Dunking with Wolves » Andrew Bynum

NBA Power Rankings: Week 14

James Glenn — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:40:25 +0000

February 8, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Danny Green (4) takes a three point shot in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace. Detroit won 119-109. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the week 14 Dunking with Wolves NBA Power Rankings. JJ Glenn breaks down every NBA team this week and throughout the NBA season.
This Week	Last Week	Team	Notes
1	1	San Antonio	After the Spurs beat the Timberwolves at the Target Center, Nikola Pekovic put it best when he said, “You have to play perfect for 48 minutes if you’re going to beat that team”. With no Manu or Duncan, this team is deep and fundamentally sound. It’s a great formula, and it is again being successful as the Spurs are again the #1 team in the power rankings.
2	2	Oklahoma City	Young, an enormous amount of talent and deep is the recipe the Thunder has going for it. With the possible league MVP, the Thunder only have 1 thing in mind, returning to the NBA Finals. Going 6-4 over their last 10 will have to get better if the Thunder would like to have home court advantage throughout the entire Western Conference playoffs.
3	3	Heat	When the best basketball player on the planet in LeBron James on the roster, things are always going to be OK. The reigning champs are 8-2 over their last 10 and are fresh off of dominating the Clippers. The only issue the Heat will have will continue to be their size up front.
4	5	Denver	The Nuggets started off the season with one of the toughest SOS, and played an abnormal amount of games on the road,. Now that they’ve been back at home and the schedule has started to even out, the Nuggets are quickly climbing the Western Conference standings. Going 8-2 over their last 10 the Nuggets are 4th in the West and could take over 3rd before the All-Star break.
5	7	New York Knicks	The Knicks continue to rely heavily on Melo, and his track record of single handily taking a team to the next level isn’t the best. The Knicks still like to play a lot of Iso ball and take a lot of jump shots. Neither of those have proven to be a successful offense ingredient.
6	4	L.A. Clippers	The Clippers just got Chris Paul back, and they still got blown out by the Heat. Not only did the Clips get beat, they are currently 3-7 over their last 10. More troubling is the Clippers have had the 4th easiest SOS. This team will only go as far as Chris Paul will take them.
7	6	Memphis	After all of the moves and now that the current roster has had a little chance to show what they can accomplish the Grizzlies are now 5-5 over their last 10, on a 2 game losing streak and are now the 27th scoring offense in the NBA. As was expected the Grizzlies offense is struggling and if they are unable to score things are only going to get worse.
8	8	Chicago	Derrick Rose has been reported as being ready to start playing after the All Star break. The Bulls are currently the 4th seed in the East without their All Star. Things are sitting pretty for the Bulls. According to numerous league executives, they believe the Bulls are the team most likely to give the Heat a challenge in the East.
9	10	Indiana	The Indiana Pacers continue to surge in the East, they are now 3rd in the overall standings. With the emergence of Paul George as an All Star, David West having a great season, and Roy Hibbert playing at his career numbers the Pacers look to be heading to home court advantage in the first round.
10	9	Golden State	The Warriors have no lost 3 straight games, and they have gone 5-5 over their last 10. Curry’s health is an issue, and if he is unable to be 100% the rest of this season may be an issue for this up and coming team.
11	11	Brooklyn	The Nets have gone .500 over their last 10, it seems like the P.J. honeymoon period has ended. The Nets are still proving to be an ISO heavy offense, 27th worst team in assists per game in the league. The Nets are also last in the league in PACE as 90.7.
12	12	Utah	The Jazz deep front court continues to be its strength. Mo Williams at the point does stunt this team’s growth, which is why the Jazz are looking to acquire one before the trade deadline. What will they have to give up to get one is the question?
13	16	Boston	The Celtics continue to keep winning without Rondo. It is tough to believe a team can be better without a player like Rondo. The offense’s points per game have gone up and the back court of Lee and Bradley has been impressive. It might be time to add Rondo to the Ewing Theory’s case study.
