eastern conference power rankings
eastern conference power rankings
| Rank | Team | record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 45-10 |
| 2 | Boston Celtics | 40-16 |
| 3 | New York Knicks | 37-18 |
| 4 | Milwaukee Bucks | 30-24 |
| 5 | Indiana Pacers | 31-23 |
| 6 | Orlando Magic | 28-29 |
| 7 | Detroit Pistons | 29-26 |
| 8 | Atlanta Hawks | 26-30 |
| 9 | Miami Heat | 28-28 |
| 10 | Chicago Bulls | 22-34 |
| 11 | Brooklyn Nets | 20-35 |
| 12 | Philadelphia 76ers | 20-35 |
| 13 | Charlotte Hornets | 14-40 |
| 14 | Toronto Raptors | 17-38 |
| 15 | Washington Wizards | 9-45 |
explaining the rankings
You’ll notice that I didn’t do the rankings in a straight best to worse record-wise. Some times records don’t tell the whole story. I think that everyone can agree on the top three in the East being Cleveland, Boston and New York in that order.
As of right now, I have Milwaukee ahead of Indiana. It’s all because of Giannis. I think that Giannis is mostly one-dimensional and slightly over-rated. There is no denying his impact though. Milwaukee has the star power with Giannis and Damian Lillard, and slightly better depth. If this was the 4 versus 5 matchup in the playoffs, I think that Milwaukee would take it in 6. They are that close.
I put the Magic ahead of the Pistons strictly because I think that Orlando has the better team, even though Detroit has the better record. It is interesting that the Magic had their best stretch of the season while Paolo Banchero was injured and their worst stretch after he returned.
Atlanta is ahead of Miami because they have Trey Young and the Heat no longer have Jimmy Butler.
Maybe a controversial take but, I have Brooklyn in front of the 76ers! Philly is playing so badly for a team that has Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey. Perhaps they are great in name only at this juncture. The Brooklyn Nets are devoid of much talent and yet, they have pulled even with Philly in the standings! Maybe things change for Philly when Kyle Lowry comes back from injury but…yikes! Eric Gordon is also dealing with an injury right now.
My final hot take is having the Hornets above Toronto. Charlotte has been playing rather well lately even though a huge part of their team, Brandon Miller has been out with an injury. On paper, Toronto has the better team but, they sure don’t play like it.
I will do a Western Conference Rankings this weekend.
Nfl scouting combine
The NFL Scouting Combine takes place starting Thursday, February 27th. I will be watching all of the prospects and give a list of the players that wowed me during the process.