'Round the NBA we go: Power Rankings!

We have a new installment of our monthly rankings from The Committee (of One) ... and a new No. 1 as we move into February

The actual basketball doesn't stop just because the overwhelming focus for hardcore NBA fans is the upcoming trade deadline. 

We promised Power Rankings from The Committee (of One) once a month during the regular season on this Substack, which makes this, once again, a Power Rankings Tuesday. 

This is our fifth edition of Substacked Rankings and the first time that the Phoenix Suns have risen to the summit after two turns each at No. 1 for Milwaukee and Golden State. Who could deny the Suns after 10 consecutive wins to see out the first month of a new calendar year and their status as the only team on the NBA map with a top-three offense and defense?

This latest rankings batch, as always, factors in a team's big-picture outlook strongly in addition to weighing short-term results … along with a sprinkling of subjective whim from a singular voice. Whether you agree or disagree with the analysis, you will always know who is responsible for the 1-to-30 order. 

I hope to see lots of you commenting below and I will certainly be responding there. Thanks again for following me to Substack, reading this newsletter and sharing in my journalistic endeavors like you do!

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1️⃣  Phoenix Suns

It wasn’t quite another No Loss November, but a 13-1 record in January was enough to establish the Suns as the NBA's first 40-win team (40-9) and cement a summons to All-Star Weekend for Coach Monty Williams and his staff. Look for Devin Booker and Chris Paul to join them in Cleveland as All-Star reserves ... with a strong argument that two All-Stars might not be enough for the only team in the league that, as mentioned above, ranks in the top three in both offensive (No. 3) and defensive (No. 2) efficiency.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 2

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2️⃣ Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry shot a hard-to-process 38.5% from the field in January and 32.9% on 3-pointers. Draymond Green is out indefinitely with a calf injury that stems from a disc issue in his back. And Klay Thompson's return from two lost seasons to injury has been predictably up-and-down. The new year, in other words, has presented no shortage of challenges for the team that topped our two most recent editions of the rankings. On the flip side: A recent 6-1 homestand and Andrew Wiggins' surprising selection as an All-Star starter have brightened the mood.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 1

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3️⃣ Memphis Grizzlies

I didn't think there was a team that Memphians could love as much as the Grit-N- Grind Grizzlies. Then these Grizzlies went 10-2 when Ja Morant was out injured — sparking a 26-8 surge since the night Morant went down with a scary-looking knee injury in a heavy home loss to Atlanta that dropped the Grizz to a disappointing 9-10 on the day after Thanksgiving. Memphis' unexpected crashing of the West's top three has thrust Taylor Jenkins into the heart of the Coach of the Year race.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 6

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4️⃣ Miami Heat

The East, as we've been promising you since last summer, has lived to billing as the more compelling conference. What we never imagined, as high as we were on the Heat's offseason business, is seeing them flirt with the East lead as the All-Star break draws near even though Jimmy Butler (19), Bam Adebayo (25) and Kyle Lowry (12) have combined to miss 56 games. The Heat cemented their lofty placement here in spite of all their injuries by ranking as one of just four teams leaguewide (along with Phoenix, Memphis and Milwaukee) in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 7

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5️⃣ Philadelphia 76ers

The overwhelming focus on Ben Simmons and a trade standoff that is somehow entering its sixth month has diverted attention from an on-court revival that has given this saga some unexpected wrinkles we should be talking up more. Philadelphia has won 15 of its last 18 games to unexpectedly challenge for the East's top seed while Joel Embiid has been busy establishing himself as the foremost threat to Nikola Jokić's bid to repeat as league MVP. The Simmons-less Sixers are so hot that they beat the likewise-scorching Grizzlies in overtime on Monday night when Embiid was taking a game off for rest.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 11

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6️⃣ Milwaukee Bucks

It's always unwise to overreact to one game — especially when the defending champions are involved. Yet a 36-point home drubbing absorbed from the Nuggets shone a considerable spotlight on how much Milwaukee misses the injured Brook Lopez and has issues dealing with size without him. And, yes, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday were in uniform for the rout, dropping the Bucks' gaudy record when their Big Three are all available to 19-5. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 4

