23/30 rankers reporting this week. /r/NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section.

​

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1	Celtics	0	11-2	The Celtics continue to roll to start the season. 13 games in, and the Celtics are tied with the Orlando Magic for the best defense in the league, while also boasting the 4th best offense. So far, they're the only team with both a top 5 defense and top 5 offensive rating. Not surprisingly, the Celtics have the best net rating in the league at 11.9. The Celtics are in the top 5 or top 10 for practically every advanced stat so far this season. It cannot be understated just how hot the Celtics have started. Looking past the starters, Sam Hauser deserves the spotlight for how insanely hot he's started the season. On 78 attempts from beyond the arc, Sam Hauser has hit 40 times (per BBRef + the Memphis box score, but NBA.com has it as 38/80 so idk which is legit). That's 51.3% from deep to start the year. His last 5 games? A blistering 54.5% from deep on 33 attempts. The dude is becoming one of the most lethal shooters in the league before our very eyes, and the Celtics have him under contract for another year at only a 2 million dollar cap hit. Between now and the next rankings the Celtics will play six times, with matchups against the Hornets, Bucks, Magic, Hawks, Bulls, and somehow already their 3rd game against the 76ers.
2	76ers	+1	10-3	It wouldn't be the Sixers without some insane controversy related to a player and their injury status. Regardless, Maxey is showing that he has absolutely taken that step towards All-Star this season and he might even be sniffing All-NBA in the near future (if not this season). Embiid is doing the usual Embiid things and looks absolutely rejuvenated on defense. While they've had a few losses now, it's hard to argue that this team does not look like a contender currently, especially in an East that doesn't look as cut and dry as it might have when the season began.
3	Nuggets	-1	9-4
4	TWolves	+6	9-3	Wolves are 6-1 since the last time we did rankings and just went on a 4-1 west coast road trip. Wolves defense has slipped but they've come through in the clutch between the offensive play of KAT, Ant, and Bite Bite. The defense of Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert are choking out opponents late. Wolves as of now are tops in the west heading more than 10 games in for the first time since 03-04.
5	Bucks	+1	9-4	The new-look Bucks are starting to gel. One key early takeaway is that coach Griffin has already shown more willingness to change and adapt than Bud ever did -- I also like how much zone we run now (2nd most behind the Heat IIRC). There is still a lot of "figuring out" to do, especially when it comes to how to optimize Giannis and Dame together on offense, but if I were a fan of another team I'd be worried that the Bucks are 9-4 despite one of the worst starts they could have had. Giannis took a couple of weeks to get into game shape, but that knee surgery seems to have been a huge success... Malik Beasley looks like an upgrade from Grayson, Andre Jackson Jr and MarJon might both be the wing defender we needed, Cam Payne is an awesome backup PG.
6	Thunder	+8	10-4	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. He will get All-Defensive team considerations. You heard it here first. It turns out when your two best players buy into playing defense, you win a ton of games. This is gonna be one of the high points of this rollercoaster of a season, but good lord - when we're playing at our best - we are unstoppable
7	Mavericks	-2	9-5	Dallas has done what it has been expected to do against a weak schedule, beating the teams near the bottom at the start of the schedule. However, this weekend the Mavs struggled holding a lead against Milwaukee, then coming out of the second half against Sacramento with tired legs and low effort. The Mavs play the Lakers Wednesday next, which will be another test for the Mavs. One area that hasn't been detrimental to the Mavs this year, however, is Luka Doncic's effort. It has been commendable, with only two games showing his old habits. As long as the defensive effort is strong from Dallas, they can hang with any team in the association.
8	Kings	+9	8-4	Who would have thought having Fox back would lead this offense to such great heights? Going from 2-3 without fox, to 6-1 with him in the lineup! The duo of Domas looked impressive to say the least with both players making a huge jump. Kings will be looking forward to their rematch with the Warriors that could possibly lead to a bid for the play in tourney! Either way, THE BEAM CONTINUES TO SHINE BRIGHT!
9	Knicks	+10	8-5	Since his slow start the first couple weeks Randle is back in form. Brunson is an ace. RJ on a great run but his recent injury/illness may have taken some wind out of his sails. IQ is 6MOY and Big Ragu is gelling with the team. We're a team replete with high-effort guards who punch above their weight class and with everyone buying into the hustle it's been a joy to watch. All that said, the heart and soul of this team has been Mitchell Robinson, the UNDISPUTED best Offensive Rebounder in the league. This guy is second chance factory, and a third-chance specialist. So much fun watching him be at the right place at the right time to restart the offense off of a miss.
10	Heat	+11	8-5	The Heat went on a 7 game winning streak since the last time you've seen a power rankings post. Bam Adebayo is going on a tear as well, and this is without Tyler Herro who's missing due to an ankle injury. Jimmy Butler has also been dominant in the past few games and the Heat are seeming to figure out who's getting minutes this season. Jaime Jaquez Jr is getting good bench minutes and producing with those minutes. Unfortunately, the Bulls were the ones that ended our winstreak and it was a close game most ofT the way until the end. The Heat are looking good but we still need to see how they compare against the East's best, and that's a few games away when we go up against Milwaukee. However, we don't meet the Celtics or 76ers for quite a while so the game against the Knicks and Pacers will also have to be a barometer.
