NBA Power Rankings Update: The Toronto Raptors Continue Their Climb
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
The Orlando Magic continue to plummet, the Miami Heat remain in the basement, and the Sacramento Kings continue to be nERD's least favorite team by a mile.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Sacramento Kings | 13-27 | 20.7 | 30 | Even |
| 29 | Chicago Bulls | 15-27 | 30.5 | 29 | Even |
| 28 | Phoenix Suns | 16-26 | 31.5 | 28 | Even |
| 27 | Orlando Magic | 12-30 | 33.4 | 23 | -4 |
| 26 | Atlanta Hawks | 11-30 | 35.0 | 27 | +1 |
| 25 | Brooklyn Nets | 15-26 | 38.0 | 25 | Even |
| 24 | Memphis Grizzlies | 13-27 | 39.0 | 26 | +2 |
| 23 | Los Angeles Lakers | 13-27 | 39.5 | 21 | -2 |
| 22 | Dallas Mavericks | 15-28 | 42.2 | 24 | +2 |
| 21 | Miami Heat | 24-17 | 44.1 | 22 | +1 |
Risers
The Memphis Grizzlies have played .500 ball since our last instalment (4-4), so they move up a couple spots while the teams around them continue to rack up more losses than wins. The Grizz remain in the bottom third of the league in both offensive rating (24th) and defensive rating (21st), however, so they remain in the bottom third in nERD (39.0), as well.
The Heat continue to be a prime example of a win-loss record not jiving with our proprietary metric, nERD. With a division-leading record of 24-17, the Heat sit comfortably in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, but their 44.1 nERD places them 21st in the league and 11th in the conference. Their record may afford them an 88.7% chance of making the playoffs, according to our algorithm, but most advanced analytics suggest that they won't be much of a threat once they get there.
Fallers
The Sacramento Kings have gone 2-7 since the last edition of this column and remain firmly at the bottom of our rankings. They aren't "fallers" this week, per se, but the distance between their nERD of 20.7 and that of the 29th-ranked Chicago Bulls at 30.5 has grown so large that we can't help but mention them here. They are now last in the league in offensive rating, defensive rating, and margin of victory. Yuck.
The Orlando Magic started this season 8-4, but have gone 4-26 since and now sit at 12-30 on the year. They've only managed to win one of their last 16 games and are currently on a six-game losing streak with no end in sight (their next four games are against teams that sit in the top-10 of these power rankings). On the plus side, they've moved up (down?) to second in draft lottery odds, per tankathon.com.
