Power Rankings Post Trade Deadline (Going into Final Week of Reg Season)

Power Rankings Post Trade Deadline (Going into Final Week of Reg Season)


10 – Supersonics – although they did get a W over the magic this week, they are in last and won’t be going up. End of story, unfortunate for some of the guys on the team but it’s just a reality.

9 – Lakers – I think they Lakers have a shot at making the playoffs, although it isn’t a very big one. Levi has to have the week of his life, and Witt needs to carry hard, and even at that point, going 6-0 (which is a tough task for any team) might not be enough. The addition of corn earlier in the year looked great, and it has been, but Denham didn’t have the greatest week at Lock and this change might have cost them a playoff spot.

8 – Knicks – the knicks have gotten some pretty decent wins, but I don’t think they have enough to compete in a 5 game series against many teams. The fact of the matter is, they don’t have a stacked G5 lineup, and teams like the Spurs, Grizzlies and other bubble teams do, which has them at the bottom of the playoff teams for me.

7 – Spurs – despite the week they had to FF because of invalid lines, the Spurs should still coast into the playoffs. I think their biggest weakness is that they have to rely on a stacked line to make any real noise, but Rick hasn’t been at the top tier of Elite, and that first line might not be enough unfortunately. With no real true #1 Lock, they’ll likely to struggle to contain other top lines.

6 – Jazz – big thing with the Jazz is that again, they’re kind of a one line team, but we haven’t really seen on many occasions where the entire line can play the same night, and this is my biggest concern. If their top line can all lock in, they could definitely win a round or two, even the finals, but their lack of depth and avail “issues” concerns me. If they didn’t have these issues I’d argue they’re top 4.

5 – Grizzlies – Memphis tried their thing with shahbazz, and it wasn’t exactly working so Kenan made moves. It’s hard to tell if these moves will pay off as he truly didn’t get anyone back that is shahbazz level, but he got guys that he could count on, which is highly important. I think the big concern is they just don’t have a true IT factor, but they have some pretty solid defenders which I think will keep them in the mix for the first round, but that is likely it.

4 – Heat – I think that Miami, despite giving up their best player at the deadline, definitely got better. They went 5-1 after making moves for two new PGs, and the best one (sorry STG), didn’t even play. I think if shahbazz shows up for this team, they have potential to ride to the finals, but the issues are, will STG crumble in the playoffs when the spotlight is on him? And will shahbazz show up? Two big if’s that can massively impact this team’s success.

3 – Suns – currently sitting in the 4th seed with a few FF losses last week, I think the suns are still truly contenders. Their only problem is that they need to line stack and that line can’t drop a single game or they’re done. I think this team can definitely make the finals and even win, but they will likely be in a game 5 situation every single round. If line stacking works for them, lookout!

2 – 76ers – despite being the one seed, I can’t deny the fact that the Magic have the upper hand in the season series at 2-1 right now, winning the last 2 games. They have one of the deeper rosters in the league, and do have the best point differential, but they have had some questionable losses, and dropping 2 games to the magic has me slotting them in at the 2nd team in the power rankings. I think they have a good shot at going to the finals, but have to really iron out the kinks to do so after making no moves at the deadline.

1 – Magic – after all the dust has settled, the magic have finessed their way into gaining about 50 mill in cap space and essentially acquiring Xuhmp for free to fill in that space. In all seriousness, they shook things up big time at the deadline, and went 5-1 last week. They did however, lose to the supersonics. Don’t ask me why or how but they did. If this is a sign of things to come, maybe this team get’s bounced in the first round? Although I don’t see that being very likely, as I see them being in the finals, or at least game 5 in the second round.