NBA POWER RANKINGS, UPDATED SEPT. 12, 2005
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San Antonio (59-23) - The NBA champions had an incredible summer, keeping all their key parts and adding Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley. They’re the clear favorites to win the 2005-06 championship.
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Detroit (54-28) - The Pistons were almost good enough to win the championship last season. They also kept all key players, and added Maurice Evans, Dale Davis and additional bench help. Although coach Larry Brown has been replaced by Flip Saunders, the Pistons are a solid favorite to lead the East when it matters most, the playoffs.
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Miami (59-23) - They flipped the team around. But on offense it’s still the Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade show, with Jason Williams, Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem getting open shots all day long. The question is on defense. Eddie Jones was good at locking people down. It may be a bit easier to score on the Heat this season. Though, Shaq will still be around the paint.
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Indiana (44-38) - Remember how good the Pacers were two seasons ago? That’s how good they should be this season. Reggie Miller is gone, but Ron Artest will be back to team with Jermaine O’Neal and scare the heck out of everyone. Dale Davis is also gone, but the team can survive without him. Point guard Jamaal Tinsley now has Sarunas Jasikevicius as a backup.
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Phoenix (62-20) - The Suns lost starters Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson, who will be replaced by either Raja Bell or James Jones in the lineup. Also, Shawn Marion will likely slide to small forward, with the other key Sun, Kurt Thomas, moving next to Amare Stoudemire, who should be totally unstoppable this season. The Suns won’t be as fast as last season, but they’ll be a bit physically stronger thanks to Thomas. Johnson and Richardson shot open threes all game long. Jones and Bell will have to do the same. Whichever player is better at it will get more minutes. Also, Bell’s defense helps make up for the loss of Johnson, the team’s best lockdown defender at the swingman spot.
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Houston (51-31) - The Rockets won 51 games last season, and now they’ve added Stromile Swift and Derek Anderson. The key is Swift, who should step in as the team’s new starting power forward. It’ll help that Juwan Howard can now come off the bench, where he should be very effective scoring points while some starters rest. The backcourt rotation still isn’t clear, as lots of players are in competition for minutes.
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Dallas (58-24) - Michael Finley is gone, Doug Christie and filler join the team. It’s still the Dirk Nowitzki show, with Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, Keith Van Horn and the supporting cast. The Mavs aren’t as deep as they used to be, but the depth is still there.
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Denver (49-33) - The Nuggets kept their core, and added Earl Watson. Ever since George Karl took over last season, they’ve been terrific. There’s no reason why they can’t continue the fine play.
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Sacramento (50-32) - An excellent summer for the Kings, who add Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Bonzi Wells, losing Cuttino Mobley and Bobby Jackson. Jackson was popular but always injured. Abdur-Rahim gives them a quality power forward to play next to Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic. And Wells can take some scoring pressure off of Mike Bibby. The thing is, team chemistry takes a while. Will Wells fit in? Even if he doesn’t, the Kings look terrific. Also, Bibby has a new backup point guard in Jason Hart. We may have ranked the Kings a bit low here.
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Cleveland (42-40) - They almost made the playoffs last year. Now they add Damon Jones, Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall, losing Jeff McInnis. With LeBron James a year older, Zydrunas Ilgaukas locked up with a new contract, and all the new help. The Cavs could fly high in the East.
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New Jersey (42-40) - A healthy Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson should go far in the East. Nenad Krstic is the only big guy on the team with room for improvement, however. Jeff McInnis and Antoine Wright help the bench.
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Chicago (47-35) - We want to rank the Bulls higher. But without Eddy Curry, they drop off a bit from last year. The improvement of all the young players that should occur, however, puts them back to where they were.
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Seattle (52-30) - The Sonics were terrific last season. This season they stil have Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, but much of the remaining supporting cast is still in free agency at this time, or gone. The team can’t be judged right now until their roster is more solidified. As they sign more players will adjust their NBA power ranking.
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Memphis (45-37) - The Grizzlies flipped their team around, and now have Damon Stoudamire, Bobby Jackson and Eddie Jones in the backcourt to team with Pau Gasol and friends. They should continue to be solid but unspectacular.
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Philadelphia (43-39) - The 76ers re-signed their key free agents (not including Willie Green, who got injured before he could sign) and added Steven Hunter. Allen Iverson of course is the leader. It’s up to Andre Iguodala and Samuel Dalembert to keep raising their games. And Chris Webber, who definitely helped the team last season even with his limited mobility, must somehow find his young knees again. The Sixers could be better than this, but it’ll take improvement across the board.