11	Magic	0	8-5	Best start to a season since 2017 but this team is literally a tale of two halves after 13 games. One of the best first half teams, but also one of the worst second half teams. Three straight games having a double digit lead at half time just to make the fourth quarter way more stressful than it needs to be. But game winners by Paolo and Franz against the Bulls in back to back games definitely gave Magic fans something to celebrate. If this was anything like last season, those games would most likely have been losses. Kinda like that Hawks game in Mexico. Lets also ignore the Mavs and Nets games. But hey, to go back to the positives, we held the #1 offense to 78 points through 3 quarters before 3rd stringers were coming in, while also holding Haliburton to 12 points on 29% shooting.
12	Suns	-1	7-6	Bradley Beal has officially been ruled out for at least 3 weeks due to back spasms, and the Big 3 has still yet to debut. Before the return of Devin Booker, the Suns were the worst 4th quarter team in the league, as seen in their losses to the Lakers and Thunder. Even after his return, both of their wins against Utah this weekend went down to the wire.
13	Pacers	+5	7-5	A home shellacking at the hands of the Magic notwithstanding, Indiana's last two weeks have produced some entertaining and positive results. The Pacers still have the highest net offensive rating in the leauge, spurred by Tyrese Haliburton's All-NBA-level play. The point guard has a chance to join Magic Johnson, Kevin Johnson, and Isiah Thomas as the only players to average 20ppg and 12apg in a single season. Up next? A date with the Atlanta Hawks, where a Pacers win would lock up Group A for the In-Season Tournament.
14	Cavaliers	+1	7-6	A 4-2 stretch for the Cavs, and the winners of 3 straight despite absences from Mitchell, LeVert and Okoro. Max Strus has been worth every penny for the Cavs, he’s leading the team by a decent margin with a +20 on-off per 100 possessions, and when considering he’s doing that on a .500 team, his impact has been invaluable to keep us afloat despite the injuries. His spacing is his biggest intangible, as he’s just 30 3pm away from passing how many threes Okoro made for us last season. While Okoro shot them efficiently, he was never a threat to defenses, allowing them to sag off him. Strus’s flamethrower doesn’t allow that, and the entire team is more efficient at the rim this year as a result. We should finally have our full rotation ready this week without any setbacks, and the possible emergence of Craig Porter Jr. as a backup to Darius Garland is what Cavs fans will be watching for until we’re healthy
15	Lakers	-2	8-6	Has LeBron found the fountain of youth or is he the fountain itself? The soon to be 39-year-old has put up 29.6/8.2/8.2/0.4/2.2 in his last 5 games on 63/52/72 splits! A silent MVP campaign has been brewing for him having led the Lakers to the top spot in their In-Season tournament group while also sitting 2 games behind the top seed in the West. His jumpshot falling and seemingly injury-free ankle seems to be the catalyst to this fanastic start, it's now upto the rest of the guys to rally with him because as usual the rest of the cast including AD has been hot and cold. Anthony Davis to his credit has been a menace on defense, he leads the league in blocks and stocks per game. But for the Lakers to actually accomplish their goals he needs to be consistent on the offensive end as well, he has been dealing with hip issues the past few games which hopefully he overcomes into form.Shoutout to Cam Reddish who has been shooting 46% from three on 5 attempts per game since becoming a starter, and has 3+ steals in 6 of his last 7 games. With Vando and Gabe yet to return, the Lakers should keep developing good habits and chemistry rather than trying to unneccessarily shake up the roster, and when I say good habits, I mean to not go down double-digits every 1st quarter.
16	Rockets	+8	6-5	After a rocky few games to start the season, the Rockets have rebounded in a big way. A large part of the credit goes to Ime Udoka's defensive schemes. Sengun has also taken a big leap this year and is looking like the franchise cornerstone, whereas FVV is doing his best to calm down the naysayers. The main challenges going forward will be to improve Jalen Green's efficiency and incorporating Amen into the roster as he returns from injury.
17	Hawks	-9	6-6	Dread it, run from it, 0.500 arrives all the same. Atlanta has returned to it's middle-of-the-pack ways from last season by going 2-4 in the past 2 weeks. In case you haven't heard about it from every single Knicks fan, Trae has started the season not shooting well. He's been his usual top-tier self when it comes to distributing the ball and running the offense (currently top 5 in offensive rating), but the shot just hasn't been falling. That, along with some amount of regression in the past two weeks from every player not named Jalen Johnson explains why we've slowed down these past two weeks. It was wild that we went 4-2 with Trae shooting the way he has been; it makes sense that we'd go 2-4 with him continuing that. Some cracks have formed in Hawks fans' optimism for this roster, but I'm not going to hit the panic button just yet. If Trae's shooting woes continue for much longer, however, things might start to get a little dicey.