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7️⃣ Cleveland Cavaliers

As much as The Committee loves to remind people that we were ahead of the curve on touting the depth and intrigue of the new East, we can’t claim to have known it would be this unpredictable at the top … with Cleveland, in particular, continuing to surprise. The prospect of the Cavaliers' first playoff berth since 1998 without LeBron James in a Cavs uniform is becoming more tangible by the day despite the season-ending injuries sustained by Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio. The easiest remaining schedule for any team in the East's top six can only help. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 8

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8️⃣ Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets apparently still want to be The Committee's sleeper team in the West, as stated here in October, judging by the persistent rumbles that both Jamal Murray (knee) and Michael Porter Jr. (back) could make their returns from long-term injury before season’s end. Meanwhile ... Nikola Jokić looks intent on repeating as league MVP with statistical production that defies belief (his PER is 33.4) while hauling the Nuggets up to No. 4 in the West without his two most accomplished sidekicks.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 10

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9️⃣ Chicago Bulls

What looked for some time like a fairy-tale season in the Windy City has quickly turned complicated for the Bulls after the recent double blow of injuries sustained by guards Lonzo Ball (knee) and Alex Caruso (wrist) that could knock them both out for up to two months (plus a five-game injury absence with a knee issue for Zach LaVine). As predicted by pretty much no one coming into the season, Chicago secured the top seed in the East before the injury hits and made it back there again Tuesday morning after short-handed Miami got blitzed in Boston.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 9

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🔟 Brooklyn Nets

Jokes about the Nets tanking to ensure they don't have homecourt advantage in any playoff series, thereby increasing the likelihood of the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving being able to play, are commonplace now. For the Nets themselves, though, January is when the laughter stopped thanks to Kevin Durant’s scary knee sprain and the unraveling of a defense that had unexpectedly ranked in the league's top five entering Jan. 1 play. The Nets have been a bottom-five defensive team for the past month and still have had Durant, Irving and Harden in uniform together for just 10 regular-season games in 1½ seasons. They barely hung on to a top-10 spot from The Committee.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 5

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1️⃣1️⃣ Dallas Mavericks

Few teams will miss January more than the Mavericks, who surged into the top five in defensive efficiency and watched Luka Dončić regain his playoff verve while slimming down. Although uncertainty persists about the supporting cast around Dončić and how to improve it with limited trade assets, new coach Jason Kidd has a largely unchanged group playing harder and better together ... as long as you throw out Sunday's dispiriting showing in Orlando to close out a transformative month. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 13

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1️⃣2️⃣ Utah Jazz

It turns out that the Jazz did manage to get us to tune in before the playoffs ... by abruptly descending into the sort of regular-season crisis no one expected. The Jazz were 19-7 when the hiring of Danny Ainge as the club's new basketball CEO was announced. Utah is a woeful 11-14 since and the culprits are plentiful: Major injuries, minor injuries, COVID-19 intrusions and internal instability presumed to stem from growing suspicions that Ainge wants to make major changes. It’s a borderline soap opera now.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 3

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1️⃣3️⃣ Minnesota Timberwolves

Anthony Edwards recently declared that the Timberwolves will definitely make the playoffs. It's a provocative statement, even by Edwards' loquacious standards, because of the Wolves' dreadful recent history (just one playoff berth in the last 17 seasons). I wouldn't completely dismiss the idea that they come out of the play-in round, though. While Minnesota has drifted out of the top 10 in defensive efficiency, its improvement at that end remains considerable to support the hard-to-guard twosome of Karl-Anthony Towns and Edwards.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 15

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1️⃣4️⃣ Boston Celtics

I am in the camp, for what it's worth, that says it's still too soon to break up the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown duo. In this era of position-less basketball, when wings who can shoot 3s and play D are valued more than ever, Tatum and Brown have to be given as much time as possible to make it work ... especially after three trips to the conference finals in their first four seasons together. Yet it's impossible to ignore how mediocre this team has been for nearly two seasons running. Despite a solid January (10-6) and a top-five defense (No. 4 overall), Boston and its fans are awash in angst because the rest of the roster has underdelivered. Changes have to be coming. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 18

