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, San Antonio finally goes back-to-back? Here's what we do know for sure: 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 (again) is very plausible now 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 in spite of) a mopey Matrix. |
|
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 based in the land of the luau. 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, saving the spotlight for K-Mart's mountain of a comeback. |
|
12 (6) |
Raptors |
47-35 |
J-Kidd recently decreed that 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 just yet. |
|
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: '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 that turning point in Pacers history happened in the fall of 2004, but things in Pacerland are getting progressively worse nearly three years later. Not better. |
|
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. |
첫댓글 보스턴 단숨에 2위네...
미네 최하위네;;
오.. 휴스턴 좋아 ~~4위 ㅋㅋ 역시 이번오프시즌알차게 보낸효과가 잇군요.. 근데 보스턴이 단숨에 2위 헉
29위라니....씁쓸한 웃음만 나오는군요;;
클리블랜드는 뭐 했다고 7위?! 골든 스테이트도 이해 안감~
죄송한데 이게 무슨 의미죠?;; 무엇에대한 순위를 매긴건지좀 알려주세요..
정확한 정의는 모르겠지만 일반적으로 받아들여지는 의미는 컨퍼런스 불문하고 우승가능성이 높은 순서대로 순위를 매기는 거 같습니다.
말그대로 파워 랭킹입니다. 그 기간동안에 얼마만큼 좋은 모습을 보였나는 순위입니다. 시즌 중에도 espn이나 야후, nba.com등 유력 사이트들에서 매주 파워랭킹을 발표합니다.
현재 상황에서의 팀들 전력 순위입니다. 오프시즌 성적과는 다른 의미입니다.
그냥 엔비에이팀들 현재 트레이닝 캠프 들어간 상황에서 봤을 때 다음 시즌 전력 비교한거 아닌가요? 보스톤이랑 휴스턴은 단숨에 올라간 반면에 댈러스 6위는 좀 압박이네요;;마이애미도 20위라니...
그렇군요.. 감사합니다
29위라.......ㅠㅠ 두고보자.....
29위라.......ㅠㅠ 두고보자.....2
소닉스 22위라..살짝 높은 감이 있네요. 듀란트에 대한 기대가 높긴 높나봅니다.
미네...ㅠㅠ