14	15	Houston	A team record 23 3′s in a game continues to highlight this team’s ability to score, and score a lot. The main question for the Rockets is if the defense can get stops when it matters most.
15	14	Atlanta	The Hawks have continued to win the close ones and perform when it matters. The Hawks The Hawks are currently 6th in the East, but only 1.5 games separates them from 8th.
16	13	Milwaukee	The Bucks are a negative in point diff, and assist diff and rebounds per game. The Bucks lack of front court talent continues to be a problem. Larry Sanders is only one man.
17	17	Portland	The starters of the Blazers have been huge. The problem continues to be their bench production. If the Blazers want to do more than just get into the playoffs, this issue will have to be addressed.
18	18	L.A. Lakers	You can continue to count me in as someone who believes that the Lakers will miss the playoffs. The Dwightmare Effect is now spreading throughout the Laker organization. Kobe is playing out of his mind, no one is really coming with. It was great on paper, isn’t looking good on the court.
19	20	Dallas	The Mavs are now 5 game out of the 8th seed. The playoff picture for the current roster is starting to look slim to maybe next year. Which raises the question will they try and make any major moves before the trade deadline or wait for the offseason?
20	21	Philadelphia	The 76ers are playing .500 ball over their last 10. They will need to do better than that if they’re going to make up the 4 game deficit from the 8th seed. If Bynum isn’t ready to come back soon, this team won’t have enough time to make up the difference.
21	19	Minnesota	The Wolves must of all collectively as a team walked under every ladder, broke every mirror, spilled salt and lived with black cats. Andrei Kirilenko is out with a thigh bruise. The “Real Starting Unit” had little to no time together. Luke is being mentioned as being gone before the trade dead line, and in return the Wolves have been looking for a wing in return.
22	23	Toronto	The Raptors have an incredibly athletic roster after the acquisition of Rudy Gay. They have already gotten great production from Gay, and the team is fun to watch. Their defense will have to perform significantly better if anything else is to be of this team.
23	22	Detroit	The Pistons have clawed their way up to 10 in the East. The loss of Andre Drummond is going to really impact this team, and hinder any further development this season.
24	25	Cleveland	The Cavs have 4 players in the Rising Star Challenge, and one of them is an All Star, this is a young solid core of talent. This year isn’t their year, but as this project continues to get better and great salary flexibility this team is being built for the future, not, the now.
25	28	Washington D.C	Since the return of John Wall the Wizards have gone .500 over their last 10, and have shown their might be some life in this roster. Beal and Wall make a nice back court, decent young talent in the post & Nene to anchor it gives this roster some hope of possible things to come in future seasons.
26	26	New Orleans	The Hornets have a decent offensive efficiency, it is the defensive end of the floor where they struggle. The Hornets won’t be making any noise, the Pelicans however have a solid looking future.
28	24	Sacramento	The Kings Have lost 4 straight games and are now tied for the worst record in the West and 2 – 8 over their last 10. The Kings also have the 2nd worst point Diff in the NBA. They are also 25th in offensive efficiency.
27	27	Phoenix	The Suns have the 3rd worst offensive efficiency, problem is they have the 4th worst defensive deficiency. That is why their record is tied for 16th in the West.
29	29	Orlando	The Magic have now gone 0′fer in their last 12 games. No “Big Baby” is making the difference. Wait! That can’t be, a team actually is impacted by “Big Baby”. Writing that and then rereading that seems like an error.
30	30	Charlotte	The Cats are 1-9 over the last 10, and have now sunk to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. The Cats have also lost their last 6. The roster has some nice pieces, the problem is, there isn’t nearly enough young pieces to feel the future will be bright and shiny. After so many bad years, of performance, the team will take more than 1 or 2 seasons to turn around.

