Curry wins MVP.