18	Pelicans	-9	6-7	After starting 4-1, the Pelicans lost five straight as CJ McCollum will miss one month due to a collapsed lung. They have had their Big Three for just 3 of 13 games so far, but have bounced back to go 2-1 against the top three teams in the Western Conference last week. Herb Jones is showing he is one of the top perimeter defenders in the league. Jordan Hawkins is an early lock for the All-Rookie Team, behind just Wemby, Chet and Brandon Miller in scoring amongst rookies. Perhaps Willie Green's seat grows hotter as the team's best performance and energy in two weeks came during his absence for illness. In addition to McCollum, they hope to get Trey Murphy and Jose Alvarado in the short term. They maintain the potential to be one of the deepest teams in the association if they could just stop being one of the most injury prone.
19	Warriors	-15	6-8	Draymond my have a high bbiq but his non-basketball on floor iq is close to 0. Warriors are straight booty without Steph and have been struggling to win anything with him. Warriors ownership hold out on Klays contract is looking like one of the few smart moves lately. Somehow Wiggins is shooting even worse than Klay albeit he does rebound and play defense, just hasn't been on a string like we saw him 21-22.
20	Nets	-4	6-7
21	Raptors	-1	6-7	The Raptors faced a challenging opening schedule this season, resulting in a 6-7 record. While this record is somewhat expected given the high-caliber opponents they've encountered, it's important to note that a couple of their victories defied the odds. However, a few concerns have emerged, particularly in their game starts. Since the November 1st match against Milwaukee, they have trailed after the first quarter for six consecutive games. Despite notable wins against Dallas and Milwaukee, the team's tendency for improbable comebacks and struggles against division rivals, including falling behind by significant margins, leaves a lot to be desired.
22	Clippers	-15	4-7
23	Bulls	+5	5-9	Zach Lavine has requested a trade, and even though we have been starting to win a few more games, blowing it up is best for the team at this point. This team still has no clear direction, as there is not enough talent to compete for the playoffs, but also our young players are still not showing any signs of improvement. We play the Heat tonight, so hopefully Zach can raise his trade value and lead this team to a win.
24	Jazz	+1	4-9	Utah's early season point guard troubles with THT and Sexton co-piloting the offence saw the team averaging more turnovers per game than any team had in a season since 2003! Enter Keyonte George. The rookie first started vs Indiana, keeping that position for 5 games now. In that span he's recorded 42 assists with just 12 turnovers. Utah's PPG is 2nd in the league in this span. The Jazz seem to have found their PG of the future.
25	Grizzlies	+4	3-10
26	Hornets	+1	3-9
27	Trail Blazers	-4	3-10
28	Spurs	-6	3-10	Whelp, uhhh...that kinda sucked. After a promising first two weeks of the season (with a few bruises here and there), the Spurs of last season reared their heads in an ugly way over the last two weeks. Failing to tally a win since Wemby's 38-point explosion vs Phoenix, the team has looked every bit like the youngest roster in the league. The silver lining (of sorts?) is that the Spurs have secured a double-digit lead in most of the games that they lost, but the double-edged sword there is that they subsequently blew those double-digit leads. Wemby has continued to show flashes, but his offensive consistency has been a bit, well, inconsistent, though his defensive presence continues to be stellar. The Spurs play LAC, LAC, @GSW, @DEN, ATL, @NOP, and then some yet-to-be-announced non-IST games once the knockout round begins over the next two weeks. Here's to better days ahead Spurs fans!
29	Wizards	+1	2-10	If you want to know how depressing life is as a Wizards fan, I went to the 11/8 Wizards-Hornets game in person. I walked in a clandestine manner, only sporting a Washington Bullets’ hat. The usher at the top of the section looked over my ticket on my phone, looked at my hat and chuckled. Before I could even ask, he told me, “You’re a sick man to want to watch the Wizards in person.” The Wizards would proceed to dominate for most of the night, with a 41-point second quarter, and it seemed like things were finally turning around for the season. Since then, the Wizards have not won a game, have blown several leads and may have already funded college funds of local liquor store owners’ grandchildren. Deni Avdija stans will clamor that this has been a career year for Deni Avidja – which it is true – and Bilal Coulibaly is already performing way above expectations from an offensive perspective. But there is nothing nice to say about this team. The Hennessey Lofts at Capital One arena now feel like a sick joke. We knew at the start of the season that this team would be tanking. Yet what feels lost is that we’re trusting a first year front office to be able to turn the tank into something successful – which now feels like a stretch given just how incomplete the Wizards’ roster is. You want to trust your Uber driver to get you from point A to point B but probably isn’t the best look when he nearly causes an accident pulling away from the curb.This has been the most attention the Wizards have received in years, which speaks to NBA fans loving the extremes of the spectrum – the very good and the very bad. But it also doesn’t mean that people are watching Wizards’ basketball – rather rubbernecking the car crash on the side of the road and creating assumptions about what happened. Tyus Jones is having a statistical down year but it is more of a commentary on how a point guard doesn’t look as good in a line-up where four players can be a primary ball-hander. Kyle Kuzma has been great for stretches of the years, only to regress as defenses adjust in the second half of games. Poole has been bad, everyone got that part right. But Daniel Gafford has looked great – even if he dies every single game.There is no argument that the Wizards are bad. But there is the argument of why the Wizards are so terrible. Putting it onto one single person is egregious.
30	Pistons	-3	2-12	We've won 4 games since February 9th. Yeah, it's that bad.​

