Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 1:39 pm  |  21 responses

Power Rankings: Dime Edition

Plus, of course, the ten best games of the week

by Doobie Okon / @doobieSLAM

The season just began, yet it’s already mid-January. Every night it seems like there are 10-12 games. For the players, coaches and media, it has to be exhausting. But for us, the fans, it’s been awesome. We deserve to see 66 games cramped in to 124 days. Now, we’ll really get to see who the strongest, toughest, most cohesive and best conditioned are. The lockout, in the end, has truly supplied a massive jolt to this League.

With that, I give you the first of seven editions of the Dime’s inaugural power rankings.

Going Nowhere…And Fast

30) Washington Wizards (1-8) – Dub-Dubs finally get their first Dub. Awful team.

29) New Jersey Nets (2-8) – Deron doing diddly w/o Brook. Banking on Dwight? Don’t.

28) Detroit Pistons (2-8) – Nice wins against Pacers and Magic. Creamed in the rest.

Competitive Losers

27) Charlotte Bobcats (2-8) – Close losses to Heat, Hawks and Knicks, plus seven players averaging in double digits. Not ready to put them in the above category. Yet.

26) Houston Rockets (3-6) – Tough schedule doesn’t help, but a -12.0 avg. point margin in their six L’s is very ugly.

25) New Orleans Hornets (3-6) – Impressive win in Denver after a six-game skid. JJ2 doing his best CP3 impression and are without Eric Gordon. Could improve later on.

24) Milwaukee Bucks (3-6) – Big win over Spurs momentarily yields an extremely disappointing start.

23) Sacramento Kings (3-7) – Loaded with young talent, but play nothing like a team. (30th in assists, 29th

in points allowed.)

Finally Out The Cellar

22) Minnesota Timberwolves (3-7) – May have a little future here with Ricky, KLove and Derrick. Only two bad losses so far…to the following two teams.

Eastern Facades

21) Cleveland Cavaliers (4-5) – Kyrie’s been good but wins over DET, NJ, CHA and MIN don’t say much. Also consider this: The Cavs were 4-5 last year before finishing19-63.

20) Toronto Raptors (4-6) ­– The only reason they’re above Cavs is because they’ve beaten them twice. Double-digit losses to Nets and Wizards are eye-popping.

Very Competitive Losers

19) Memphis Grizzlies (3-6) – No high quality wins yet. A 40-point loss in Chicago. Still, if they can stay somewhat afloat until Z-Bo returns, who knows?

18) Golden State Warriors (3-6) – Can’t ignore three home wins over Heat, Bulls and Knicks. Curry’s missed time, but where’s the high-powered GS offense?

Western Playoff Hopefuls (8th-9th seeds right now)

17) Phoenix Suns (4-5) – Roster’s not scary, but scrappy. Gentry’s gotten Suns to finally play some D. Will give some teams fits. Nash still best player by far (not good).

16) Dallas Mavericks (5-5) – Hitting their stride now with four wins in last five. Still, can’t ignore durability questions, chemistry concerns and four blowout losses.

Playoffs, But Unimpressive (so far)

15) Boston Celtics (4-4) – Even if old and injured, too much talent to miss playoffs. Four wins so far are over the three ‘Going Nowhere…And Fast’ teams (Wizards twice).

14) New York Knicks (5-4) – Have played rather horrible considering expectations. Current three-game winning streak, albeit verses WAS, DET, and CHA, is a start.

Cut Off A Dime

13) Utah Jazz (6-3) – W’s in five straight. Strong frontcourt in Jefferson/Millsap. Should make playoffs, but no chance to win the ridiculous Northwest.

12) Orlando Magic (6-3) – Fourth in points allowed (90.3), Dwight’s assaulting the boards (14.6), but three losses include the only two +.500 teams that they’ve played (CHI/OKC).

11) Indiana Pacers (6-3) ­– Would’ve made top 10 had they beaten the Sixers. Gross silver lining: leading-scorer Danny Granger sat with food poisoning.

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  • KRE Posted: Jan.11 at 2:03 pm
    #showyagoddamnluv

  • Nella Posted: Jan.11 at 2:06 pm
    How is Philly’s bench easily the best? I get they’re off to a good start, but no way is there bench better than the Bulls…

  • Caboose Posted: Jan.11 at 2:14 pm
    ^Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner and Nikola Vucevic are miles better than Kyle Korver, Omer Asik, and Taj Gibson.

  • Nella Posted: Jan.11 at 2:19 pm
    And Ronnie Brewer and CJ Watson? Not sure about that.

