The Cleveland Cavaliers hit rock bottom, while the rest of the teams in the league's bottom-third shuffle around.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 0-5 | 27.1 | 26 | -4 |
| 29 | Phoenix Suns | 1-3 | 28.3 | 28 | -1 |
| 28 | Sacramento Kings | 2-3 | 28.5 | 30 | 2 |
| 27 | Atlanta Hawks | 2-2 | 29.2 | 29 | 2 |
| 26 | Chicago Bulls | 1-3 | 30.1 | 27 | 1 |
| 25 | Orlando Magic | 2-3 | 34.4 | 23 | -2 |
| 24 | Brooklyn Nets | 2-2 | 35.1 | 25 | 1 |
| 23 | Memphis Grizzlies | 2-2 | 36.0 | 22 | -1 |
| 22 | New York Knicks | 1-4 | 40.4 | 24 | 2 |
| 21 | Dallas Mavericks | 2-2 | 42.7 | 20 | -1 |
Risers
Talking positively about the 28th-ranked team seems a little tongue-in-cheek, but the Sacramento Kings have actually gotten off to a reasonable start, beating decent teams in the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder, while losing to top-tier squads like the Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, and Denver Nuggets. They've had the fourth-hardest schedule in the NBA, according to basketball-reference.com's strength of schedule, which makes their -4.8 point differential somewhat excusable. If nothing else, climbing out of that dreaded 30th spot in our rankings is worth a little recognition.
The New York Knicks don't really deserve their "riser" title at 1-4, but their 20th-ranked -3.8 point differential is semi-respectable, as is their 13th-ranked defense. They may have gotten blown out by the Miami Heat on Wednesday, but their other three losses were relatively close contests, and they did open the season with a blowout of the Atlanta Hawks. That's enough to move on up in the bottom-third of the league this week.
Fallers
We knew the Cavaliers wouldn't be good this year, but being 0-5 with the Association's worst point differential at -13.0 to start the season might be even worse than most expected. They've dropped three of their five losses by double-digits, including complete blowouts to two fellow bottom-tier teams in the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets. They were our biggest faller of the offseason last week, and now they have no further down to go as our 30th-ranked team.
The Orlando Magic have done fairly well to start the season by their standards, beating the Miami Heat in their opener and dropping the Boston Celtics on Monday of this week. There are a lot of teams playing at or around .500 ball here in the bottom tier, however, so having the league's 27th-ranked point differential at -8.2 is what knocks the Magic down a few pegs, despite a passable record.