26/30 rankers reporting this week. /R/NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section. We are looking for Clippers, Pelicans and Raptors rankers, Apply Here.

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#Link to 2023-24 Predictions Page

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1	Nuggets		0-0	Sup y'all. This old fuck is back for year 10 of the rankings, and looking back, it's insane to see the evolution of the Nuggets since 2014. Brian Shaw was entering his second and final season as head coach, and would be replaced by one Michael Malone the next year. Ty Lawson was the star of that team, and just three years later he was starting for the Shandong Golden Stars. Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris had just been drafted as future cornerstones, but they also chose a Quesarito at pick 41, who would spend one more year in Serbia before moving to the US and completely turning around the fortunes of this franchise. Championship aspirations had died when Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL just before the playoffs in 2013, and Andre Iguodala, George Karl, and Masai Ujiri all left town shortly after. Now the Nuggets enter the 2023-24 season as the defending champs, and with their core intact along with a retooled bench, "repeat" is the only possibility in mind this year. While many of their fellow contenders have built up their rosters this offseason, the Nuggets will rely on their chemistry and championship experience to get them to the finish line.
2	Celtics		0-0	Brad Stevens saw the reports every year of how Danny was this close to pulling a blockbuster trade, and decided enough was enough. This offseason he swung for the fences and traded for Porzingis, and then shocked everyone by then pulling off a trade for Jrue Holiday. The loss of Robert "TimeLord" Williams sucks, but he hasn't been the same dominant defensive player that he was pre-injury that people remember. The only question marks going into the season are now about the Celtics bench. Their 1-5 is great. Their 6th in Horford should still be good. Their 7th and 8th men are Pritchard and Hauser, but then there's a massive cliff. Who will step up? Will rookie Jordan Walsh? Will former Toronto PG Dalano Banton and PF Oshae Brissett? Will Luke Kornet continue to revolutionize how to contest shots and shock the world as a breakout MIP? Or will they end up having to rely on one of their 2-way contract players? Neemias Queta looked dominant in the Celtics final preseason game and could contend for the 3rd bigman spot over Kornet. Lamar Stevens looked promising too. This season, like every year, will come down to injuries. If the Celtics can stay relatively healthy, they should have a great chance at not only making the finals, but winning it. I swear to god if we have another night 1 Hayward-esque injury that derails the team, I'll cry.
3	Bucks		0-0
4	Suns		0-0	There have been big changes in Phoenix this off-season. Monty Williams was replaced with Frank Vogel. Chris Paul was traded for Bradley Beal. Ayton finally found a new home in Portland. In total, there are 12 new faces on the 17-man roster. Will it work out for the better? Suns fans are excited to find out, and cautiously optimistic.
5	Warriors		0-0	After last season it was clear Poole was not his 2022 playoff self and there was still some semblance of a rift between the team. The trade for CP3 felt like the owners trying to dump Poole's long term salary for CP3s short term but on paper it looks like an upgrade, at least for this season. Preseason means nothing but Kuminga is the total points leader and there is excitement to see if he can make the year 3 leap to being a rotational player, especially with CP3 potentially leading him in the second unit.
6	Lakers		0-0	It's been refreshing to have a drama-free offseason while also having a legitimate title contending team, bringing back the core (except Dennis the Menace) that made an impressive run all the way to WCF, adding some fine pieces that complement the stars and having a full-training camp to congeal togther. Massive shoutout to Rob Pelinka for completely turning this team around since the Rui trade and has made extremely satisying moves all the way upto now. The most pleasing thing about this roster is that the 39-year old man will not have to grind out the entire regular season, the roster minus him is still capable of beating anyone with the exception of the top dogs. Anthony Davis might still have to play the defensive anchor role, but decent backup minutes from Hayes and Wood and surrounding him with competent defensive forwards should ease his job and hopefully allow him to bring back his jumpshooting game this year. Anything short of a Conference Finals appearance would be a disappointment this year as an exciting season awaits Laker land to see if it is fair enough to hope for more than just that.
7	76ers		0-0	What will this season be? There are nothing but questions about the Sixers right now. How much will James Harden play, and will long will he be a Sixer? Is Joel Embiid able to perform at peak capacity in the playoffs? What type of leap will Maxey take? Will Kelly Oubre somehow make the city of Philadelphia love him? The Sixers could be ranked anywhere from top 5 to 10th. It's time to see what this team is made of, or else it may all fall apart.
8	Heat		0-0	We did not get Damian Lillard after a long and drawn out summer of hope and prayer. However, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade and the Heat are more than capable at making a quality lemonade. We added Thomas Bryant while also bringing back an old friend in Josh Richardson, while seeing Gabe Vincent and Max Strus depart on new adventures. Kevin Love was also added for 2 more years hoping to provide quality minutes in the twilight of his career. At the draft, we brought in Jaime Jaquez Jr who will hopefully develop into a great player but at the moment is nursing a groin injury. The Heat did lose a good amount of quality shooting wise with Strus and Vincent moving on, but in recent years they've been more than capable in developing it from UDFA players. For this season, I am going to once again have low expectations with us being a lower seed in the playoffs. I hope Tyler Herro can once again build upon past seasons and have a good season, especially since he's been a perpetual fixture of trade discussions in past offseasons. However, most important hope is for there to be minimal injuries or surprises in the new season.
9	Cavaliers		0-0	The Cavs got destroyed by the Knicks to end their most successful season without LeBron since the early 90s. They underestimated the physicality of the playoffs, and their spacing flaw was exploited heavily. Experience will teach them that regular season physicality doesn’t cut it in the playoffs, but spacing required roster changes to fix. To illustrate the spacing issue, Mitchell and Garland combined for 414 3pm in 4,878 minutes played last year, while the rest of the Cavs combined for 536 3pm in the remaining 15,002 minutes. They’ve addressed the lack of outside shooting by signing Strus and Niang, who combined for 351 3pm in 3,784 minutes while playing forward positions where we desperately lacked spacing. Added spacing helps open up driving lanes for Caris LeVert, who is healthy and poised to have his best season with the Cavs in the sixth man role. An unknown is if Emoni Bates can get on the court after shooting a total 28/67 (42.7%) from 3 between the summer league and preseason while playing intense defense. While the Cavs will certainly have better spacing than last year, this season will determine if Mobley and Allen can be successful sharing the court and having snipers around them will give them their best opportunity to prove it.
