It's an NBA Power Rankings Tuesday
The first in-season edition of our 1-to-30 ladder features Milwaukee at the top and surprises galore after that
San Antonio, Utah and Portland have jumped out to paces that (whoa) range from 59 to 68 victories.
Brooklyn and Miami, meanwhile, are a combined 4-10.
And then there’s the franchise that has won four championships across the past eight seasons … and which suddenly has to scroll down to the sub-.500 teams to find itself in the Western Conference standings.
Welcome to a wacky opening sequence for the NBA in its 77th season.
Any attempt to assemble Power Rankings in October or November is a challenge because the sample size of games played is so small, complicating the task when our stated mission is to mesh big-picture potential and expectations with short-term results.
It then becomes triply challenging when the Nets announce a coaching change right as we were ready to publish.
#thisleague as they say.
The Committee (of One), as established in our maiden season on Substack, now publishes a 1-to-30 pulse take of the league on a monthly rather than weekly basis — motivated in part by the difficulties posed by trying to take stock so soon and so often. Please register your quibbles and any other pertinent thoughts in the comments below so we can respond and expound upon The Committee's thinking.
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1️⃣ Milwaukee Bucks
This is one of the few places where things have played out according to script so far: Milwaukee and Giannis Antetokounmpo in particular look sharp. The Bucks, with a win Wednesday night over the Pistons, would match the best start in franchise history (7-0 launches in both 1971-72 and 2018-19). It’s true that Giannis and Co. have played just one of their six games so far on the road, yet it’s also true that they’ve played zero games with Khris Middleton (still recovering from wrist surgery) in the lineup. So the caveats here tend to balance each other out.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 2
2️⃣ Cleveland Cavaliers
A 5-1 start with the talent Cleveland has amassed is not terribly shocking. A 5-1 start with Darius Garland logging only 13 minutes so far this season because of an eye injury takes on a new complexion. Donovan Mitchell has settled in beautifully alongside Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen and looks like one of the best players in his new conference already, with Kevin Love flourishing as the seen-it-all sixth man.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 9
3️⃣ Phoenix Suns
Props to last season's runaway regular-season champs. The Suns looked like they were going to validate all the training camp doomsayers when they fell behind by 22 points at home on Opening Night to their old friends from Dallas. Then they pulled that game out of the mud and, still without veteran-in-exile Jae Crowder, entered Week 3 with the co-best record in the West. A new pressing worry, though: Deandre Ayton’s left ankle sprain.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 6
4️⃣ Boston Celtics
The withering defense Boston played last season en route to an NBA Finals appearance renders every poor outing on D — one in Chicago, then another at home against the upstarts from Cleveland — somewhat of a shock to the system. Yet one suspects that the Celtics will take their 4-2 record when they note how Philadelphia, Miami and Brooklyn have all stumbled out of the blocks ... and with Joe Mazzulla still getting comfortable in Ime Udoka's old chair ... and when you scan through Jayson Tatum's ridiculous stat line.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 3
5️⃣ New Orleans Pelicans
Watching the Pelicans roll past the Clippers on Sunday without Brandon Ingram (concussion) and Herb Jones (knee), one was moved to wonder aloud if we spent too much time in the preseason salivating over the Clips' presumed depth without taking stock of the roster in New Orleans. Trey Murphy III has emerged as a dependable contributor (shooter isn't enough anymore) and the undrafted Naji Marshall is showing flashes, too. The Pels, with Zion Williamson back and CJ McCollum fully ensconced as a leader, are deep and fun.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 12
6️⃣ Utah Jazz
We have probably talked about Utah more in the last six or so months than we have since the Stockton-to-Malone Era ... and a 6-2 start when the Lauri Markkanen-led Jazz were widely expected to head straight for the front of the race to Victor Wembanyama will keep us talking about them. Especially when five of the wins were recorded against teams with serious playoff aspirations: Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans and Memphis twice! Surely, though, this can't continue. Can it? We’re asking you, Lauri Legend.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 29
7️⃣ Portland Trail Blazers
It would normally take much more than one calf strain to bring the Trail Blazers down after a 5-1 start that even the most optimistic Blazermaniac couldn’t have predicted ... except that it's a Damian Lillard calf strain we're talking about. The early rumbles, though, suggest the injury isn't serious. The early returns, furthermore, suggest Anfernee Simons and Lillard are going to work out just fine as a backcourt tandem post-Dame/CJ McCollum.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 17
8️⃣ Toronto Raptors
