We continue examining the NBA at the halfway point with part 2 of our look at the NBA so far. In the last edition (click here if you missed it) we ranked the bottom six teams, today we continue with our list by taking a look at teams we ranked from 24th to 20th. As explained in part one, the four of us ranked each team (from 1 to 30, first place getting 30 points, second getting 29, and just like that until the 30th team got only one point) and combined our results to produce our rankings. The rankings take into account both how well the teams are playing, as well as their chances to win a title. Without further ado, I will lead part 2 off by talking about my favorite team.
24. The Sacramento Kings
A long time ago (at the start of the season), I talked about how the lack of passers on this team would probably affect their chances of success. 38 games later, with a 12-26 record it turns out that no, you can not win many NBA games if you do not have players who are willing to fill up the 'assists' category instead of the 'points' and 'field goals attempted' categories. To make matters worse, the Kings basically hit the reset button on their re-building plan when they fired Westphal. While I do agree with the move, I hate the fact that the new coach (Keith Smart) is basically making the same mistakes that Westphal did. A young team like Sacramento should be focused on giving out lots of minutes, wins be damned. There is no excuse for Cousins to be averaging less then 30 minutes a game (link). What the Kings are doing instead is letting guys like Donte Greene, and John Salmons eat up valuable minutes that Jimmer and Isiah Thomas could really use. For what? So the coach can have a few extra wins on his resume? Keith Smart is not a long term solution, the team should have had him be an intern while trying to find an established head coach. If no established coaches are available, then keep Smart for the rest of the year. Needless to say, the first priority for Sacramento this off-season should be to find a point guard (this is where I hope for Steve Nash or Deron Williams), then find a coach that can and will be there for a long time (Mate McMillan would be ideal, but I would give Jerry Sloan a call to see what he is up to these days). Constantly firing head coaches for not winning with the youngest team in the league is a recipe for disaster. At this point, Sacramento almost assuredly will not make the playoffs, especially in the always competitive Western conference. With a deep draft and free agent class looming, Sacramento is poised to add to their young nucleus and the future looks bright. Speaking of future, this Sacramento Kings team will, in fact stay in Sacramento and have a chance to thank the city and the fans with some good basketball. I was incredibly happy when I heard the news, even though I do not live there, I have watched enough Kings basketball to tell you that those Sacramento fans are incredible and do not deserve to have their one pro sports team taken from them. Now that the city has done its part, it is up to the team to hopefully reward it with a title. I will be there every step of the way supporting this team that is the reason I love basketball so much. I would write more, but we have 23 other teams to get to.
-Daki
23. The Phoenix Suns
It’s been a long time since Steve Nash came to Phoenix and reinvigorated the franchise, only to continuously lose to San Antonio in the playoffs. Ever since Stoudemire’s departure to New York, Phoenix hasn’t been the same team. They gave the Lakers a good run in the playoffs, mostly because J-Rich reverted back to his Golden State days by hitting threes all over the place. They finished under .500 for the first time in the Nash era last season, and it’s not looking any more hopeful for them this year. If you take a look at their starting 5, you’ll notice something that’s fairly uncommon in the NBA today. Two of their starters are 38 and 39 years old. Nash has kept in incredibly good shape and is still a premier point guard, but unfortunately is not on a premier team. Grant Hill’s ability to still have an impact is in part because he was rested the whole time while he was injured back in the early 2000s. Regardless, Phoenix is still a tough team to beat. Their record may not show this, but Phoenix is a streaky team that can put up ridiculous offensive pressure on their opponents. With the addition of Gortat, who is having a career year (in part due to Nash), Phoenix improved its center position over last year, but with streaky players such as Dudley and Frye,Phoenix isn’t going anywhere this year. Once Nash leaves and Hill retires,Phoenix will have a chance to rebuild, but as of now, they’re not a playoff team, yet they can still offer their opponents a tough challenge. It’ll be interesting to see where Nash chooses to go in the upcoming off-season.
-Jovan
*Editors note: Marion and Beaubois for Steve Nash, come on David Stern, let's make it happen!
22. The Milwaukee Bucks
Nobody wanted to write about this team so ended up with them since I had the last pick in our “draft”. The Bucks are really not that entertaining to watch but they have a young “point” guard in Jennings who broke out this year as one of the best scorers in the league. The reason I have quotations on point is because he plays nothing like a point guard, but rather more like Allen Iverson. Other than him it’s the same old Bucks. Bogut gets injured again so Gooden steps in and has a great run and everyone is sick and tired of Skiles, resulting in a very inconsistent rotation. The one surprise this year has been Ilyasova, who is the best rebounding small forward in the league. I doubt this team makes the playoffs and will probably be stuck in mediocrity for the next few years.
-Igor
21. The Cleveland Cavaliers
The biggest question entering the Cavs’ season was: how will Irving fare against NBA competition? I thought he would okay, but nothing spectacular…. but I was way off. He’s been the best rookie this year and probably one of the better middle class point guards. He’s shooting just under 50% from the field on the year, over 40% from 3 and over 85% from the line. Such efficient numbers are hard to find in the NBA, especially for a rookie point guard. He might be able to lead this Cavs team to the playoffs (unlikely but it would be interesting). I have to give a shout-out to Varejao for playing excellent this year before going down with an injury and Jamison who’s still playing at a high level on the offensive end. What the Cavs need to do is to get rid of their old guys for next year, add some more pieces around Irving, and hope that Tristan Thompson turns into a decent 2-way player
-Igor
20. The Utah Jazz
Utah started off the season strong, surprising most fans and viewers, but the Jazz seem to have come to earth with a current record in the.500 range since early February. They’ve had a similar experience to the Phoenix Suns, in which the last good season they had was in 2009-10. After struggling in 2010, and having Jerry Sloan resign as head coach, and in addition trading Deron Williams to the Nets for Devin Harris (who hasn’t played well since his first year in New Jersey), they fell below .500 and finished the season losing 10 of their last 13 games. Jefferson has been playing well this year, but Utah has had numerous inconsistencies from their players, including Millsap, Miles, and especially Harris. One positive for this developing Utah team is the improved play from Hayward, who is showing great potential and may prove to be the spark they need to make a playoff push. Of course, Harris is going to have to step up as well because you can’t make the playoffs with as tarting PG who does not shoot or average many assists. Utah proved in the beginning of the season that they have what it takes to be a playoff team, but as other teams have improved throughout the season, the Jazz hit a bump in the road and need to regain momentum if they want to make the playoffs.
-Jovan
Igor was slated to write about the Warriors next, but being a team he particularly likes we decided to give him more time to work on it. Next time: teams 19 to 14, as we finally hit some legitimate playoff contenders.