10	Clippers		0-0	We are looking for a Clippers Ranker, Apply Here.
11	Kings		0-0	The Sacramento Kings start the year off with actual expectations. After entering the playoffs for the first time in 17 years with arguably the most entertaining round of playoffs the Kings find themselves fighting for respect as many believe they’re a one hit wonder. With what many would say was a quite Off SZN the Kings opted to re-sign players instead of chasing free agents. The biggest question is how a healthy Domas will look in this system... To win at a high-level floor spacing is critical and he will need to pull the trigger a lot more. The early SZN Hype for Kings fans are very real let’s see if the BEAM Mystique continues...
12	Knicks		0-0	"""I don't want to get any message saying, ""I am holding my position."" We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under or through the enemy. From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hand. I don't give a good goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that. There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now, when you are sitting by the fireplace with you grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won't have to shift him to the other knee, cough, and say ""Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana."" No, sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say ""Son, your granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a son-of-a-goddamned-bitch named George Patton! That is all. Let's Fucking Go Knicks "
13	Grizzlies		0-0	No Adams, no Morant, no Clarke...no problem? Expect this team to be very active at the trade deadline if the team can be anything close to 0.500 at that time. Still loaded with talent between JJJ, Bane, Smart, Kennard, and with promising young players in Roddy and LaRavia the Grizzlies rightfully still have championship aspirations, but if the center position can't be addressed it will be a long season for this team.
14	Mavericks		0-0	The Mavs had an active offseason, drafting two rookies in the first round to address immediate needs to their defense. They are expecting better results from Kyrie Irving & Luka Doncic, but a large part of that depends on the defense improving from bottom 10 towards the top 10 they were just 2 seasons ago. The Mavs added depth across the board, something that plagued them post-deadline last season. If the Mavs can find a groove early and be more disciplined defensively, the Mavs have a chance to make damage again in the playoffs.
16	TWolves		0-0	New season and a mostly same roster hope's to bring the Wolves success this year. After a disjointed last season the Wolves hope to bring cohesion into this new journey. Cohesion, depth, and the ascendancy of Anthony Edwards. Wolves look to shake up the top of the West.
16	Thunder		0-0	The ascension of SGA to stardom and the return of the NBA's second wackiest slenderman, Chet Holmgren, has the NBA world going nuts and have expectations through the roof. However, this team still has more questions than answers and will take some time to grow and develop a solid identity with consistency. With that said, this season should be extremly fun with the highest of highs and lowest of lows!!!
17	Hawks		0-0	The beginning of the Quin Snyder era truly begins in Atlanta this week, and Hawks fans have a lot to be optimistic about. After being hired in the middle of February and using the rest of the season as a trial period for the roster, Quin now hs the opportunity to bring in his staff and implement his scheme. On offense, you should expect to see a lot more 3 pt shooting this season as we move from McMillan's midrange-heavy system (28th last season in 3PA/G) to Quin's offense. The departure of John Collins does leave a hole at the starting 4 position, but Saddiq Bey and Jalen "Literally LeBron" Johnson seem more than capable of filling it while providing more spacing (and ball handling in Jalen's case) than John ever did in Atlanta. We finally have the coach and ball handlers to use Trae off-ball more often, so expect to see more highlights like this throughout the season. Defense will never be a strength of this team with the roster the way it is, but there are signs of light. The players have mentioned that the coaching staff has been almost exclusively focusing on defense this preseason, and if it results in even an average defense then the Hawks should make some serious noise in the east.
18	Pelicans		0-0	We are looking for a Pelicans Ranker, Apply Here.
19	Pacers		0-0	It's an exciting time for the Indiana faithful. Last season - thought widely to be a tank - the Pacers surprised the rest of the league by not only being competitive, but also winning. A lot! The unfortunate injury to Tyrese Halibutrton derailed any playoff hopes, but now the Pacers have a positive foundation to build upon. With the acquisitions of Obi Toppin and Bruce Brown, and newcomers Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard, Indiana not only is looking to be in the playoff hunt, but maybe even make some noise next spring.
20	Nets		0-0	The Nets will enter the season with a defense first mentality. This is a new outlook for the organization as they retool around a solid core of Mikal Briges, Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson, and an amalgamation of young talent mixed with veteran leadership. For many fans, this team is poised to take a big step back and fall out of the playoff race but it will hinge on the development of their core. Will Mikal, Cam, and Clax take steps forward in their game or will we see the lack of offensive firepower hinder the team throughout the year? I expect an competitive season, as there is zero incentive to lose games (HOU owns our pick this year). Only time will tell what the future holds for this team.
21	Magic		0-0	A new season begins. The Wagner brothers return as FIBA World Champs and Paolo Banchero has hopefully learned some valuable lessons after his stint with Team USA. Very little changes to the roster but signing Joe Ingles and having a healthy Jonathan Isaac should shore up the Magic's bench. Lottery picks Anthony Black and Jett Howard look to start the season deep on the bench, potentially signaling the Magic are ready to compete for a playoff spot, as opposed to another "evaluation" season.
22	Jazz		0-0	The Jazz enter 2023-24 with modest expectations in year 2 of rebuilding. Without playoff expectations, the following are some subplots of intrigue. The battle for point guard, between THT, Sexton, and Dunn is fascinating with each presenting their own case. To begin the year, THT who averaged 18/5/6 following the Conley trade will likely start. John Collins also aims for a rebound year after a career worst performance (13/7) and trade from last season. Monitoring if he can get back to his 20/10 level, or close to it, will have a big impact on Utah’s standing. Markkanen's elite offense and Kessler's elite defence offer potential for playoffs but I predict a bottom 5 in the West finish this year.
23	Raptors		0-0	We are looking for a Raptors Ranker, Apply Here.