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1️⃣5️⃣ Atlanta Hawks

The Jan. 13 trade of Cam Reddish to New York was thought to be the start of a significant Hawks shakeup. Days later Atlanta launched a seven-game winning streak reminiscent of its response to the midseason firing of Coach Lloyd Pierce almost a year ago. That run, which finally came to an end Monday night with a loss to Toronto with Trae Young unable to play because of a shoulder ailment, could lead the Hawks to hold off on further roster alterations and give this group another chance to make a second-half surge.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 16

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1️⃣6️⃣ Toronto Raptors

There are some nights Coach Nick Nurse is only willing to use seven players. There are no nights, in the current climate, that the Raptors are allowed to admit fans to its home games — after the franchise was forced to operate out of Tampa, Fla., last season. Toronto has nonetheless clawed its way back into playoff contention led by Fred VanVleet, who is bidding to become just the sixth undrafted All-Star in NBA history alongside Brad Miller, John Starks, Ben Wallace and two Hall of Famers who began their careers in different leagues: Connie Hawkins and Moses Malone. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 20

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1️⃣7️⃣ Charlotte Hornets

I was probably too hard here on the Hornets, who didn’t deserve to fall this far but find themselves caught in the jumble of the hardest teams to rank. We'll find out Thursday if second-year guard LaMelo Ball makes his All-Star breakthrough. Charlotte awoke Tuesday at a solid seventh in the East at 28-23, so the standings shouldn’t pose any obstacles. The issue is the competition: Ball is vying for a reserve spot with the likes of Chicago's Zach LaVine, Brooklyn's James Harden, Toronto's Fred VanVleet, Cleveland's Darius Garland and Boston's Jaylen Brown. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 12

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1️⃣8️⃣ New York Knicks

Good line from my pal Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated that we couldn't resist repeating here: Ain’t no honeymoon shorter than a New York honeymoon. Julius Randle's relationship with Madison Square Garden-goers is abruptly crumbling, fan grumbling has begun to circulate about reigning Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau and lead executive Leon Rose with last season's No. 4 team in the East mired at No. 11 and the Knicks are already exploring the trade market for backcourt newcomers Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 17

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1️⃣9️⃣ LA Clippers

The wise approach for the Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard (knee) realistically out until next season and Paul George (elbow) potentially in the same boat, is trying to trade the likes of Serge Ibaka, Eric Bledsoe and Marcus Morris with an eye toward retooling around their two stars for 2022-23. The Clippers, mind you, just won a game in Washington after falling behind by 35 points to go with previous comebacks from 25 and 24 down in wind over Denver and Philadelphia. So who in Clipperland is even in the mood to be rational?

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 21

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2️⃣0️⃣ Los Angeles Lakers

Imagine where the Lakers would be if not for their league-best record in overtime games (5-1). They're only 9-7 when LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook are all in uniform and they’re not adding to those 16 games together because LeBron is now dealing with the third injury issue of his 19th season. It's a knee problem this time, after ankle and abdominal injuries, and merely the latest reminder how fragile things are with the league's oldest team. The shaky state of the 10 teams below them, more than anything, is what prevented the Lakers from dropping lower than No. 20. There's no trade coming that can fix what ails a roster that, as ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy wisely put it on a recent podcast with Zach Lowe, calls for too many players to fill roles that are too big for where they are in their careers.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 22

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2️⃣1️⃣ San Antonio Spurs

Gregg Popovich turned 73 last week and still needs seven more victories to supplant Don Nelson as the winningest coach in regular-season history. Perhaps that means we will see him set the record during the Spurs' famed Rodeo Road Trip, which spans eight games this time from Feb. 9 to 28 on both sides of the All-Star break while the annual San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo comes to town. The rodeo trip was so often when vintage Spurs teams started gearing up for their playoff drives. Pop's record chase would ensure this rodeo trip has meaning, too, even with the Spurs facing the wholly unfamiliar prospect of a third successive season out of the playoffs.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 14

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2️⃣2️⃣ New Orleans Pelicans

Who would have expected, after what we heard from New Orleans' lead executive David Griffin and Zion Williamson himself on Media Day back in September, that we'd still have no clarity about Zion's comeback plans on Feb. 1? Another good question: Who ever expected the Zion-less Pelicans, after a 3-16 start, to emerge as a potential trade-deadline buyer for the pricey likes of Portland's CJ McCollum? The Pels are a passable 16-20 when Brandon Ingram is in uniform.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 25

