Just thought I would share the Hollinger rankings came out today. He also did the obligatory "FAQ" for those questioning how the rankings are created. Interesting how the SW fairs against everyone else... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking Edit: Forgot to add the FAQ link
Hollinger Rankings 1) Celtics 2) Hornets 3) Spurs 4) Lakers 5) Rockets 6) Raptors 7) Pistons 8) Nuggets 9) Mavericks 10) Magic 11) Jazz 12) Suns 13) Blazers 14) Hawks 15) Cavs I think 4 is generous for LA, they are 5-10 IMO. Hollinger got Hornets happy. Not that they aren't talented, and coming into their own, but they aren't the 2nd best team in the league. Mavs at 9, ouch...
Hollingers rankings are objective and essentially uses scoring margin to rank his teams. Read the Faq, Hollinger is espns resident stats guy, his power rankings aren't the usual subjective bull**** we usually find on other sites.
Hollinger is certainly a Rocket Fan and also a huge YAO fan. we know he put YAO as the 1st option for MVP this year,
This ranking is all jacked up... how do you put the Lakers at 4? They are 4-3, and almost lost to a team who didn't have T-Mac for almost the whole game.
because thus far they have been one of the most powerful offenses a few games into the season....3rd in fg% and 6th in points scored 3 of the 4 wins have come against pho, uta and hou
Keep in mind that Hollinger rankings is based on how teams played so far, NOT based on talent or preseason bias. The Hornets and the Celtics have both played amazing so far, and deserves their spot until proven otherwise. I think we can stay in the top 10 if we can manage even a 1-2 record for the next 3 games. Our schedule is just brutal.
Given how we've actually been playing so far, we're lucky to be ranked fifth under his system. Anyone who looks at the Rockets knows we can be much much better than we currently are. Also, for those who are wondering why the Lakers are higher despite a lower +/- differential, it's because based on the first 8-9 games teams have played so far, they have a better strength of schedule. Personally, I believe that the Rockets have had the hardest schedule through nine games, but there just aren't enough games played to demonstrate that yet. For example, Dallas is 9 and we played them whereas New Orleans is 2 and LA's played them. So LA gets more props for playing NO than we do for playing Dallas. That's not going to last long. After these next three games we should def have the hardest strength of schedule in the league. And look for our Hollinger ranking to go down until this killer stretch is over with. At that time our offense will have room to improve, we'll start blowing out some scrubs, and that's when we make our run .
