Please Vote! Season 28 Power Rankings- Week 1

No one saw this week coming for most teams so let’s skip the small talk and get right into it.




#1 Minnesota Timberwolves 6-0

This one’s just easy, there isn’t a person in the league that didn’t see the TWolves as the best roster by far post bidding. They did have some avail issues on night one that forced guys to play out of position forcing big Chingus to step in and bail them out, it almost cost them their first game as they were down by 20 before battling back to win by 3, other than that the rest of the week was smooth sailing as they would win their next 4 games by 35, 11, 37 & 36. Jig has looked to have taken a significant step up this season averaging 42 & 12 so far as the clear MVP frontrunner with his GM Tee in the likely #2 position for the MVP averaging 32-4-9-3, when it comes to owners stepping up for their team no one did more than these two this week. The team around them also showed up this week, their supporting cast shot an average of 78% from the field as a whole, unless somebody can slow this team down, they’re an easy lock to repeat this season as champs and personally I don’t think there’s a team to stop them. Overall, this team is gross they have 3 elite PG’s so no matter what line you’re playing even if Tee is at softball, you’re playing a solid PG.


#2- Toronto Raptors 4-2

Disregard the two 5-1 teams for a moment, the Raptors have the 2nd deepest roster in the league and there is no team besides them deserving to be in the #2 spot. Their two losses this season are their second line getting dropped off by the 76ers 1st line and losing by 11 to the TWolves first line and regardless of the fact that they don’t have the 2nd best record in the league they’re without a doubt the 2nd best team in the league right now. As most teams put their first line out on Wed their 1st unit did go out and slaughter some team’s 2nd lines on Thursday, the big win for them though was beating a very strong looking Chicago line featuring Marquise, I already want to see a 5-game series between them and the TWolves. Although they got some huge games out of their PG’s Ayz & Slime, Witt and Extreme were the standout players for the raptors this week without a doubt, Witt is averaging 21 points a game as a lock with almost 5 steals and Extreme 14&10 with a steal and block.


#3- Philadelphia 76ers 4-2

Make that 2 moments, although their 2nd line is in a rough spot right now theirs no doubt that the 76ers first line came out and asserted dominance on the first night of the season. They made the Lakers rage quit before half time, beat the Raps by 28 then what was supposed to be a nice Hornets line by 21, Empty and Kat are a dangerous combination, even with one of their games being half of a game of stats Empty is still averaging 24 & 9 and Kat is still at 12 & 11 with 2 blocks. They have what will be throughout the season a top 5 line as their 1st unit without a doubt but they have a big issue when you move beyond that which is something that I touched on last week, after pulling out a massive win against what was supposed to be a good Nets 2nd line with no apparent PG and an AI C thing’s went wrong. They then ran into the Suns first line and they didn’t even make it to half time, they quit down by 38 and didn’t even bother to show up for their 11pm game against the Knicks, its going to be a massive question mark to see what types of adjustments they make to avoid being a top dependant team this season.


#4- Golden State Warriors 5-1

Don’t let the ff loss throw you off of the fact that the Warriors have thrown away that Washed up tag, they came out this week and knocked off some solid lines on their way to a week few would have guessed pre season as they knocked off the Nets Bucks and Suns 1st lines. From what I’ve been told Ando got off to a rough start and couldn’t recover in their one loss to the Hornets this week and its almost assured that they would have knocked off the lowly Lakers if they had shown up, but 5-1 will most likely change a few people’s opinions on where this team with finish come the end of the season. Do I believe that this is the 4th best roster in the league? No, but its not how good your roster looks on paper its how well your team shows up and plays the games and this is where the Warriors are thriving, Kobi seems to have returned to form after building his own line and defense was enough to carry them against Holdmy Beer and the Suns, it’ll be interesting to see if they can continue to keep their weeks looking like this one as they begin to run into some more difficult weeks. Top to bottom they have one of the tougher 2nd weeks and that will be the true test for this squad.