  • doobie Posted: Jan.11 at 2:28 pm
    youre kidding right? Sixers bench averages 15 more points, 3 more boards and 3 more assists than chicagos bench. not to mention…its not about the numbers. if you watch the sixers, once the bench comes in…this team usually goes absolutely off in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

  • Nella Posted: Jan.11 at 2:59 pm
    You say it’s not about the numbers, but I would expect Philly’s bench’s numbers to be stronger when their starter’s don’t have a single star and therefore not exactly stuffing the stat sheet Miami style. Not saying they’re not off to a good start, but don’t start with stats if stats aren’t your primary argument.

  • doobie Posted: Jan.11 at 3:04 pm
    its a dual argument bud. stats are my primary argument to first show you youre plain wrong, then i follow it up by telling you about the actual game effect the bench player has, aside from a stat. and yes, i agree, sixers dont have a single star and the bulls starters are way better…but in what way does that affect the argument of whos bench is better? it doesnt.

  • Slick Ric Posted: Jan.11 at 3:15 pm
    lol at miles better than the bulls bench, tell that to their 62 wins last season, along with their best record(tied) in the league this season.

  • LA Huey Posted: Jan.11 at 4:18 pm
    I find it amusing that GState is credited with beating a disappointing Knicks team. Keep NYK out of the same sentence of legit contenders like Bulls and Heat please.

  • Ryne Nelson Posted: Jan.11 at 5:07 pm
    Doobie’s power rankings… HYFR!

  • Caboose Posted: Jan.11 at 7:58 pm
    Slick Ric: Last I checked, the bench isn’t what gets wins. Weren’t you one of the guys who lauded Rose for his superior play in leading the Bulls to 62 wins? Ignoring the fact that you just argued about last year, the Philly bench has been improved by sliding Thad Yo onto it.

  • Young C Posted: Jan.11 at 8:18 pm
    Just because the Bulls “bench mob” have a cute little nickname doesnt mean they are better. 62 wins means they have a better team, not that they have a better bench. Lou and Thad were both in the top 5 in 6th man of the year voting last year. I mean just break it down player by player. Lou William> Watson. Turner> Brewer. Young > Gibson. Vucevic > Asik. The only thing the Sixers dont have is a shooter off the bench to match Korver and thats because they dont want to waste an expensive mid-level exception when they dont have a D.Rose type player to build around or a fanbase to pay for a luxury tax team.

  • nbk Posted: Jan.11 at 11:51 pm
    Good sh*t Doobie.

  • Slick Ric Posted: Jan.12 at 1:41 am
    No I didnt caboose, I said Rose carried the team offensively, but it was a team effort defensively, go back in the archives and check that out buddy. the bulls undoubtedly have the best defensive bench with taj and asik, they would shut down anything the sixers try and do.

  • Caboose Posted: Jan.12 at 2:32 am
    Best defensive bench is not bench. Read Young C’s post. Even more detail:
    Lou Williams is a better scorer, creator, shooter, and even passer than CJ Watson
    Evan Turner is better than Ronnie Brewer. No argument needed.
    Thaddeus Young and Taj Gibson are close. Depends what you want.
    Vucevic has skill. Asik has very little.
    Kyle Korver does not put the Bulls over the top.
    So yes, Bulls have the best defensive bench, I’ll give you that. But best bench? 76ers. No contest.

  • justlenny Posted: Jan.12 at 5:41 am
    go doug collins. its ya berfday!

  • Slick Ric Posted: Jan.12 at 12:48 pm
    lol, individually their cool but what have they done collectively? again, until they can help their team win the best record in the league, best bench by far is a by far stretch. sixers bench isn’t even better than dallas and yall have the nerve to say by far, please.

  • nbk Posted: Jan.12 at 12:55 pm
    Sixers prolly have the best bench in the league. But they’re starting lineup is somewhere in the 20′s. It’s just fortunate for them they got Doug Collins pulling the strings.

  • Caboose Posted: Jan.12 at 1:13 pm
    Slick Ric: My evidence as best bench in the league is that the 76ers have one of the best records in the league despite having, as nbk said, a rather weak starting lineup. Their bench anchors that. You can’t argue Dallas has a better bench when you look at their record this season.

  • LA Huey Posted: Jan.12 at 2:32 pm
    Caboose, I agree they have a better bench but their record is also due to the lack of strong opponents.

  • Caboose Posted: Jan.12 at 3:13 pm
    I agree LA, but Slick Ric was using record as THE barometer for bench play (for some reason) so I went along with it. I agree Philly’s record will come down a bit.

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