BBR Rankings: 2010-01-08
Posted by Neil Paine on January 8, 2010
Rising: New Orleans (W-HOU, W-@UTA, W-@OKC), Boston (W-TOR, W-@MIA)
Falling: Sacramento (L-@LAL, L-DAL, L-PHO), Miami (L-CHA, W-ATL, L-BOS)
(Want to know how the BBR Rankings are calculated? Read this first.)
| Rank | Prev | Team | W | L | WPct | SOSRk | Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 28 | 9 | 0.757 | 26 | 2-1 |
| 2 | 2 | Los Angeles Lakers | 28 | 7 | 0.800 | 22 | 3-1 |
| 3 | 5 | Boston Celtics | 25 | 8 | 0.758 | 30 | 2-0 |
| 4 | 4 | Dallas Mavericks | 24 | 11 | 0.686 | 13 | 2-1 |
| 5 | 7 | Phoenix Suns | 23 | 13 | 0.639 | 10 | 2-1 |
| 6 | 3 | Orlando Magic | 24 | 11 | 0.686 | 28 | 1-3 |
| 7 | 6 | Houston Rockets | 20 | 16 | 0.556 | 1 | 0-3 |
| 8 | 8 | Atlanta Hawks | 22 | 12 | 0.647 | 27 | 1-2 |
| 9 | 11 | Denver Nuggets | 22 | 13 | 0.629 | 29 | 2-1 |
| 10 | 12 | San Antonio Spurs | 21 | 12 | 0.636 | 25 | 2-1 |
| 11 | 10 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 19 | 16 | 0.543 | 7 | 1-2 |
| 12 | 9 | Portland Trail Blazers | 22 | 15 | 0.595 | 21 | 1-2 |
| 13 | 17 | New Orleans Hornets | 17 | 16 | 0.515 | 6 | 3-0 |
| 14 | 13 | Utah Jazz | 19 | 16 | 0.543 | 14 | 1-2 |
| 15 | 15 | Toronto Raptors | 18 | 18 | 0.500 | 8 | 2-1 |
| 16 | 16 | Memphis Grizzlies | 17 | 17 | 0.500 | 16 | 2-1 |
| 17 | 14 | Miami Heat | 17 | 16 | 0.515 | 3 | 1-2 |
| 18 | 20 | Los Angeles Clippers | 16 | 18 | 0.471 | 17 | 2-0 |
| 19 | 18 | Chicago Bulls | 14 | 19 | 0.424 | 2 | 1-2 |
| 20 | 21 | Charlotte Bobcats | 15 | 19 | 0.441 | 19 | 3-1 |
| 21 | 22 | Milwaukee Bucks | 14 | 18 | 0.438 | 24 | 2-0 |
| 22 | 19 | Sacramento Kings | 14 | 20 | 0.412 | 15 | 0-3 |
| 23 | 24 | New York Knicks | 15 | 20 | 0.429 | 23 | 3-0 |
| 24 | 23 | Detroit Pistons | 11 | 23 | 0.324 | 4 | 0-2 |
| 25 | 25 | Washington Wizards | 11 | 22 | 0.333 | 18 | 1-2 |
| 26 | 26 | Golden State Warriors | 10 | 24 | 0.294 | 12 | 1-2 |
| 27 | 27 | Philadelphia 76ers | 10 | 24 | 0.294 | 9 | 1-1 |
| 28 | 28 | Indiana Pacers | 11 | 23 | 0.324 | 20 | 2-1 |
| 29 | 29 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 7 | 29 | 0.194 | 5 | 0-3 |
| 30 | 30 | New Jersey Nets | 3 | 32 | 0.086 | 11 | 0-3 |
January 8th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
These rankings are really rounding into shape now. Looks good, top to bottom!
January 8th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I'll have to run them for older seasons as well. I wonder just how historically bad the Nets are. Right now they have the 6th worst SRS in league history.
January 9th, 2010 at 3:53 am
Aren't the Nets on pace for the worst season ever?
January 9th, 2010 at 6:27 am
It's amazing how well Portland is hanging in there in spite of all of their injuries. I'm just hazarding a guess here, but this version of the Blazers may be one of the most injured teams in recent history!
January 9th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Incidentally, we should probably do a post on that sometime -- "most injured teams ever"... Tough to find man games lost to injury, though.
January 11th, 2010 at 2:55 am
I'm sure the numbers, when you're not watching them play, back up your contention that the Kings are falling. However, oddly enough, seeing them play every game, the Kings are really on the precipice of getting much better and winning a lot more. They lost every close game for a few weeks, 3 of them going to overtime, one to double OT. But they finally won one of those last night, beating Denver. My sense is that when Kevin Martin comes back in a week or two, they will be able to play above .500 ball the rest of the season. I'm not saying Sacramento will be world beaters. I don't think they will sniff the 8th seed, this year. But wins should start coming for them, including more road wins. They must be the youngest team in the NBA, based on minutes played. Look at the age and years in the league of their 5 players getting the most minutes:
Jason Thompson, 23, 1
Tyreke Evans, 20, R
Beno Udrih, 27, 5
Omri Casspi, 21, R
Spencer Hawes, 21, 2
Does any other NBA team start 4 players 23 and under? Does any other team start 2 rookies? Does any other team start a frontline as young as the Kings?
Beyond the youth leading them in minutes, the Kings are giving more and more time of late to a third rookie, Jon Brockman. Part of the reason it seems to me the Kings will win more as the season progresses -- besides just getting back their best two returning players from last season, K-Mart and Francisco Garcia -- is that all of these youngsters are learning. In Paul Westphal, the Kings have a decent coach who is teaching them.
January 11th, 2010 at 10:53 am
"Incidentally, we should probably do a post on that sometime -- "most injured teams ever"... "
That's easy- the Clippers. Pick any year you want.
January 11th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Rich, these rankings aren't meant to be predictive. The team is being judged here primarily on past wins and losses, with adjustments made for who they played and the location of the game. The Kings fell three spots because they lost 3 times between Jan 1 and Jan 7, twice at home (albeit against 3 top-5 teams). It has nothing to do with whether they're on the precipice of getting better, or how many young players they're playing. These rankings are retrodictive, and only concerned with whether you won or lost in the past.
January 11th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Neil, I understand that and don't question your list. The Kings' mounting losses (including a lot of them at home) necessitated a drop in the rankings ... by the numbers. (By the way ... I love your blog entries. Great job.)
My lone point is that, watching Sacramento lately play very competitively with the best teams in the NBA, I think going forward they will start winning and thus earn a higher spot in the rankings (say in the next 5 weeks).
After a home game tomorrow with Orlando, which I suspect will be yet another close, could go either way contest, the Kings hit the road for 6 games.
Two of those road games will be against Atlanta and Orlando, both in your top 8; two are against Miami and Charlotte, middle-rung team ranked better than Sacramento; and two are with Philly and Washington, both now lower-ranked than the Kings.
The Kings have been bad on the road, 3-13. That is not too surprising for a young, below-average ballclub. Yet, if my contention that the Kings have really improved, despite losing a lot lately, is true, they should start winning some close games, including road games. If they go 0-6, 1-5 on their road trip, I would take that as evidence that my contention is wrong or premature. But I think they should win at least 3 of those games, doubling their road-win total for the season in a week and a half.
January 13th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Wow, New Jersey is so bad this year ... maybe without Vince Carter. Hope Cleveland and Lakers will meet in the finals.