2020 Season Power Rankings: November (20-11)
Jan 6, 2020 11:35:38 GMT
Ian Noble, Walt Frazier, and 5 more like this
Post by Jerry West on Jan 6, 2020 11:35:38 GMT
Despite being half a game behind the 8th seed it seems like the Lakers could use a tip or two from the Thunder, it’s time to move on.
It seemed like they were planning on starting a rebuild late last year when they traded Mike Conley and T.J. Warren for essentially Eric Gordon, Troy Brown Jr and what would later turn out to be Kevin Porter Jr. They then followed that up by absorbing 8 million in cash in exchange for a 2nd round pick. And now despite being late to cash on the aging DeAndre Jordan, the Lakers can still come out with some nice pieces to start their rebuild if they trade Eric Gordon and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Unfortunately, they have no young talent to brag about yet with Troy Brown Jr. possibly being their best player as Zhaire Smith as been nothing short of disappointing.
Don’t expect to see the Lakers climbing up the ranks, but that might not be a bad thing.
Who would have thought you could come out a winner in trading for Carmelo in 2020? Somehow the Cavs managed to do it. But that’s not their main story of their off-season.
The Cavs won the right to draft Zion Williamson, and they did. Unfortunately, everyone biggest fears happened shortly after, with Zion being out since the start of the year which led to a potential playoff team starting with a negative record on a conference where every game might count.
But if you thought the Zion pick had a risk of boom or bust, then don’t look away, because the Cavs drafted Bol Bol with the 14th pick in the draft (which most people agreed to be a huge reach) and followed that up by drafting 3 European players with 4 picks in the second round.
But hey, at least the Cavs have a franchise player with no injury background in Zach LaVine, right?
The Blazers made some questionable moves in the off-season, they traded Marcus Morris, their 12th pick (turned out to be P.J. Washington) and their first-round pick of 2018 in order to get their 1st round pick back? It looks like Marcus Morris turned out to be just an expensive season loan which cost them a 1st round pick, and they didn’t even make the playoffs on the back of it, Portland better pray that they suck in 2022, but at least they got to redeem themselves in draft by taking Terence Davis with the 59th pick.
Meanwhile, using their MLE to bring back Tristan Thompson after trading for Jonas Valanciunas has been a moved that hasn’t panned out yet, with Tristan Thompson playing the worst basketball of his career.
But their biggest move turned out to be trading away DeMar DeRozan when it was apparently Kyle Lowry who was on the trade block, especially since the Blazers don’t own their own first round draft choice and a rebuild doesn’t seem to make sense this year, but at least they got solid players in Robert Covington, Joe Ingles and Dario Saric to help them right away, alongside a first-round pick.
The Blazers are currently 8th in the Western Conference standings, I would expect them to remain there.
The Hawks surprised everyone on draft night being part of 2 blockbuster trades, where they sent a bunch of assets (Bogdan Bogdanovic, Mikal Bridges, the 4th pick, their own 2020 1st round draft choice, Sacramento 2020 1st round draft choice, Dario saric and lonzo ball) to pair Fox with superstar player Jimmy Butler and a future All-Star in Lauri Markannen.
You can attribute their bad start to Fox and Nurkic being out, but even then it doesn’t look like this will be the year the Hawks will contend for a championship, but doesn’t mean that day is far in the future.
The Phoenix Suns have a lot on their hands this year with 3 first round draft picks, and with a 4-game losing streak to end the month, this will probably be the highest they’ll ever be in the monthly Power Rankings. A team whose best player is Danny Green just isn’t a playoff team, and if they aren’t closer to the bottom of the standings at the end of the year it’s just because they are playing the worst conference in D5.
With already some young players on their roster plus 8 total draft picks in the next 2 years, there simply isn’t room for everyone in Phoenix, so it will be fun to see how their GM handles the situation.
The Rockets were the biggest looser in the off-season with their GM disappearing during the FA period, but at least there is still some interesting players that their new GM might look to sign.
But let’s talk about their new GM plan. The Rockets ended the month of November sitting at 5th in the Western Conference with arguably a Top 3 player in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo, and yet they are planning to tank? How?
I’m not sure either Mike Conley or Kevin Love are attractive contracts, and they would probably need to pay teams to take them, not the other way around. Plus, Kemba Walker might opt out this year, and Giannis will opt out next year. Does he want to remain with a team that is throwing half of his prime years away? It seems like new GM Tom Izzo might have been put in a harder situation than what it looked like at first, but hey, at least he has all his draft picks, so try not to trade away your future for a small chance at success.
We finally reach what at first glance looks to be the pleasant surprise of the season, although they are heading in the opposite direction than the Pacers, because after a 5-0 start, the Pelicans have gone 2-7, but that isn’t reason to get worried about anything.
That’s because the Pelicans have on their roster enough talent to divide trough 2 or 3 teams, lead by possibly future superstars JJJ and Trae Young, plus other solid prospects in Melton, Clarke, Thybulle and Williams after being the overall winners of the 2019 D5 draft. Did I mention they also own Dallas first round pick this year? Plus 6 second round draft choices. If roster spots were a problem in Phoenix, things don’t look much differently in Pelicans, although their 3th or 4th best young asset is better than any young player that the Suns have. So I guess that’s a good problem to have.
“Raise your hand if you thought the Grizzles would finish the month under .500, now put them down you filthy liars.” Jerry West – 2019 November Power Rankings
Here we are, a year later and once again for some reason that I can’t put my finger on the Grizzlies end the first month of the season under. 500, and once again, in the 13th spot of the Power Rankings. And, one more time, like last season, there is nothing to worry about.
Sure, loosing Rodney Hood for the entire year was less than ideal, and letting Marcus Smart walk to Indiana in what was a reasonable contract seems a little questionable, but the Grizzlies big 3 are still there with no reason to leave in the future. And with how weak the Western Conference is looking, the Grizzlies are still in a good spot to grab one of the Top 2 seeds in the conference.
The Raptors made a risky move by paying nearly 100 million to Andrew Wiggins in the off-season, if you combine that with all 3 of their first-round picks are having questionable starts to their career, not to mention that they also traded away their two star players in Kyrie Irving and Vucevic in the off-season, things shouldn’t be looking good for Raptors fans.
And yet, the Raptors are 9-7. Not only that but they are winning in decisive matter with a positive average of 6.3 between results, better than teams like the Brooklyn Nets.
You can question how long this is going to last but the Raptors have solid prospects on their roster with former 1st pick Markelle Fultz and emerging OG Anunoby. I’m not sure what’s going on in Canada this year, but things are looking better than last year, where it seemed they were just stuck in a cycle of mediocrity with an expiration date.
LaMarcus Aldridge might be old but he isn’t done yet, sure his contract might be questionable long-term, but this year he finally has a solid team around him (where he can be the number 1 guy) and he doesn’t have any intentions of letting that opportunity slide.
With the additions of Gary Harris and P.J. Washington, plus the return of Malcom Brogdon and Michael Porter Jr., the 76’rs are starting to look like a scary team and managed to end the month of November 8th in the East despite facing 8 (2 of them twice: Bucks and Toronto) possible playoff teams.
With the first month of the season ending with the East beating the West 62-43 in direct matchups, it remains to be seen if Philadelphia has what it takes to aim any higher than a playoff spot.