24	Bulls		0-0	Not much has changed with the Bulls since last year. We were mediocore last year, and are on track to be mediocore this year. The team had no major losses, but had two solid pickups in Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter. With Lonzo Ball out for the season, Zach Lavine, Demar Derozan, and Nikola Vucevic will be the trio leading the Bulls yet again. Young players like Coby White and Patrick Williams will need to step up if we want any hope of making real progress this year. I'm looking forward to see how this team will suprise me this year!
25	Rockets		0-0	While the prospect of giving OKC a good draft pick is haunting, realistically the team is not a playoff team just yet. However, with reinforcements in the form of FVV and Dillon Brooks, and the youngsters getting some more experience, it wouldn't be asking for a lot for this team to get 30 wins, to at least give the fans a "next year" kind of hope. The big unknown quantity this season will be how Amen Thompson's Overtime Elite experience translates to the NBA. There's reason to think that he could have superstar potential, just as there's reason to think that he could be a complete bust.
26	Spurs		0-0	We are SO fucking back. Well, not back at the top of the West, not by a long shot. But man oh man is the city of San Antonio excited for basketball in ways we haven't seen since 2017. It's insane how luck can swing the fortunes of a franchise, and even a city, as wildly as they have, but San Antonio is better when the Spurs are good; they may not be good this year, but hope is back in the air. After the Spurs won the lotto, speculation grew about Pop's starting lineup with Wemby and Zach Collins confirmed at the 4 and 5. Following a summer of fan debates and little intel from the Spurs' tight-lipped FO, Pop put all the questions to rest last Wednesday against Houston: with Sochan, Vassell, Johnson, Wembanyama, and Collins, the Spurs will be playing big ball. I could rant for hours on why I think it's a great move, but to summarize those thoughts in a sentence: with the Spurs' current roster, you've gotta play your 5 best players. Quick fire reasonable predictions: The Spurs will win 34 games and miss the play-in by one spot, Keldon Johnson will look almost like a 3-and-D player if you squint a little, and Wemby will be a rookie all-star and make All-Defense 2nd Team on the way to ROY.
27	Trail Blazers		0-0	Portland will be exciting. Between Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Anfernee Simons, and DeAndre Ayton, they will be young, athletic, and should push the tempo - something Rip City is not at all accustomed to. And while they should lose a lot, I caution anyone who believes they'll be an easy victory. This team is young, but it also has a lot of very good veterans. Between Jerami Grant, Malcom Brogdon, Anfernee Simons, DeAndre Ayton, and Robert Williams, they should have steady enough quality vets to be competitive on most nights.
28	Pistons		0-0	No doubt about it - we are a better team than before the 2021 draft. But, we were so talent devoid that even moderate improvement will leave us in the bottom tier of the NBA. Key factors to watch will be: 1) The return of Cade from injury and seeing what kind of development he has made. If he's made a jump, we could be fringe play-in candidates. 2) How much will new coach Monty Williams lean on his vets? With guys like Bojan, Monte Morris, Alec Burks, and Joe Harris on board we could perform better than expected if he defers more to his vets than the younger guys. This may delay development of the younger guys so these are some of out prime trade assets as well. For my own sake though, there's only so much Killian Hayes one can watch while continuing to hope he improves. 3) Can Ausar Thompson develop a shot? He looked good in almost every other facet of the game in preseason, but him developing a jumpshot that is NBA average or above may be what determines if he becomes All-Star level vs a very good utility player. Final record prediction: 28-54.
29	Hornets		0-0	This team won 43 in 21-22 and return 4/5 starters (with Bridges up in the air - personally want to cut him but Kupchak says he'll play once his suspension ends). Kai Jones left after an ultimately sad mental health crisis saga. But Melo is a star, Williams/Richards good bigs, Terry/Hayward/PJ/Miller rounds out an underrated top 7. Season hinges on Melo’s health, what Miller becomes, and whether Bridges actually plays or not. I'm pessimistic on all 3 of the above, so my prediction is 34-48 incoming.
30	Wizards		0-0	The Washington Wizards enter a 2023-24 season like a recently single young adult walking into Thanksgiving. They ended their relationship with Bradley Beal – closing the chapter on what is arguably one of the more disappointing stories in the modern NBA with the “House of Guards” era. He immediately improves the case for the Phoenix Suns to win the title – deservingly so. Kristaps Porzingis found a new home in Boston – which means the sports media at large will be pushing the “Is Porzingis back narrative” after rehabbing his image (and his body) in DC and felt close to a snub for All Star recognition last season. Rui Hachimura is now seen as a clear piece of the future for the Lakers – which still feels like a stretch with his limited actual good performances and similar concerns that soured the end of his tenure in DC. It has led to a lot of “Aww, I really liked them” when at the time, they were seen as toxic pieces by the outside world. Oh, and Corey Kispert got married. That’s just a personal bummer. But now, the Wizards are in their flirtatious era. Cuffing season is dead, its Hot Boy Fall, shoutout to global warming. Jordan Poole is coming off of a season where he had to play with a teammate who (a) punched him in the face (b) had the video released to the public and (c) saw said player get a new contract. At some point, we have to question if maybe Draymond Green and Jordan Poole should have been separated sooner. He joins Kyle Kuzma who got a contract of his own but not the keys to the franchise just yet. Instead, he might be having to compete against Bilal Coulibaly for those honors, a draft pick that already feels good given the vibes of teams getting word out that they would have or wished they would have taken him. The Wizards also have a horde of tradeable assets – Gallinari, Wright, Landry Shamet (who is confirmed to be alive and aware that he is playing for the Wizards this season). Tyus Jones joins the team – filling a massive issue with the Wizards, the point guard role. The team has a lot of reasons to not necessarily make the play-offs but also not be the outright worst team in the NBA. We’re talking picks 3 through 5. A new front office points to the idea of a tank but nothing they’ve done really points that way so far. All the conversation surrounding it feels more like, “I just don’t want to watch the Wizards this season so I’m going to assume they’re bad.” I don’t blame them. But the team is fairly well coached with Wes Unseld Jr and has a ton of newfound freedom without a clear franchise guy. With not a clear generational guy in 2024’s draft and 2025’s draft (Cooper Flagg is a traditional power forward and everyone is going to be pissed when they realize this), it does make sense to test the waters and see what is possible with the understanding that they’ll have options still in the draft. This is an extensive write-up that much like Wizards basketball, will not get a bunch of eyes and honestly might not have been worth the effort. But the point is that the Wizards have done good things in recent years. It isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. Its now just about proving that to the public.

