Bin-a-Hoop Power Ranking rates teams according to the quality of their winning record (Methodology).
Welcome to Bin-a-Hoop’s Power Rankings! Please make sure to take a look at my methodology before checking out the Ranking.
Some quick notes about this week’s Ranking:
- The Lakers are clearly the best team in the NBA right now. But they are much better with Gasol back. See the difference between the Rating and the wRating (16.20 vs. 20.30). The latter gives more weight to recent games, and the Lakers have been sensational with Gasol back in the lineup.
- Phoenix is a power to reckon with. With Shaq out, the Suns have gotten their chemistry back and Nash is playing at MVP level once again.
- The Suns had a problem with Shaq last year and now it’s the Cavs’ problem. Cleveland has played much better with O’Neal sidelined, and now that he is back they are having trouble to find themselves. See also the difference between the Rating and the wRating (10.45 vs. 9.24), which shows how they’ve been worse with Shaquille.
- The Hawks are not so great as their record shows. On average, they have won very contested games (W1 = 4.52) and that’s not the sign of a great team.
- On the other hand, the Spurs are better than what their record shows. They have won easy (W1 = 3.60) and lost hard (L1 = 4.55), so much more in recent games (L2 = 5.02). Expect the Spurs to improve their record in the next few weeks.
- The Celtics started the season very strong but are showing signs of weakness lately (Rating 14.02 vs. wRating 11.80).
- Portland has hit a slump. The Blazers have been losing games lately without putting up much of a fight (Rating 11.26 vs. wRating 9.69).
- The Grizzlies are better than a few teams with a better record, namely the Clippers and the Hornets.