#5 – Dallas Mavericks 5-1

It may be weird to see a team that’s 5-1 be in the #5 spot but there is justification, I didn’t see their 2nd unit beating the Hornets 2nd line. I don’t think anyone besides TKO would have made a prediction that the Mavs would finish week 1 with a 5-1 record, I don’t think its time to start locking this team in as a contender but they’ve definitely put themselves in a playoff team position. Brab and Beeda iPM came out this week and turned heads, the best line they played was the Bucks “first line” but I don’t think you can discredit a PG averaging 22 & 9 and a sharp shooting 15/16 from 3 in one week, now we wait to see if they’ll repeat in week 2, TKO deserves credit for the team he put together, they’re holding teams to 56 points a game in their wins emphasizing their defense first approach, even without their 2nd line lock Baruso this week, but this not a team without faults, they’re 5-1 because of a ff in their 11pm game against the Hornets on Thursday and a win against a struggling Nets 2nd unit, this is a team on the rise without a doubt but we’ll have to see how they handle some tougher weeks. Week 2 brings tougher opponents.


#6- Milwaukee Bucks 3-3

PG Comeup? With Frees not showing up this week for whatever reason they were put in a pretty bad situation which may have resulted in some mismatched lines, their Wednesday unit struggled off the jump dropping games against the Warriors and Mavs, two teams that on paper could or should have been wins for them but instead dropped them to 0-2 before they got things back on track to finish the week 3-3. They had to use 2 TC’s this week which isn’t ideal for any team in the first week of the season, especially when one of the players being replaced is your second line PG, they got bailed out by Comeup popping off for 28-10-3 to beat a lowly Thunder 2nd line and without that performance would be looking at a hole to climb out of right now. If they can get Frees to show up and perform this team is without a doubt one of the better rosters in the league but guys showing up is something that will hold any team back. They made a trade at the end of the week for STG Beast which gives an indication that they may need him to run some games for them as their 2nd line PG, if that’s the case and Frees isn’t going to show up for them it may be time to hit the panic button in Milwaukee.

#7- Chicago Bulls 3-3

There was a lot of speculation around the Bulls before the season started, they didn’t get off to the exact start they were looking for but there is potential in this roster to compete with some of the top teams in the league. When it comes to why they only went 3-3 this week with a solid looking roster, they did not get a solid week out of their first line. They dropped their first game of the week to a struggling Nets line, up by 9 heading into the 4th they got outscored 23-7 to lose by 7, they came away with the win against Charlotte but only by 5 after leading by 25 after the first quarter then only managed to put up 47 points in an 11-point loss to the Bucks. They’d be in a more advantageous position if they had managed to flip either of those Wednesday losses, but they’re in no position to start panicking as a bounce back week will put them where they want to be and with a relatively easy week 5-1 isn’t out of the question. As for their second line Marquise showed up and played a huge role in their upset win over the Knicks first line, if that second line can stick together and develop chemistry it’ll be up their in regards to second units. The Bulls have a lot of potential to go in both directions.


#8- OKC Thunder 3-3

Week one was an eye opener for the Thunder, they started 3-0 but with 3 very unconvincing wins against teams that went a combined 3-15 on the week, then their second line got blown out in all 3 games on Thursday by a combined 104 points, yikes. In total they only played one team this week who finished with a record over .500 meaning that it was a relatively easy week at that (although only 5 teams finished above .500), OG did not have the return he was hoping for averaging just 14 & 8 shooting under 50% from the field, they’ll need him to ramp things up as he is their top PG right now. They did have some bright spots though, 618 showed out this week averaging 19 points with 3 steals and blocks per game, defensively they held all 3 teams on Wed under 60ppg and they still do have a solid roster of players. Snype has already started making adjustments sending SpotJr to Charlotte for BiglyWins and NYcrispychef somehow? And picking Aptai up off of waivers from the Bulls, moves that are going to continue as Snype likes to wheel and deal when he’s winning games and they are struggling rn so Snype is going to go full GM connected mode. This next week will be a big test for them though as they play 4 of the 5 teams who finished week 1 positively.

#9- Charlotte Hornets 2-4

Charlotte had a ton of potential and a really solid looking roster post bidding, CTwice got a lot of the guys he wanted in bidding and they had a good-looking 2nd line, but this week their first line dropped the ball. Regardless of their game against Philly they dropped two games by 5 points against the Thunder and Bulls that they need to win if they want to compete, shot 6/16 against the Thunder and Munie dropped 39 on them missing only 4 FG’s. The bright spot for this team at the moment is definitely their 2nd line, they destroyed a terrible looking Miami line by 55 but then handed the Warriors their only loss of the week grading out Ando and forcing them to rage quit in the 3rd Q, for some reason they couldn’t manage to make it into their 11pm game against the Mavs or they could be sitting on a 3-3 record rn. I’m not quite sure what they were thinking with the SpotJr trade? But in Juice we trust. I do think they’re better than their record reflects rn, they have a relatively easy week coming up and need to prove to themselves that they’re a better team than 2-4 weeks.