Masterlist. 27/30 rankers submitted. This is our 10th annual predictions thread. Predictions are fun to look at now and a great way to lock in the general sentiment about teams early in the season. I recommend mobile users to open in your mobile browser (safari, chrome, etc.) if you are having difficulty viewing in an app. We are still looking for a ranker for the Clippers, Pelicans, and Raptors. You can apply at the link here.

#WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

Ranker	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
/u/Martinsek	DEN	MIN	LAL	PHX	GSW	LAC	DAL	OKC
/u/walterdog12	MEM	DEN	OKC	PHX	LAL	SAC	GSW	DAL
/u/BasedGodProdigy	DEN	PHX	MEM	SAC	GSW	LAL	LAC	MIN
/u/Imsortofabigdeal	DEN	PHX	GSW	OKC	LAC	SAC	LAL	MIN
/u/JC_Frost	DEN	PHX	GSW	MEM	DAL	LAC	LAL	SAC
/u/PootieTooGood	DEN	PHX	LAL	GSW	SAC	LAC	MEM	OKC
/u/rps215	DEN	PHX	LAC	MEM	DAL	LAL	OKC	GSW
/u/bigred27	DEN	PHX	GSW	SAC	MEM	LAC	LAL	OKC
/u/x20mike07x	DEN	MEM	PHX	LAL	SAC	GSW	OKC	DAL
/u/swollencornholio	DEN	GSW	PHX	LAL	SAC	LAC	OKC	MEM
/u/PonchoHung	LAC	DEN	PHX	GSW	LAL	MIN	MEM	DAL
/u/imkunu	DEN	PHX	LAL	MEM	GSW	LAC	SAC	MIN
/u/JilJungJukk	DEN	PHX	LAL	DAL	LAC	GSW	SAC	OKC
/u/Projinator	PHX	DEN	LAL	MEM	OKC	GSW	MIN	SAC
/u/beefat99	DEN	PHX	LAC	MEM	SAC	LAL	HOU	OKC
/u/Short_Bus_	DEN	PHX	LAL	NOP	GSW	DAL	LAC	SAC
/u/flyingscissor	DEN	MIN	PHX	SAC	MEM	LAL	LAC	GSW
/u/Bird_and_Dog	DEN	PHX	OKC	DAL	SAC	NOP	MIN	MEM
/u/AnkitPancakes	DEN	GSW	LAL	PHX	SAC	MEM	DAL	OKC
/u/albinorhino21	DEN	PHX	GSW	LAL	OKC	SAC	MEM	DAL
/u/JerKroSRL	DEN	PHX	GSW	LAL	MEM	LAC	DAL	OKC
/u/aCommonHorus	DEN	PHX	MIN	OKC	LAL	GSW	SAC	MEM
/u/DrTom	DEN	PHX	GSW	OKC	SAC	MIN	UTA	LAL
/u/N1celyDunn	PHX	DEN	LAL	MIN	LAC	SAC	GSW	MEM
/u/Uncle_Freddy	DEN	PHX	LAL	OKC	MEM	GSW	DAL	SAC
/u/NitroXYZ	PHX	DEN	MIN	GSW	LAL	OKC	DAL	MEM
/u/TopOfTheKey	DEN	PHX	OKC	DAL	SAC	NOP	MIN	MEM

#EASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS

Ranker	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
/u/Martinsek	BOS	MIL	CLE	NYK	ATL	PHI	IND	MIA
/u/walterdog12	MIL	BOS	NYK	CLE	PHI	BKN	MIA	ATL
/u/BasedGodProdigy	BOS	MIL	PHI	CLE	NYK	MIA	BKN	ATL
/u/Imsortofabigdeal	BOS	MIL	CLE	ATL	PHI	MIA	NYK	IND
/u/JC_Frost	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	NYK	MIA	BKN	CHI
/u/PootieTooGood	BOS	CLE	MIL	ATL	NYK	PHI	MIA	ORL
/u/rps215	MIL	BOS	CLE	ATL	IND	PHI	MIA	NYK
/u/bigred27	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	MIA	NYK	ATL	ORL
/u/x20mike07x	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	MIA	NYK	IND	ORL
/u/swollencornholio	MIL	BOS	MIA	CLE	PHI	NYK	ORL	ATL
/u/PonchoHung	MIL	BOS	MIA	PHI	CLE	NYK	ATL	TOR
/u/imkunu	MIL	BOS	MIA	PHI	NYK	CLE	IND	ATL
/u/JilJungJukk	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	MIA	NYK	ATL	CHI
/u/Projinator	BOS	MIL	ATL	CLE	MIA	NYK	IND	WAS
/u/beefat99	MIL	BOS	PHI	CHI	TOR	MIA	BKN	ATL
/u/Short_Bus_	MIL	BOS	CLE	PHI	NYK	MIA	TOR	CHI
/u/flyingscissor	MIL	BOS	CLE	NYK	PHI	IND	CHI	MIA
/u/Bird_and_Dog	MIL	BOS	NYK	CLE	PHI	BKN	MIA	ATL
/u/AnkitPancakes	BOS	MIL	CLE	NYK	PHI	MIA	ORL	CHI
/u/albinorhino21	MIL	BOS	CLE	PHI	NYK	ATL	ORL	MIA
/u/JerKroSRL	BOS	MIL	MIA	PHI	CLE	NYK	ATL	BKN
/u/aCommonHorus	BOS	MIL	CLE	NYK	PHI	MIA	ATL	CHI
/u/DrTom	MIL	BOS	CLE	NYK	PHI	BKN	MIA	ATL
/u/N1celyDunn	BOS	MIL	PHI	MIA	CLE	ATL	NYK	TOR
/u/Uncle_Freddy	MIL	BOS	MIA	CLE	PHI	NYK	ORL	BKN
/u/NitroXYZ	BOS	MIL	CLE	MIA	ORL	NYK	PHI	ATL
/u/TopOfTheKey	PHI	BOS	MIL	NYK	ORL	IND	ATL	CLE

