[Grantland] Zach Lowe: Western Conference Power Rankings

You can rank the 8 WC playoff teams basically anyway you want to. I agree with them for the most part, but Thunder at 1 just kinda seems like Lowe trying to spark debate.

 

Agree with the list except the Blazers in front of the Rockets AND Grizzlies

lol no

 

This. Well, you have to put Golden State ahead of everybody simply because of their record. #2-#7 plus the Thunder are pretty much a toss up.

 

I would not rank OKC that high. I think Houston is fair at #6 for now.

 

His reasoning is sound at least. "Who'd you bet on to win the WC if everyone is healthy come April"

I think most people would bet on OKC if everyone gets healthy even if they are sitting @ #8.

It'll be interesting to see OKC vs GSW in the 1st round, 1 juggernaut will be down early.

Also the team that draws the Mavs and Portland, I think will be the luckiest teams. I still don't trust Portland, it took a lucky Lillard shot and LMA shooting 70% from midrange to beat a worse Rockets team than this year. I don't think that is anywhere near sustainable.

 

Spurs are too high

 

Rockets anywhere from 3-6. Tough to see them as the favorites against Memphis/OKC assuming current roster + full health. Think Warriors are ultra talented but don't scare me as much.

 

Arguing about the position of top 8 in this ranking is just dumb after you will read carefully what he wrote :

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This could be the greatest single-season conference in league history — a rumble among at least eight powerhouses with legitimate championship hopes. It may require 50 wins just to make the playoffs, something that has happened only a couple of times before. The hierarchy flips almost daily as injuries, random schedule blips, and crazy games color the perception of each team. A surefire contender one week might look to be in crisis 10 days later.

 

I can't agree with the Portland being ranked ahead of Houston... I still think that Dallas is waaaay overrated, although some of that could be this massive black ball of hate that I've let fester and grow for that douchebag of a team. Here's hoping that Rondo is massive detriment to the Mavs and causes all kinds of internal turmoil and on-court failings.

 

wow, now that we've assembled the best team in like 5 years, the other teams in the west have also become scary.

it's gonna be a bloodbath this post season, hopefully no major injuries

 

Hate to watch Blazers so high up again.....

 

Rankings in terms of who I would least like to see in the first round of the playoffs, from a Rockets standpoint:

1. Clippers (Chris Flop GRRRRR)
2. Thunder
3. Grizzlies
4. Spurs
5. Warriors
6. Blazers
7. Dallas (yes plz!)

Slot the Rockets anywhere you want to on there. At full strength I like our chances against all teams except the Clippers. Houston vs Thunder is a toss-up and may come down to who has home court.

 

"Daryl Morey has long operated under the assumption that talent figures things out".

 

I think the list is fair to a point. I do think Portland is overrated so far. They've lost to pretty much everybody.

I also think that the recent grizzlies 3 game losing streak was given too much weight in the rankings. Which is generally what happens to the grizzlies in the national media, if anything goes south for the grizzlies at any point in the season, they turn into pretenders again.

In reality, and this is an undeniable fact: the grizzlies have beaten: the spurs (ahead of them), golden state (ahead of them), portland (ahead of them) the rockets (one slot behind them). In fact, the grizzlies have beaten evryone of the top 10 teams on this least a least once.

No other team has done that but the grizzlies.