2014-15 NBA Power Rankings: Week 5

Here are my Week 5 NBA Power Rankings:

1. Memphis Grizzlies (Record: 12-2, Last Week: 1): Grizzlies center Marc Gasol now has eight games of 20-plus points this season. Gasol had just eight 20-point games (out of 59) last season. Since Gasol returned from injury on Jan. 14, 2014, the Grizzlies have an NBA-best record (45-15, .750).

Surprisingly, the Grizzlies have just the sixth-lowest odds to win the Western Conference based on odds from Sportsbook.ag.

2. Golden State Warriors (Record: 10-2, Last Week: 3): Marreese Speights has played only 158 minutes in 11 games, but he leads the NBA in points per 36 minutes (29.5) and in points per 100 possessions (39.5).

3. Houston Rockets (Record: 10-3, Last Week: 2): James Harden is shooting a career-low 39.1 percent from the field, but he is shooting a career-high 89.5 percent from the line and making a league-high 9.2 free throws per game.

4. Toronto Raptors (Record: 11-2, Last Week: 6): The Raptors currently lead the NBA in point differential (+12.2). They rank second in the league in scoring offense (106.9 per game) and sixth in scoring defense (94.7 per game).

5. San Antonio Spurs (Record: 9-4, Last Week: 5): Tony Parker is a career 32.1-percent shooter from three-point range, but he has made 63.6 percent of his attempts this season. His career-best percentage is 39.5 percent (2006-07).

6. Portland Trail Blazers (Record: 10-3, Last Week: 9): Since starting the season 3-3, the Blazers have won seven consecutive games, the longest active winning streak in the NBA, and will face the winless Sixers on Monday night.

7. Washington Wizards (Record: 9-3, Last Week: 8): In his three games since returning from injury, Bradley Beal is averaging 16.7 points, 4.7 points and 1.3 steals per game in 30.7 minutes per game off the bench.

8. Chicago Bulls (Record: 8-5, Last Week: 7): Derrick Rose, who has missed the past four games due to a hamstring injury, may or may not play Monday night. If he's unable to play tonight, however, he is confident that he'll return for Tuesday's matchup against the Nuggets.

9. Dallas Mavericks (Record: 10-4, Last Week: 11): Brandan Wright had his first double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) on Saturday against the Rockets and has now scored in double digits in seven consecutive games. Wright has yet to shoot below .545 in any game this season and he leads the league with a .785 field goal percentage.

10. Phoenix Suns (Record: 9-5, Last Week: 16): Among players with no starts this season, Isaiah Thomas (15.4 PPG) and Gerald Green (14.2) rank second and fourth in the NBA in per-game scoring. In addition, Thomas is currently leading all Suns players in scoring.

11. Los Angeles Clippers (Record: 7-5, Last Week: 10): Chris Paul continues to lead the NBA in assist/turnover ratio (6.33). If he continues to average 9.5-plus assists per game and 1.5 turnovers (or less) per game, CP3 will become the first player in league history to do so for a full season.

12. Sacramento Kings (Record: 8-5, Last Week: 13): The Kings lead the NBA in offensive rebound percentage (30.0) and rebound percentage (55.4).

13. Miami Heat (Record: 8-6, Last Week: 14): Over the past six games with Dwyane Wade sidelined, Mario Chalmers has averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

14. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record: 5-7, Last Week: 4): Four games last week. Four losses last week. With LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love & Co. are still adjusting to each other, the Cavs averaged just 89.5 points in those four losses.

15. New Orleans Pelicans (Record: 7-5, Last Week: 12): Anthony Davis is averaging 26.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. The last player to average 26/11/3/2 is, well, nobody.

16. Atlanta Hawks (Record: 6-5, Last Week: 15): Fourteen different players have seen the court for the Hawks this season. All 14 of them are averaging double-digit minutes.

17. Milwaukee Bucks (Record: 7-7, Last Week: 17): The Bucks already have seven wins and compared to last season, it's more than a month earlier than they got their seventh win last year, which occurred on New Year's Eve against the Lakers. (And then they went 1-14 in January.)

18. Denver Nuggets (Record: 6-7, Last Week: 28): After a 1-6 start to the season, the Nuggets have won five of their past six games including the previous four games. Having another perfect week will be tough, however, as they face the Bulls on Tuesday and then have a home-and-home with the Suns this week.

