Basketball Prospectus Power Rankings

[Erick Blasco]

 

 

1. (1) Los Angeles Lakers (60.8 / 33.5%) [ 63 / 59 / 53 ]

Rankings: NET: 3; OFF: 11; DEF: 3; PACE: 8

 

What do you do with a player like Kobe Bryant, who just seems to possess a preternatural ability the make difficult end-of-game shot? It's almost reached the point where you have to consider running three players at Bryant in an effort to get the ball out of his hands, or keep it from getting there in the first place. You'd have to keep your other two defenders close to the lane to prevent Bryant from firing a bullet pass to someone for an uncontested layup, so that means you're left with one or two players unguarded on the perimeter. Would you rather have that than another Kobe dagger? At least it'd be a change of pace.

 

 

 

 

7. (8) Utah Jazz (53.2 / 3.4%) [ 49 / 53 / 53 ]

Rankings: NET: 9; OFF: 12; DEF: 10; PACE: 14

 

The Jazz's current stretch of nine wins in 10 games has included four road victories, as Utah has become the league's hottest team. The streak has coincided exactly with Jerry Sloan's re-insertion of Andrei Kirilenko into the Jazz starting lineup on Jan. 9. NBAPET suggests that Kirilenko is having a monster defensive season, rating +5 for his position defense, +4 in blocks-plus-steals for his position and +4 as an overall athlete. Kirilenko has always flourished in those latter ratings, but his position defense hasn't rated as strong, with the likely culprit being that he was often caught out of position when plying his trade as a help defender. Certainly doesn't seem to be the case this season. Kirilenko's solution? Just be all over the place. Utah is an amazing 7.3 points better on defense with Kirilenko on the floor.

 

 

 

 

15. (17) Toronto Raptors (43.9 / 0.3%) [ 44 / 39 / 38 ]

Rankings: NET: 18; OFF: 2; DEF: 30; PACE: 10

 

DeMar DeRozan is miffed at his Rookie Challenge snub? By my system, DeRozan is the 16th-best rookie in WP82 and has a Statistical Plus-Minus (-6.6) that puts him at the 14th percentile of all NBA players. Just as he was at USC, DeRozan is proving to be style over substance. The raw material is there to work with, but going to be up to Jay Triano and Bryan Colangelo to tease it out, and to DeRozan to worry about things other than some hoaky All-Star exhibition. Eight of NBAPET's top 11 rookies made the roster. The three who missed were Ty Lawson, Marcus Thornton and Wes Matthews, all of whom fell victim to the glut of solid rookie guards.

 

16. (14) Miami Heat (43.8 / 0.5%) [ 41 / 43 / 44 ]

Rankings: NET: 13; OFF: 14; DEF: 12; PACE: 28

 

Has Rafer Alston been a spark for the Heat? Uh, no. Alston has been just as inefficent for Miami as he was in New Jersey, though he hasn't been relied upon as heavily as he was with the Nets. The Heat remains incredibly up and down. Over its last 10 games, just as an example, Miami has gone 5-5. It's won games by 24, 30 and 31, and lost games by 18 and 39. While Miami and Toronto run in place, Chicago and Charlotte are moving right by them in the East standings. A first round pairing of Dwyane Wade against LeBron James would be sweet--but short. The Heat will be in Chicago on Saturday, which will prompt an orgy of speculation about the Summer of the Free Agent. (Neither Wade or James have paid a visit to Chicago yet this season. At least for a game.)

 

 

 

 

25. (27) Washington Wizards (28.2 / 0.0%) [ 28 / 30 / 26 ]

Rankings: NET: 25; OFF: 22; DEF: 23; PACE: 16

 

Here's what Flip Saunders said after sitting talented-but-immature Andray Blatche: "The only way they're going to learn is to come out of the game when they make mistakes. I told Andray, 'I've seen enough of that dribbling behind the back.' That might work on the playground. Every time he does it, he's going to come out of the game. Some of his habits have to be broken," Saunders said. Shouldn't a player be broken of this kind of habit BEFORE he gets to the NBA? Apparently not.

 

 

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=895

 

 

 

[Poe]

@ The Heat, you can't expect one role player to solve all the problems. Alston is a clear improvement on the defensive end concerning his position, and offensively he hasn't typically made bad decisions with the basketball, though his field goal percentage isn't favorable.

 

 

I think the best way to solve the point guard issue for the Heat is to start their best point guard, Dwyane Wade, at that position, and let the second and third best perimeter players (Richardson and Wright) start at the wings. I've made a thread about this, and I still believe this is the best way to make the most out of what the Heat have in their line up and put themselves in a good position to win the most games possible heading into the playoffs.

[Cobb]

The Hawks above the Celtics and Magic? Sweet.

[Erick Blasco]

@ The Heat, you can't expect one role player to solve all the problems. Alston is a clear improvement on the defensive end concerning his position, and offensively he hasn't typically made bad decisions with the basketball, though his field goal percentage isn't favorable.

 

 

I think the best way to solve the point guard issue for the Heat is to start their best point guard, Dwyane Wade, at that position, and let the second and third best perimeter players (Richardson and Wright) start at the wings. I've made a thread about this, and I still believe this is the best way to make the most out of what the Heat have in their line up and put themselves in a good position to win the most games possible heading into the playoffs.

 

It isn't as if he's asked to solve the Heat's problems, just that he's been just as bad with the Heat as he was with the Nets. How many layups has he missed? And I bet there are a ton of forced drives too.

[JWaLL]

I'm glad Flip at least realizes that Blatche is playing like an oversized high school guard. Sit his [expletive] down until he starts playing like a true big man. Big men don't need to be flashy.

[Poe]

It isn't as if he's asked to solve the Heat's problems, just that he's been just as bad with the Heat as he was with the Nets. How many layups has he missed? And I bet there are a ton of forced drives too.

He's missed floaters and some tough lay ups. It could be because he doesn't have the same lift in his jump as he may have used to, so the feel for his lay ups aren't the same. Either way, it's hurting his field goal percentage, and he hasn't shot the 3 ball that well, either - not necessarily percentage-wise, but when he's left open it never feels like he has any sure chance of making the shot.

 

He's still a great ball handler and he's done a good job limiting his TOs, and again, a better perimeter defender than both Arroyo and Chalmers.

 

 

Even with the intangibles he brings, I still don't feel perfectly secure at the point guard position for the Heat. I know Spoelstra probably hasn't even considered this, but starting Wade at point wouldn't be a bad idea, IMO.