The Raptors are routinely described as a team that does it with depth and scrappiness and Nick Nurse's coaching ingenuity ... but have you noticed the damage Pascal Siakam has been doing? Siakam entered Tuesday's play averaging a ridiculous 26.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. That's All-NBA stuff if he keeps it up ... which would make Siakam eligible for a super-max contract after he earned All-NBA Third Team honors last season.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 16
9️⃣ Golden State Warriors
A rocky training camp for the reigning champs has been followed up by a bumpy start to the Warriors' title defense. An 0-3 start on the road has swiftly reminded Stephen Curry and Friends — not that they needed a reminder — how big a deal it is to the hosts whenever they play a game outside San Francisco city limits. That’s especially the case in Eastern Conference cities that get only one look per season at the Curry and Co. road show. A late collapse in a Curry homecoming game in Charlotte when the Hornets were without both LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, followed by a drubbing in Detroit in Draymond Green's annual Michigan homecoming, were both unexpected outcomes.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 1
🔟 Memphis Grizzlies
Don't think Ja Morant took too kindly to my prediction that a foreign-born player would win the regular-season MVP award for a fifth consecutive season; Morant has been breathtaking out of the gate. Desmond Bane has found a new offensive gear, too, but Ja (illness) and Bane (ankle) each missed one game during a four-night visit to Salt Lake City and the Jaren Jackson Jr.-less Grizzlies lost both to the Cinderella Jazz.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 8
1️⃣1️⃣ Denver Nuggets
It is too soon to overreact to anything in the NBA. This, though, is the Overreaction Age. In that climate, as you would expect, Denver's Sunday night loss to the previously winless Lakers was treated as crisis material. While we certainly wouldn't go that far, it must be said the Nuggets' play has been more up-and-down than they were hoping at this juncture, thanks to subpar defense on the road and the natural challenges that come with working Jamal Murray back in after a lengthy absence (and through a minutes restriction).
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 4
1️⃣2️⃣ Philadelphia 76ers
If there was an October for the Sixers to start 1-4, it was probably this one with the Phillies in the World Series and the Eagles at a rampaging 7-0. While road wins at Toronto, Chicago and Washington have steadied things somewhat, it's worth noting that Joel Embiid missed two of the last three wins and has faced some early season questions about his conditioning. The Embiid/James Harden offensive fit has looked less than smooth for starters.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 7
1️⃣3️⃣ San Antonio Spurs
A 3-0 start on the road. Two wins in three tries against Minnesota after the Timberwolves made an all-in trade to acquire Rudy Gobert. The stunning release of highly rated prospect Josh Primo about an hour before a visit by the Chicago Bulls highlighted by DeMar DeRozan crossing the 20,000-point plateau. The Spurs, like the Jazz, are generating headlines like no one forecasted after embarking on a rebuild, but the very serious and distressing Primo situation (for all the wrong reasons) overshadows it all.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 30
1️⃣4️⃣ Atlanta Hawks
The starry new backcourt tandem of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray is coalescing well enough. Defense and rebounding issues, however, have been noticeable already for the Hawks, whose 4-1 start (as good as that sounds) came against a trio of teams (Houston, Orlando and Detroit) that are a combined 4-19. Atlanta has been a bottom-five defensive team in three of Young's four NBA seasons and finds itself in the same range at this embryonic juncture.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 15
1️⃣5️⃣ Minnesota Timberwolves
What was presumed to be a highly favorable schedule stretch to open the season turned unexpectedly challenging when the Wolves played six of their first seven games against Oklahoma City, Utah and San Antonio — three times, amazingly, against the Spurs already. Yet there's no denying that Minnesota has looked sharper so far when it goes to its bench ... with the frontcourt tag team of Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert meshing modestly (to put it charitably). That said, for some perspective, 'Sota started 4-9 in Chris Finch's first full season as coach.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 11
1️⃣6️⃣ Oklahoma City Thunder
The Jazz and the Spurs have been getting all the attention, but the Thunder are yet another presumed Tanking Team that is proving to be an unexpectedly tough out. It doesn't hurt that newly minted Western Conference Player of the Week Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been playing at an All-Star level, leading the Thunder to a pair of victories over the LA Clippers and a historic comeback in Dallas — all without the injured Josh Giddey.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 27
1️⃣7️⃣ Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks awoke Tuesday with the league's top-ranked offense and a passable (No. 12) defense. It just didn't feel like it — not after three dagger losses that were each more painful than the last. Dallas couldn't hold a 22-point lead in Phoenix on Opening Night ... couldn't beat the Pelicans in New Orleans when they were without three starters (Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones) ... and couldn't close out visiting Oklahoma City with a 16-point lead and less than five minutes left on the regulation clock. The Mavericks also couldn't possibly ask for more from Luka Dončić than their face of the franchise has delivered through the first six games. Yet it would honestly be wise if they could ask him to do less (Dončić's usage rate is a hard-to-fathom 40.9) if they hope to get his best in April and May.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 13