19. Indiana Pacers (Record: 5-8, Last Week: 20): Although Roy Hibbert will miss Monday's game with an ankle injury, David West is close to returning and even Paul George has hopes (albeit unlikely ones) of returning this season.

20. Brooklyn Nets (Record: 5-8, Last Week: 18): Deron Williams currently ranks fifth in the league in minutes per game and Williams is one of three players with double-digit games of 15-plus points and five-plus assists this season. The other two are Stephen Curry and James Harden.

21. Utah Jazz (Record: 5-9, Last Week: 23): Only the Lakers (11) have allowed more 100-point games to their opponents than the Jazz (10) this season.

22. Orlando Magic (Record: 6-9, Last Week: 26): Nikola Vucevic currently leads the NBA in double-doubles with 11 of them in 15 games this season.

23. Boston Celtics (Record: 4-8, Last Week: 21): The Celtics rank last in the league in FTA Rate (.220), which measures how often a team gets to the free-throw line in relation to field-goal attempts.

24. Charlotte Hornets (Record: 4-10, Last Week: 19): Expectations were high for the Hornets entering the season, but they have now lost five games in a row and seven of their past eight games.

25. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record: 3-12, Last Week: 22): Although Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant will be back in the near future, Reggie Jackson is one of just two players in the league to currently average at least 20 points, seven assists and five boards per game. The other is Golden State's Stephen Curry.

26. New York Knicks (Record: 4-10, Last Week: 24): The Knicks currently lead the NBA in three-point shooting percentage (40.6 percent). The Knicks have eight players averaging at least one three-point shot per game and five of them are shooting at least 40 percent from behind the arc.

27. Detroit Pistons (Record: 3-10, Last Week: 25): After shooting 60.8 and 62.3 percent from the field in his first two seasons, respectively, Andre Drummond is shooting just 39.7 percent from the field this year although he's shooting a career-high 43.6 percent from the free-throw line.

28. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record: 3-9, Last Week: 27): The T'Wolves have managed to keep their opponents from scoring 100-plus points in three games. They are tied with the Celtics and Lakers to rank last in the league in that category.

29. Los Angeles Lakers (Record: 3-11, Last Week: 29): Jordan Hill has an active streak of six consecutive games with 10-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, which is tied with Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins for the longest such streak this season.

30. Philadelphia 76ers (Record: 0-13, Last Week: 30): This tweet says it all:

Your weekly @numberFire update: Sixers favored in ZERO of remaining 69 games. Best win odds are 44.6% on March 30 at home against ... Lakers
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) November 24, 2014

Also, check out our Fantasy Basketball Rest-of-Season Rankings

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2014-15 NBA Power Rankings: Week 3

The NBA season is young and there are plenty of surprises. One example, the Kings have more wins than the Spurs and Cavs.

Combined.

With that said, here are my Week 3 NBA Power Rankings:

1. Memphis Grizzlies (Record: 6-1, Last Week: 6): I tend to be higher on the Grizzlies than most, but they are often underrated and currently lead the NBA in scoring defense (87.6 PPG).

2. Golden State Warriors (Record: 5-1, Last Week: 1): Leading the NBA in scoring, Stephen Curry had a double-double (28 points, 10 assists) with five steals on Sunday, but he also had 10 turnovers as well. That is a league high in turnovers this season.

3. Houston Rockets (Record: 6-1, Last Week: 7): Averaging 25.4 points per game (like last year), James Harden is averaging career highs in boards (6.7/G) and assists (7.1/G) through seven games.

4. Toronto Raptors (Record: 6-1, Last Week: 12): The Raptors lead the NBA in scoring offense (107.4 PPG) and scoring differential (+11.5).

5. Chicago Bulls (Record: 5-2, Last Week: 5): After averaging a league-low 93.7 PPG last year, the Bulls are scoring 104.3 PPG (sixth in NBA) this season as Jimmy Butler leads the team with 19.6 PPG (13.1/G last year).

6. Miami Heat (Record: 5-2, Last Week: 9): Chris Bosh has scored 20-plus points in all seven games this season. In his previous four seasons with the Heat, Bosh never scored 20-plus in more than five games, which he did in 2010.

7. Washington Wizards (Record: 5-2, Last Week: 11): With a current W/L percentage of .714 early in the season, the Wizards are off to a great start. If they manage to win 60 percent (or more) of their games, it will be the first time the franchise has done so since the 1978-79 season.