#10- New York Knicks 2-4

This team is real odd, their first line is a really solid line, may be up there in terms of top lines in the league in all honesty, but their second line is real stinky, going 0-3 and losing by a combined 87 points (they also let Jig drop 60 & 10 on them). From what I’ve heard W4ll had very little input beyond his line and it shows, in reality I don’t see this team making many moves or jumping into contention with the top teams, look for them to just go out, stack their first line and have fun with it while their second line struggles. If they can manage to slip into a playoff spot in the long term though keep an eye out, W4ll is known for stacking his first line in the playoffs and their game 5 line is one that could upset any line in the league if they’re playing well. I also don’t see them making too many roster moves so look for them to hang around in that bottom playoff position.


#11- Phoenix Suns 2-4

This team is a bit underrated, not many people saw them having any success but even with a 2-4 record they did play some solid games this week and gave every team they played a run for their money even giving the TWolves their closest game of the week. If they swapped which nights their lines played, I could see them having gone 4-2 last week, if they can replicate how they played in week one and get better matchups for their 2nd line they should make the playoffs without a doubt, and with the talent they have on that line they could be an interesting matchup come playoffs. They have a week coming up that could be big for them if they get the right lines and show up, this is my sleeper out of these bottom 4 teams without a doubt. They have two PG’s with a good skillset and guys that have played together for a while and play together consistently. Winnable games just need to be won.


#12- Brooklyn Nets 1-5

I don’t think a single person post bidding saw the Nets starting the season off 1-5, but there is some light for this team to focus on. Apart from their ass-kicking by the TWolves in their last game of the week their other 4 losses came by a combined 11 points, that’s means that if 2 shots in each of those games go the other way, they’re looking at a 5-1 start to the season and they’re probly a top 5 team, but alas they did not and here they sit. I do think that they were a bit hasty dropping Tone as quickly as they did, he wasn’t a demon but he was by no means the sole reason why they lost their close games to the 76ers and Mavs, he’s definitely a PG worth keeping an eye on and the Knicks did a great job in recognizing that. Another upside though is that although Rick is shooting a solid 48% from the field, he definitely looks more comfortable than he did last season and if he continues to return to form, well we all know how Rick is in form. I do like the fact that they’re making moves trying to improve the roster but hitting defcon 1 after 1 week is always hasty, trust the process, get better together as a team and turn things around in week 2, your season isn’t over yet.


#13- Miami Heat 2-4

Ouch, and I mean ouch. I doubt this is the position Moe and Nurtec expected they would be in after week one. Their first line got dropped off by the Raptors 2nd unit with Slime dropping 40&12 and after beating 2 basement teams including the Lakers by only 4 then proceeded to send their 2nd line to the slaughter as back-to-back teams put 100 on them for the first time in LGBA history, then to cap it off they didn’t even show up to their 11pm game. The Heat are going to need to make some serious moves if they want a shot at competing this season, they made 8 bids in bidding and continued the trend of teams who took that strategy getting run through. Their only upside is that they have 16mil in cap space to work with and there are a lot of teams looking to make moves after disappointing starts to the season. This season could get ugly real quick for them as they have a very difficult week coming up, lets hope for the best.


#14- Los Angeles Lakers 0-6

There’s not much to say here and I’m going to be critical in what I do say. KRM and Kyrie Thanos have never had any success in this league and it was not a smart decision to give them ownership after their track record (“but Kyrie isn’t the GM its… Stop its their team and you know it). They ran a train wreck team in the World Cup and are looking to repeat this season, going 0-6 in your first week is one thing but rage quitting after 2 quarters in your first game of the season and FF’ing all 3 of your games on the second night of the season is unacceptable, if there were some massive circumstances that caused them to have to ff I haven’t heard about it. The only upside about this week is that they do seem to be making moves and trying to improve their roster which is always a positive sign, and to the ownership of this team; I want to eat my last 130 words, I want ya’ll to fix ur shit and put together a good competitive team, but its just not a good start AND its one that most expected.