ESPN Player Rankings (The Top 11-20)

Theon Kyne Dy — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:00:04 +0000

Apr 6, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) drives the ball past Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood (33) during the overtime period at the American Airlines Center. The Trailblazers defeated the Mavericks 99-97 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Last week ESPN fully released their Top 500 NBA players currently playing basketball today. I haven’t had much free time to be able to give my personal opinion on this list but today I will give you everything I have to say on the list. However, we’ll not try to go overboard, right now it’s the Top 20 (11-20)

I won’t be digging deep beyond the Top 20 as it will pretty much force me to make a novel out of this post.

When I first saw that Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who is the obvious face of the franchise for the Blazers, named as the #20 NBA player today I was just astonished at how underrated Aldridge really is to the NBA universe. In my personal opinion, Aldridge is simply the second best power forward in the NBA today behind Kevin Love. He may not have as much rings as Pau Gasol or as many highlight reel dunks as Blake Griffin who both are ranked above Aldridge, but Aldridge has the talent and is simply the better forward today. In the words of ESPN analyst Steven A. Smith, it is blasphemous to see Griffin named as the #14 NBA player in the NBA today. With that rank Griffin is placed ahead of New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, to whom I’ll talk about further later, and Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh who proved his value to the 2012 NBA champions.

May 6, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots a free throw against the Miami Heat during the second half of game four in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals of the 2012 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Knicks won 89-87. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

Now, talking about #17 Carmelo Anthony. Yes Carmelo is somewhat of a ball hog that doesn’t play defense as well, but with all honestly with his talent and basketball IQ on the offensive end just makes him a legitimate Top 10 player in the NBA. The guy has the jump shot, the clutch gene, the determination to win, but all he lacks is just the mindset to win games on a consistent basis and be a true leader on the floor for a team that just doesn’t have that click yet. Trust me, this season you might want to reevaluate Carmelo’s rank.

The veteran point guards in Tony Parker and Steve Nash in my opinion are on their correct rank with Parker rank #16 and Nash ranked #19. Most people would wonder why Nash, despite being about a thousand years old, is still in the Top 20. Why? Well, the reason is simply because the way he is playing at his age today is almost the same way he played during his two MVP seasons with the Phoenix Suns. Unfortunately for Nash, players have caught up to him and simply overtook him which is why he no longer seems to be one of the best. But when you watch him, you can still accept that he’s a Top 20 NBA player. As for Parker, the San Antonio Spurs is no longer Tim Duncan’s team, it’s his and he has been running with it well enough to make him the #16 NBA player today.

Jan 20, 2012; Orlando, FL, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum (17) and Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard (12) shake hands after the game at Amway Center. Orlando defeated Los Angeles 92-80. Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

For those of you guys that don’t know I’m one of the “rare” people than say that Andrew Bynum is better than Dwight Howard. Personally, Dwight is ranked too high and Bynum is ranked a little bit too low. Now, I know that most people could easily argue that Dwight has the better footwork, the better jump, the better agility, but that doesn’t match up to how Bynum works hard for every basket much like the previous best center in the NBA in Shaquille O’neal. In previous years, the best big man in the NBA either is a dominant big man in the paint or a big man that can hit the back to the basket jumpshot like Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing back in the 90′s. I understand that last season was just maybe the first time we saw Bynum really flourish, excluding those three point attempts he had, and his fragile knee is what’s keeping Howard a better player. Today, I can give a nudge to Dwight for being the better player as he has consistently been an All-Star for his team. However, once Bynum gets rolling and powering in Philly, I better see him move into the Top 10.

Nov 19, 2010; Boston, MA, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives against Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (9) during the first half at TD Garden. The Oklahoma City Thunder won 89-84. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

As a fan of the Boston Celtics aside from just the Minnesota Timberwolves, seeing Russell Westbrook in the Top 10 and not seeing Rajon Rondo is something I’m not happy to see. Rondo’s stats from last season and accomplishments should easily make him a Top 10 NBA player. We can all agree that Westbrook is still the same player that makes costly mistakes on either end of the floor for the Oklahoma City Thunder who lost in 5 games to the Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals. Just like Westbrook, Rondo had a marvelous performance in the playoffs against the Heat but still lost. However, Rondo didn’t make any senseless play that cost the team a possible victory. Other than that Rondo led the league in triple doubles last season, and if I remember correctly he outdid 2012 NBA league MVP LeBron James in that count. Rondo is the captain, the main guy, and the leader of the Boston Celtics and he has proven to be just that successfully with the Celtics as his team gave the NBA champs their best challenge.

In the summer of 2011, Dirk Nowitzki stole the hearts of many NBA fans around the world with his jaw-dropping performance in the 2011 NBA playoffs. Last season however Dirk really wasn’t able to showcase his talents once again as his Dallas Mavericks were swept in the first round by the better Oklahoma City Thunder. Being ranked #11 to me seems just right for Dirk if your basing on last season. I know I stated earlier that LaMarcus Aldridge is the second best power forward in the NBA the other player that still is making me think if I should delete that is Dirk. It’s a really close call for me now between the two but I give the slight edge to Aldridge who hasn’t gotten any solid recognition for what he can do on the court.

I’ll be posting the second part of this article soon so keep an eye out for that!