8. Los Angeles Clippers (Record: 4-2, Last Week: 8): The Clippers lead the league in turnover differential (-7.8) and A/TO ratio (2.13). Chris Paul has 63 assists and just five turnovers through six games.

9. San Antonio Spurs (Record: 2-3, Last Week: 2): Based on NBA futures from Vegas, the Spurs still have the best odds (6/1) among Western Conference teams to win it all ...

10. Cleveland Cavaliers (Record: 2-3, Last Week: 3): ... and while the Cavs are trying to build chemistry and play unselfishly, they are still the favorites to win it all (3/1).

11. New Orleans Pelicans (Record: 3-2, Last Week: 13): Among players getting 20-plus minutes per game, no player has a higher PER (Player Efficiency Rating) than Anthony Davis (34.89) — Golden State's Stephen Curry (29.89) is second.

12. Sacramento Kings (Record: 5-2, Last Week: 15): There are a number of reasons why the Kings are off to a strong (surprising) start. Through Sunday's games, they lead the NBA in rebounding (47.4/G) and get to and make more free throws than any other team (30.1 FTM/G, 37.3 FTA/G).

13. Dallas Mavericks (Record: 4-3, Last Week: 4): The Mavs currently lead the NBA in Offensive Rating (number of points scored per 100 possessions) with 112.0.

14. Portland Trail Blazers (Record: 4-3, Last Week: 14): The starting lineup of LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Damian Lillard, Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews is the league's highest-scoring quintet (46.9 PPG).

15. Brooklyn Nets (Record: 4-2, Last Week: 21): While the Mavs lead the league in Offensive Rating; the Nets are second at 109.5.

16. Phoenix Suns (Record: 4-3, Last Week: 10): Coming off a tough three-game schedule (Grizzlies, Kings and Warriors), the Suns face the Nets, Bobcats and Clippers this week, all quality opponents. Then the schedule gets a lot softer from 11/17-12/2 with only one of their nine opponents having a winning record. Excluding the Raptors, the other eight teams they will face during that stretch have a combined 11-41 record.

17. Charlotte Bobcats (Record: 3-4, Last Week: 19): Kemba Walker's win-loss splits: (Wins) 19.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 7.3 APG, 2.0 SPG and (Losses) 12.3 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.3 SPG.

18. Oklahoma City Thunder (Record: 2-5, Last Week: 18): Mark Cuban wonders if the Thunder should shut down stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook for the rest of the season? Hmmm, what could he gain from that?

19. Boston Celtics (Record: 3-3, Last Week: 24): The Celtics (25.0/G) and Rajon Rondo (11.2/G) lead the NBA in assists per game.

20. Atlanta Hawks (Record: 2-3, Last Week: 20): Jeff Teague leads the NBA in drives per game (14.0), but he only has a 33.3 percent field-goal percentage on drives.

21. Utah Jazz (Record: 3-4, Last Week: 25): Among qualified rookies, Jazz point guard Dante Exum leads rookies in PER (15.14).

22. New York Knicks (Record: 2-5, Last Week: 16): Carmelo Anthony has failed to score more than 20 points in four consecutive games and is a combined 26-of-84 (30.95 percent) during that stretch.

23. Minnesota Timberwolves (Record: 2-4, Last Week: 23): Not only did the team lose (trade) Kevin Love in the offseason, but now they will be without Ricky Rubio (ankle) for 6-8 weeks. Rubio was averaging a career-high 10.0 assists per game and shooting 42.6 percent from the field (previous career high is 38.1 percent).

24. Milwaukee Bucks (Record: 3-4, Last Week: 27): Brandon Knight is averaging 17.57 points, 6.43 rebounds and 7.29 assists per game. Only three players are averaging 17/6/7: Harden, Curry and Knight.

25. Detroit Pistons (Record: 2-4, Last Week: 26): The Pistons currently rank last in the league in points per shot (1.09).

26. Denver Nuggets (Record: 1-5, Last Week: 17): The Nuggets are 0-for November and The Manimal is averaging just 27 minutes per game this season.

27. Orlando Magic (Record: 2-5, Last Week: 28): One of the team's few bright spots, Nikola Vucevic is averaging career highs across the board: 18.6 PPG, 12.3 RPG, 2.4 APG and 1.1 BPG.

28. Indiana Pacers (Record: 1-6, Last Week: 22): Four Pacers are averaging more than 12.0 PPG — Chris Copeland (16.7), Donald Sloan (15.1), Roy Hibbert (12.6) and Solomon Hill (12.0). Casual fans probably only recognize one name on that list, which shows how injuries have impacted this team.