1️⃣8️⃣ Chicago Bulls
DeMar DeRozan, now 33, seems to get better with age. But the Bulls’ ceiling can be only so high with Lonzo Ball out indefinitely and Zach LaVine still in the throes of load managing his own knee issues. A couple quality wins already (at Miami on Opening Night and at home against Boston) don’t change the new reality that Chicago has known from the first day of training camp: The East is deeper and that means injury issues will hit harder.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 19
1️⃣9️⃣ New York Knicks
The combination of the Nets' sudden divorce from Steve Nash and the ceaseless scrutiny Kyrie Irving is attracting has given the Knicks as much relief from the withering Gotham spotlight as they've had in ages. Jalen Brunson has taken advantage of the limited glare to quickly find a comfort level as a Knick. Yet a promising 3-1 start with a favorable off-the-bat schedule gave way to losses to Milwaukee and Cleveland that, thanks to dominant displays by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Knicks-trade-target-turned-Cav Donovan Mitchell, immediately underlined the New Yorkers' limitations in the star department.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 20
2️⃣0️⃣ Miami Heat
Jimmy Butler’s long locks didn’t last long once training camp opened. Butler’s trademark defiance, meanwhile, remains intact in spite of Miami’s plummet to the bottom of the East standings and issues sprouting quickly with bench scoring and rebounding in the wake of Tyler Herro’s move into the starting lineup and P.J. Tucker’s departure to Philly. Said Butler in an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick: “We’re still going to win the championship and I don’t care what nobody says. Count us out. We’re going to win the [expletive] championship. I’m telling you: I don’t give a damn that we started 2-5.”
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 10
2️⃣1️⃣ Indiana Pacers
It has likely been months since the majority of you have heard a reference to the Pacers without a nearby reference to the Lakers and the trade talks those teams have seemingly had for months. A podcast interview Myles Turner just did only figures to stoke more talk about the prospect of a trade to the Lakers, but make sure to include the Pacers on the long list of teams dismissed as lottery fodder as recently as Oct. 17 that have made glamour teams uncomfortable. You could make the case that Indy should have just swept its two-game baseball series in Brooklyn against the Nets that will be recorded as Steve Nash’s last two games in charge ... and we've already established that Bennedict Mathurin was October's most eye-catching rookie not named Paolo Banchero.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 28
2️⃣2️⃣ Charlotte Hornets
Add the Hornets’ seesawing to what has been an unpredictable start to the season all over the NBA map. Widely billed as a team that just might talk itself into tank mode after losing All-Star guard LaMelo Ball indefinitely to an ankle sprain during the preseason, Charlotte has two impressive wins — on Opening Night in San Antonio by a tidy 27 points and in overtime over the weekend against visiting Golden State — and then sustained a confounding fall-from-ahead home loss to Sacramento on Monday night after the Kings lost De'Aaron Fox to injury.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 23
2️⃣3️⃣ Detroit Pistons
In the Training Camp Edition of the Rankings, we lumped Detroit and Orlando together as likely lottery-bound teams that would be very watchable regardless. Both squads have lived up to it so far, with Cade Cunningham starting his second season with such dominance (and assurance) and the Pistons following up a surprising 14-point home win over the defending champs by taking Milwaukee all the way to the wire on the second night of a back-to-back.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 24
2️⃣4️⃣ Washington Wizards
Bradley Beal managed just 32 points in Washington's last two games ... and just four points combined in the first half of both games. While it's perhaps unrealistic to expect Beal to average 31.3 points per game like he did as recently as the 2020-21 season, especially with Kristaps Porziņģis and Kyle Kuzma flanking him, it's likewise safe to presume that the Wizards were expecting more than Beal’s current 20.8 PPG after signing him to that whopper contract worth $250 million over five years.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 22
2️⃣5️⃣ LA Clippers
My old friend Zach Lowe has repeatedly made the case in recent weeks that this is the most important season in Clippers history, given that it's Year 4 of the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George partnership. Whether or not you agree, there's really no disputing the idea that alarm bells are already sounding on Leonard, whose troublesome right knee has allowed him to log only 42 minutes in two games to date. Clippers coach Ty Lue announced before Monday's 95-93 win over Houston that Leonard's absence will stretch to at least six consecutive games before his return to the lineup is considered. Will we ever see this team whole?