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2️⃣3️⃣ Portland Trail Blazers

The most important recent development with the Blazers is how optimistic Damian Lillard sounded after his recent abdominal surgery, restoring some hope that he can return to his full Dame-ness after it looked, going all the way back to the Tokyo Olympics, that he was no longer the same player. In the short term, Portland is entering a critical stretch leading up to the Feb. 10 trade deadline, with tough decisions to make about whether to ship out the established likes of CJ McCollum, Robert Covington and Jusuf Nurkić. Losing big Monday at Oklahoma City after taking an early 18-point lead clinched the Blazers’ drop this far down.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 27

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2️⃣4️⃣ Washington Wizards

For all the commentary generated by the Lakers' struggles to incorporate Russell Westbrook, it must be noted that the team that traded Westbrook to L.A. is no longer so gleeful. The Wizards' 10-3 start is a distant, distant memory. Washington is 13-23 since, has descended into the league's bottom 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency and faces the expensive prospect of extending a $250 million contract offer to Bradley Beal this summer to retain the centerpiece of a team that is fading out of playoff contention. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 19

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2️⃣5️⃣ Indiana Pacers

It’s still jarring to scan the standings every morning and see the Pacers farther away from playoff play-in range in the East than Oklahoma City is in the West. While injuries and COVID-19 intrusions have undeniably contributed to Indiana's slide — on top of that frequently cited 3-13 record in games decided by four points or less — Indy’s predicament is doubly jarring with a coach as established as Rick Carlisle back on the bench. Let's see how much changes in the next few days after months of trade speculation surrounding Caris LeVert, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 23

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2️⃣6️⃣ Sacramento Kings

It was a sleepy Saturday afternoon early in this new calendar year when (there’s that name again) Howard Beck inspired an unexpected rush of Twitter commentary about the Kings by pointing out that the iPhone did not yet exist the last time Sacramento reached the playoffs in (gulp) 2006. The standings say that the current Kings are still in the hunt for a playoff play-in spot, but they're actually closer to Oklahoma City/Houston range than the West's No. 10 seed and are thus widely expected to be among the league's busiest teams before the Feb. 10 trade deadline. A record 16th consecutive season out of the playoffs is pretty much inevitable now.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 26

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2️⃣7️⃣ Detroit Pistons

The Pistons won more games in January (7) than they did in October, November and December (5). They have also seen encouraging progress from No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, who is unlikely to win Rookie of the Year honors over Cleveland's Evan Mobley but has at least managed to make it more of a race. It'll be up to Cunningham to keep closing the gap to spark broader interest in the Pistons once the trade deadline passes and we learn Jerami Grant's fate at last after weeks of trade speculation. 

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 30

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2️⃣8️⃣ Orlando Magic

The Magic hoped to have a prime Rookie of the Year candidate, but they surely figured it was bound to be No. 5 overall pick Jalen Suggs. Orlando's best ROY candidate has actually been Franz Wagner, who lasted to No. 8 in last July’s draft to the Magic's great relief and has earned the nickname "Roy" from a few teammates because of his surprise emergence as a contender for top rookie honors.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 29

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2️⃣9️⃣ Houston Rockets

The teams are in different conferences, and on different trajectories, but one wonders how much attention the Rockets are secretly paying to Cleveland, which has emerged as the NBA's undisputed Cinderella this season with some Houston assists. The Rockets traded Jarrett Allen to the Cavaliers last season, as part of the James Harden-to-Brooklyn blockbuster, because they didn't think Allen could mesh alongside Christian Wood. Houston then drafted Jalen Green at No. 2 overall in July, keeping Evan Mobley available for Cleveland at No. 3. It's way too soon for final judgments but the two teams, for the foreseeable future, are intertwined because of those decisions.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 28

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3️⃣0️⃣ Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder certainly do it their way. Almost immediately after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sustained an ankle sprain, Oklahoma City announced that it would not be fiddling with vague return timelines by declaring its best player out until after the All-Star break. As watchable as Josh Giddey and Lu Dort can be, chances are that the Thunder will keep sinking without SGA on the floor for the bulk of this month after posting a 2-12 mark in January.

Last ranking (Dec. 28): 24