29. Los Angeles Lakers (Record: 1-5, Last Week: 29): This should come as no surprise, but Kobe Bryant has a league-high 37.7 usage rate aside from Russell Westbrook (42.9 percent).

30. Philadelphia 76ers (Record: 0-7, Last Week: 30): With few positives to the start of the season (successful tanking progress aside), Tony Wroten (23.4 PPG, 6.8 APG, 2.7 SPG) has been a fantasy must-start with Michael Carter-Williams out.

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NBA Poll: Who will represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals?

With nearly half of their conference's 12 All-Stars, the Heat (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) and Pacers (Paul George and Roy Hibbert) joined forces on Sunday to help lead the Eastern Conference to a win in the NBA All-Star Game.

Best of the East?

Who will represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals? Indiana Pacers Miami Heat Other Team view results

As the "second half" is set to resume today, however, the Eastern Conference will essentially be a two-team race between those two squads.

At the moment, the Pacers (40-12) have the best record in the conference, but the Heat (37-14) seem less concerned about hosting a potential Game 7. The Raptors are a distant third in the standings (28-24).

Current odds to win the Eastern Conference (via Sportsbook.com): Pacers (5/6), Heat (1/1) and then Raptors and Nets are tied for third with 30/1 odds. The Heat will pick up after the All-Star Break with games against the Mavs on Tuesday and then the Thunder on Thursday. As great as Kevin Durant has been playing, he is expected to get back teammate Russell Westbrook for Thursday's showdown.

Could this be a potential NBA Finals preview? Or will the Pacers (or another team) represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals?

Vote on more of our polls:

• Who should be the No. 1 pick in 2014 fantasy football drafts?
• Who will be the first overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft?
• Which Bears WR should be selected first in fantasy drafts?

Kyle Lowry has triple-double vs. Sixers

Battling the flu against the Mavs on Wednesday, Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry did anything but stuff the stat sheet as he scored just three points on 0-for-10 shooting and added five assists and four rebounds.

Making up for that dud and obviously feeling better, Lowry had the fourth triple-double of his career on Friday night against the Sixers.

Lowry finished with 18 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.

Before his triple-double tonight, there were 16 double-doubles by 12 other players this season. Pacers shooting guard Lance Stephenson leads the league with three triple-doubles this season.

Consensus NBA Power Rankings, Week 11

More than one-third of the way through the 2013-14 season, I decided to take a look at the odds to win the NBA Championship (via Sportsbook.ag).

While it should come as no surprise that the Miami Heat (3/2) have the lowest odds to win it all and the Pacers (3/1) are second, I am surprised a little bit by the Eastern Conference team that is third.

Before I get to that, the next seven teams (after the Heat/Pacers) all reside in the Western Conference: Thunder (6/1), Spurs (8/1), Clippers (12/1), Rockets, Blazers and Warriors (all 15/1) and Timberwolves (50/1).

Next in line are the Grizzlies and Mavs (60/1), who are tied with the Toronto Raptors.

After a slow start, a horrible one for the Atlantic Division as a whole, the Raptors are 16-16 and currently lead the division.

Even though they lost Sunday night to the Heat, the Raptors had won their previous five games and have won seven of their past nine games.  The Raptors will get another tough game as they head to Indiana on Tuesday to take on the Pacers.

Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan continues to develop his game as he leads the team in scoring with a career-high 21.1 points per game.  In addition, point guard Kyle Lowry is averaging 7.6 assists per game, which ranks ninth in the league, and 15.7 points per game, both of which are career highs.

Despite their horrible starts, however, the Nets are 2-0 and the Knicks are 2-1 so far in January.  (The Knicks' loss was a two-point loss to the Rockets in Houston.)

It will be interesting to see if the Nets and/or Knicks can continue to turn around things now that the calendar has turned to 2014.  Going into the season, the expectations for both teams were certainly much higher than those for the Raptors.

Right now, however, the Nets and Knicks both have 150/1 odds to win the NBA title.

2013-14 NBA Power Rankings, Week 8

The Eastern Conference — and even more specifically the Atlantic Division — has been incredibly weak with the exception of the top two teams.

It's too bad we couldn't move some Western Conference teams east or fast forward to a likely Pacers-versus-Heat Eastern Conference Championship.