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 5
2️⃣6️⃣ Sacramento Kings
My pal Carmichael Dave, maybe Sacramento's loudest radio voice, took issue with my proclamation after the Kings lost at home to Portland on Opening Night that the defeat dented local confidence. It seemed even safer to say that on Monday night, with Sacramento seemingly headed for a 1-5 start at halftime in Charlotte after De’Aaron Fox exited the game with a knee injury, but the Kings pulled themselves together to rally past the Hornets without Fox. Preseason expectations are not being met yet, but let’s see what the Charlotte comeback does to spark these guys as new coach Mike Brown chases the club’s first playoff berth in (gulp) 17 seasons.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 21
2️⃣7️⃣ Los Angeles Lakers
For all the hyperfocus on Russell Westbrook, whose two-game career as a sixth man is off to a decent start, there has been comparatively little discussion about Patrick Beverley's slow start as a Laker. L.A.'s foremost offseason acquisition, given that it took the trade surrender of Talen Horton-Tucker to get him, is shooting 28.6% from the floor. PS — There's a decent chance that The Committee will drop in on the Lakers for a live look soon. So stay tuned for some up-close accounts.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 18
2️⃣8️⃣ Brooklyn Nets
Maybe not to a 1-5 degree, but the Lakers were supposed to struggle. The Nets are indisputably at the top on the list of the NBA’s foremost October disappointments (On-Court Division) after losing five of their first six games and then flirting with another L to visiting Indiana. The Nets ultimately survived Monday night after blowing all of a 24-point lead to the Pacers but abruptly parted ways with Steve Nash on Tuesday morning. Nash began the season under fire before a single practice after Kevin Durant called for his job in August and then withdrew that demand. Nash’s reprieve lasted all of seven games.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 14
2️⃣9️⃣ Orlando Magic
The front-office duo of Jeff Weltman and John Hammond, who were together in Milwaukee for the drafting of Giannis Antetokounmpo, are well-known for their devotion to wingspan when they're building teams. The limited availability so far this season of guards Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony has thrust the Magic into Team Wingspan mode, with rookie Paolo Banchero and second-year forward Franz Wagner routinely doing work with the ball and Bol Bol developing into a very real player. The lineups alone keep you tuned in.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 25
3️⃣0️⃣ Houston Rockets
The Rockets' only win so far was recorded against the surprisingly plucky 6-2 Jazz. It hasn't helped that, as my NBA.com colleague John Schuhmann noted, Houston's first seven opponents posted a combined record of 33-10 until the Rockets had a chance to visit the banged-up Clippers on Monday night. Of course, as Schuhmann also noted, this young team has quickly sunk to the bottom third in both offensive and defensive efficiency, with both Jalen Green and rookie Jabari Smith Jr. off to troubling starts on the efficiency front.
Last ranking (Sept. 11): 26
Did Nash have a chance, or was he doomed since KD asked for his head? Were the Nets simply saving face to appear not to fold to KD's ultimatum and sabotage him to gain an excuse, or was this really his lack of experience?
Great to see some respect for the Raptors! Pascal and Scottie looked great last night.