#STANDINGS SUMMARY

Seed	DEN	PHX	LAL	GSW	MEM	SAC	OKC	LAC	DAL	MIN	NOP	UTA	HOU
1st Seed	22	3	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
2nd Seed	5	17	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
3rd Seed	0	4	9	6	1	0	3	2	0	2	0	0	0
4th Seed	0	3	4	3	5	3	4	0	3	1	1	0	0
5th Seed	0	0	4	4	4	8	2	3	2	0	0	0	0
6th Seed	0	0	4	5	1	4	1	7	1	2	2	0	0
7th Seed	0	0	3	2	3	3	3	3	5	3	0	1	1
8th Seed	0	0	1	2	6	4	7	0	4	3	0	0	0
Total	27	27	25	24	22	22	20	16	15	13	3	1	1
Top-3/4	27/27	24/27	9/13	8/11	3/8	0/3	3/7	3/3	0/3	4/5	0/1	0/0	0/0

Seed	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	NYK	MIA	ATL	ORL	BKN	IND	CHI	TOR	WAS
1st Seed	14	12	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2nd Seed	13	13	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3rd Seed	0	2	14	3	2	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
4th Seed	0	0	6	9	6	2	3	0	0	0	1	0	0
5th Seed	0	0	3	9	6	4	1	2	0	1	0	1	0
6th Seed	0	0	1	3	9	7	2	0	3	2	0	0	0
7th Seed	0	0	0	1	2	5	6	4	3	4	1	1	0
8th Seed	0	0	1	0	1	3	8	3	2	1	5	2	1
Total	27	27	26	26	26	26	21	9	8	8	7	4	1
Top-3/4	27/27	27/27	15/21	4/13	2/8	5/7	1/4	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0/0

#Finals Champions

Team	Count
MIL	13
DEN	7
BOS	5
LAL	1
NYK	1

#Finals Match Ups

Match Up	Count
DEN- MIL	8
DEN- BOS	6
PHX- MIL	4
PHX- BOS	2
GSW- BOS	1
DEN- PHI	1
LAL- MIL	1
LAL- BOS	1
MIN- MIL	1
DEN- NYK	1
GSW- MIL	1

#Western Conference Finals Match Ups

Match Up	Count
DEN- PHX	12
DEN- GSW	4
DEN- LAL	4
DEN- LAC	1
GSW- PHX	1
MEM- LAL	1
SAC- PHX	1
DEN- DAL	1
SAC- MIN	1
DEN- OKC	1

#Eastern Conference Finals Match Ups

Match Up	Count
BOS- MIL	19
MIL- MIA	2
MIL- CLE	2
BOS- CLE	1
PHI- CLE	1
MIL- NYK	1
NYK- BOS	1

#Playoffs Summary

Round	DEN	PHX	LAL	GSW	MEM	SAC	OKC	LAC	DAL	MIN	NOP	UTA	HOU
1st Round	27	27	25	24	22	22	20	16	15	13	3	1	1
2nd Round	27	25	14	12	4	7	4	5	6	3	1	0	0
Conference Finals	23	14	5	5	1	2	1	1	1	1	0	0	0
Finals	16	6	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0

Round	BOS	MIL	CLE	PHI	NYK	MIA	ATL	ORL	BKN	IND	CHI	TOR	WAS
1st Round	27	27	26	26	26	26	21	9	8	8	7	4	1
2nd Round	27	26	18	7	10	14	2	0	1	2	1	0	0
ECF	21	24	4	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Finals	10	15	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

#AWARDS

#Most Valuable Player

MVP	Votes
Nikola Jokić	10
Jayson Tatum	5
Luka Dončić	5
Giannis Antetokounmpo	4
Anthony Davis	2
Jalen Brunson	1

Defensive Player of the Year

DPOY	Votes
Evan Mobley	7
Anthony Davis	5
Bam Adebayo	4
Jaren Jackson Jr.	4
Brook Lopez	2
Victor Wembanyama	2
Frank Ntilikina	1
Giannis Antetokounmpo	1
Rudy Gobert	1

Rookie of the Year

ROY	Votes
Victor Wembanyama	19
Chet Holmgren	6
Scoot Henderson	2

#6th Man of the Year

6MOY	Votes
Immanuel Quickley	8
Malik Monk	4
Chris Paul	3
Norman Powell	2
Al Horford	1
Bobby Portis	1
Caris LeVert	1
Derrick White	1
Jonathan Kuminga	1
Josh Hart	1
Jrue Holiday	1
Malcolm Brogdon	1
Naz Reid	1
Robert Williams	1

Coach of the Year

COY	Votes
Mark Daigneault	9
Michael Malone	3
Quin Snyder	3
Joe Mazzulla	2
Rick Carlisle	2
Adrian Griffin	1
Billy Donovan	1
Chris Finch	1
Frank Vogel	1
Jamahl Mosley	1
Mike Brown	1
Taylor Jenkins	1
Tom Thibodeau	1

#Most Improved Player

MIP	Votes
Jordan Poole	4
Tyrese Maxey	3
Alperen Şengün	2
Austin Reaves	2
Cade Cunningham	2
Jalen Suggs	2
Jonathan Kuminga	2
Josh Giddey	2
Mikal Bridges	2
Bruce Brown	1
Franz Wagner	1
Markelle Fultz	1
Payton Pritchard	1
RJ Barrett	1
Tyrese Haliburton	1

#Most Surprising Team

Most Surprising Team	Votes
ORL	7
MIN	4
OKC	4
BKN	2
NYK	2
DAL	1
HOU	1
IND	1
LAC	1
MEM	1
NOP	1
POR	1
SAC	1

#Most Disappointing Team

Most Disappointing Team	Votes
DAL	8
MIN	3
NOP	3
ATL	2
MEM	2
CLE	1
IND	1
LAC	1
MIA	1
NYK	1
PHI	1
SAC	1
UTA	1