NBA Power Rankings
By InsideHoops.com
NBA power rankings, rating the entire league, top to bottom. We'll update again before the start of training camps.
Updated Sept. 26, 2004. Record is final 2003-04 regular season.
1) Detroit Pistons (54-28) - The champs have to be considered the team to beat, especially since they got better in the offseason.
2) San Antonio Spurs (57-25) - Pretty much the same team, plus Brent Barry.
3) Minnesota Timberwolves (58-24) - Loaded from top to bottom. If it doesn't happen for Latrell Sprewell this season it may never happen. And Sam Cassell isn't getting any younger, either.
4) Sacramento Kings (55-27) - The Kings aren't deep like they used to be. Also, Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber are big question marks when it comes to carrying their squad through the playoffs.
5) Indiana Pacers (61-21) - Getting rid of Al Harrington hurts depth a little, but the Pacers feel Stephen Jackson is a replacement for the 92-year-old Reggie Miller. Better point guard play would help.
6) Denver Nuggets (43-39) - Added Kenyon Martin for draft picks. No slump for Carmelo Anthony - he'll be on a mission. The Nuggets are loaded with talent, though an upgrade at shooting guard would be nice.
7) Miami Heat (42-40) - Shaquille O'Neal is in his best shape in years. That spells domination in the East. Dwyane Wade and Eddie Jones should have a lot of open jumpers. The Heat still have no forwards, though. Forwards are often useful. Good teams often have forwards. Get some.
Houston Rockets (45-37) - Tracy McGrady with Yao Ming equals trouble for the entire league.
9) Dallas Mavericks (52-30) - Steve Nash may be gone, but the roster is still loaded. Erick Dampier adds some interior defense, which InsideHoops.com predicts could actually frighten other Mavs players who have never seen such a thing and may not know how to react.
10) Memphis Grizzlies (50-32) - One of InsideHoops.com's favorite teams to watch. Beautiful basketball. The Grizzlies added Brian Cardinal, which is nice, but they'll have to work very hard to match last season's impressive output.
11) Los Angeles Lakers (56-26) - Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Caron Butler have the ability to carry this squad to a decent win total.
12) Utah Jazz (42-40) - Jerry Sloan's squad overachieved last season thanks to Andrei Kirilenko and scrappy role players. Now they've added Carlos Boozer, woh helps a lot. A healthy Matt Harpring and additions like Mehmet Okur and rookies Kris Humphries and Kirk Snyder will help.
13) Portland Trail Blazers (41-41) - A talented team that on paper should be able to compete with anyone, provided they avoid getting arrested (sorry, hate to keep rehashing this joke, but it unfortunately keeps proving true).
14) Phoenix Suns (29-53) - Added Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson to play alongside Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire. Major firepower here. They will score a lot.
15) New Orleans Hornets (41-41) - The Hornets are always good but never great. Should drop off a bit now that they've been moved to the Western conference. Making the playoffs isn't a sure thing.
16) Milwaukee Bucks (41-41) - A solid mix of players. If T.J. Ford returns it'll help a lot.
17) New York Knicks (39-43) - Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford would make a sweet streetball team, but the NBA may be another story. Allan Houston is still healing. Tim Thomas needs to raise his game. Mike Sweetney, amazingly enough, could be the most key player on the team as far as winning more games is concerned. The Knicks hope for big things from Sweetney.
18) Orlando Magic (21-61) - The McGrady experiment is over. Now it's the Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley show, with help from Dwight Howard. The Magic will fast break a lot, so that'll be fun. Grant Hill is returning, though it's not likely that he'll ever regain his all-star form of old.
19) Boston Celtics (36-46) - The Celtics added great rookies who, along with Paul Piece and Mark Blount, could make this a not-too-lousy team.
20) Cleveland Cavaliers (35-47) - Lost Carlos Boozer, which hurts in a big way. Adding the solid Eric Snow and the unpolished Drew Gooden slightly eases the pain. Jeff McInnis is underrated. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has his limitations, but in the world of centers he's good. LeBron James is good enough to carry this entire squad over the five teams we list above.
21) Toronto Raptors (33-49) - Vince Carter wants out, but forgetting about that for a minute, doesn't Rafer Alston, Carter, Jalen Rose, Donyell Marshall and Chris Bosh add up to some wins? Shouldn't they rack up some victories?
22) Philadelphia 76ers (33-49) - Allen Iverson's going to play point guard. That should be interesting. Rookie Andre Iguodala is athletic and versatile. You'll see him on highlight reels, at least. Hopefully Glenn Robinson returns strong and makes everyone fear the big dog again.
23) Seattle Sonics (37-45) - It's still the Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis show, which isn't enough to make the playoffs in the West. At least Nick Collison will finally play.
24) New Jersey Nets (47-35) - They got rid of Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles, and Jason Kidd could miss a month or so of the season while his knees heal. And there's no guarantee he fully recovers. With that said, this squad could fall hard in a big way. With no Kidd the Nets are Richard Jefferson plus hot dog venders. (No offense to hot dog venders. I'm sure some of you can ball.)
25) Washington Wizards (25-57) - On paper, Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison and Kwame Brown are a pretty decent East squad. But because they're the Wizards we simply cannot give them the benefit of the doubt, so for now they stay ranked down here.
26) Chicago Bulls (23-59) - InsideHoops.com loves Ben Gordon. Kirk Hinrich is the best returning player. Eddy Curry can put up some points. Tyson Chandler tries, at least. And rookie Luol Deng should be decent. But everything else is pretty iffy.
27) Los Angeles Clippers (28-54) - They're the Clippers. I mean, sorry, but whatever. We love Elton Brand, and Corey Maggette is cool, but every year the team disappoints. At least it'll be fun to see how good Shaun Livingston does.
28) Golden State Warriors (37-45) - Warriors fans should storm the team's offices, take over, and control roster moves from now on. No one at InsideHoops.com knows what Golden State management is doing. But that's ok, because Golden State management doesn't know, either. They seem to be trying to build a team that will just narrowly miss the playoffs for the next 19 years.
29) Atlanta Hawks (28-54) - The only guy that seems willing to play for the Hawks is InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner. But seriously, Antoine Walker and Al Harrington could help this team make real noise in the East. But because they're the Hawks, we simply cannot give them the benefit of the doubt right now.
30) Charlotte Bobcats (0-0) - Could be the first team in NBA history to win five games or less. But they should have lots of good guest hip-hop stars to handle the halftime entertainment.