The good news about the Pacers and Heat is they are clearly the two best teams in the entire assocation with the league's best player (LeBron James) and one of the league's most underrated superstars (Paul George).

Roundtable question: Will any team(s) in the Atlantic Division finish the season with a winning record?

John Trifone (follow on Twitter):

As pathetic as the Eastern conference as a whole has been, and specifically the Atlantic Division, I do think at least one team, and probably two teams, will finish over .500.

The Nets have a good team on paper, and have showed some signs of putting something together.  The Knicks also are not as bad as they've played.  Prior to moving Rudy Gay and now possibly unloading Kyle Lowry, I thought that Toronto had a chance to be decent as well, although I would now take them out of the mix.

And finally, Boston has been substantially better than predicted.  Brad Stevens may just be a great coach, but I think between the Celts, Knicks, and Nets, at least one of them will end the year with a winning record.

Sean Beazley (follow on Twitter):
 
Yes, I believe Brooklyn will make a run and finish above .500 and win the Atlantic division this year.   I think the Eastern Conference playoffs will have at least three teams in it that are under .500 in the playoffs.  NBA action; it's Fantastic!

Dan Yanotchko (follow on Twitter):
 
I would have to say that this year's Atlantic Division of the NBA has to be the worst possible division in the history of sports.  Right now, we are past the quarter point of the season, and not one team is over .500.  The Celtics lead the way with a lofty 11-14 record, good enough to be three games clear of the .500 mark.

This division will have a .500 finisher though, and the only team that will finish over 41 wins, will be the Brooklyn Nets. Although the Nets have one of the worst coaches in the league, they have way too much talent, and of course, they play in the Atlantic division of the Eastern conference, so they can stockpile wins.  The Nets will eventually get to, and finish over, the .500 mark.

Kevin Hanson (follow on Twitter):
 
For a couple of reasons, I'd like to see all five of the teams in the division lose all of their games.  As a Sixers fan, I'm rooting for more ping pong balls leading to a (very) high lottery pick.  For the rest of the division, I root for them to lose, as always.

That said, I think we see the Nets finishing above .500.

Over the long haul of the NBA season, there will be plenty of games against the other teams in the division.  The trio of Deron Williams, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett will eventually get healthy and gel and finish with around 45 wins on the season.  Adding Pierce and KG, however, I'm sure that the organization and its fan base was hoping for more than a 45-37 regular-season record.

- See full power rankings here

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Jose Calderon has season-high 18 assists

Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon had a season-high 18 assists in today's win over the Magic.

With the exception of only nine assists last night, Calderon has double-digit assists in four of his past five games.  He has three double-doubles, one of which was his first-ever triple-double, during that stretch.

During those five games, Calderon is averaging 13.2 points and 11.6 assists per game.

Until Kyle Lowry returns, he should continue to be a great source of assists for fantasy owners.

Rajon Rondo had 20 assists vs. Raptors

Before missing Thursday's game in Brooklyn due to his ankle, Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo had double-digit assists in every game he played this season.

Not only did he have double-digit assists against the Raptors today, he essentially had two games worth of double-digit assists.

For the second time this season, Rondo finished with 20 assists in a game although he finished with only six points for a second consecutive game.

On the season, Rondo leads the league with 13.4 assists per game and now has more assists (121) than points (120) through nine games.

2012 NBA Mock Drafts and Mock Draft Database Updated

The 2012 NBA Draft will be held in New York City on June 28th, which is exactly two months after Day 3 of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Not only did we update our 2012 NBA Mock Draft Database this morning, but we also released our first two NBA Mock Drafts for 2012.

For draft order, we used the inverse of our NBA Consensus Power Rankings.

Brendan Donahue's top five picks are:

1. Charlotte Bobcats: Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky
2. New Orleans Hornets: Harrison Barnes, SF, North Carolina
3. Washington Wizards: Michael Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky
4. Detroit Pistons: Thomas Robinson, PF, Kansas
5. Toronto Raptors: Andre Drummond, C, Connecticut

See all of his first-round mock here.

Kevin Hanson's top five picks are:

1. Charlotte Bobcats: Anthony Davis, PF, Kentucky
2. New Orleans Hornets: Andre Drummond, C, Connecticut
3. Washington Wizards: Harrison Barnes, SF, North Carolina
4. Detroit Pistons: Michael Gilchrist, SF, Kentucky
5. Toronto Raptors: Perry Jones, PF, Baylor

See all of my first-round mock here.