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Minnesota (44-38) - The Timberwolves had a quiet off-season, though they did add Marko Jaric. Sam Cassell is gone, and Latrell Sprewell isn’t expected back. It’s the Kevin Garnett show, with Wally Szczerbiak and Jaric supporting him. Nikoloz Tskitishvili is on board. Minnesota needs to find KG more help.
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Golden State (34-48) - As Baron Davis got healthy and hot, so did the entire team. The Warriors are a squad to watch in 2005-06. Also, Ike Diogu is an InsideHoops.com favorite.
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Washington (45-37) - Larry Hughes, the best defender of the Wizards stars, is gone. Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison are the team’s heart and soul. Caron Butler and Antonio Daniels join the party. It’s up those new guys plus Jared Jeffries and Jarvis Hayes to push the team above the competition.
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Boston (45-37) - Antoine Walker is gone, so it’s back to being the Paul Pierce show. It’s up to Ricky Davis, Tony Allen, rookie Gerald Green and big Al Jefferson to rise to the occasion. Pierce can’t do it alone. There’s no clear starting point guard right now, though Delonte West may get the job. Gerald Green will have to claw hard to get minutes, considering who is in front of him. New Celtic Brian Scalabrine helps the bench a little bit.
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Milwaukee (30-52) - The Bucks kept their core, and added Andrew Bogut and Mr. Improvement, Bobby Simmons. TJ Ford also should be back, and his passing makes everyone better. We’ve probably underrated them. But we don’t know how good Ford will be after all he’s been through. The good players on the team are all shooting guards and small forwards. And then there’s Bogut. So if Bogut is great, the team will leapfrog above most East squads above.
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LA Lakers (34-48) - It feels wrong to put the Lakers down here, especially with Phil Jackson on board. But it doesn’t feel as wrong as it did last season as Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom were unable to make magic happen together. Caron Butler is gone. Kwame Brown joins the crew of big guys. The Lakers did little to improve themselves this summer. There’s still no point guard. On second thought, maybe it doesn’t feel wrong to rank the team this low. Work your magic, Phil.
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Utah (26-56) - Last season was ruined by injury. The Jazz now have a great rookie point guard in Deron Williams, plus a healthy Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Matt Harpring hope to do this season what they were expected to do in 2004-05. It’s been a quiet summer, though. Some spare parts are gone. It’s an uphill battle for Utah in the West.
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Orlando (36-46) - The improvement of Dwight Howard alone should help the team’s win totals. Steve Francis and Grant Hill also should play better together with last season’s experience under their belts.
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New York (33-49) - Every Larry Brown team does better than expected. But in New York, things are complicated. In the backcourt, point guard Stephon Marbury and shooting guard Jamal Crawford may switch roles. Tim Thomas may take a seat on the bench so new shooting guard Quentin Richardson can pretend to be a small forward. In which case, the Knicks may run-and-gun, for the first time in forever. But Brown is a defensive coach. So it’ll be interesting to see how he handles this. The frontcourt isn’t scary, as Michael Sweetney, James Jones and rookie Channing Frye must carry the load.
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LA Clippers (37-45) - The Clippers added Cuttino Mobley at shooting guard and Sam Cassell at point guard. Sounds pretty good. Gone are Marko Jaric and Bobby Simmons. So, point guard duties will be split between Cassell and Shaun Livingston. Mobley’s at the two. Corey Maggette and Elton Brand play forward, with young Chris Kaman trying to make a name for himself at center. We’ll wait until they win games before moving them up this list.
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Toronto (33-49) - No one has any idea what the Raptors are doing. But Raptors fans are awesome, and Chris Bosh seems good, so that’s a start, I think.
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Portland (27-55) - The Blazers keep disappointing us and playing worse than we expect, so for now we put them all the way down here. Blazers fans should thank us, because if we rank them this low it means they’ll probably play well. It’s the Sebastian Telfair, Martell Webster, Darius Miles and Zach Randolph show.
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Atlanta (13-69) - Joe Johnson will help make things happen. So, they’ll be better than this. Josh Smith should improve, too. Rookie Marvin Williams didn’t look great in summer league. We’ll see what happens. Unfortunately, giving the Hawks the benefit of the doubt hasn’t worked well in the past. But we want them to succeed. Honestly. So we’ll keep them down here and hope for a pleasant surprise.
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Charlotte (18-64) - Emeka Okafor is the foundation, and Raymond Felton and Sean May are the next set of building blocks.
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New Orleans (18-64) - JR Smith, Jamaal Magloire, PJ Brown and rookie Chris Paul should win a few games. New Hornet Rasual Butler should help. But this is a rebuilding team that needs more lottery picks to build around.