Backdoor Cut: NBA Power Rankings

Time for my first edition of Backdoor Cut NBA Power Rankings

Music to listen to: Make it Rain by Travis Porter

30- Minnesota Timberwolves: When you lose your first road games by an average of 30 points, things can’t get much worse. They’re also last in defensive AND offensive efficiency. Its gotten to the point of how long Kurt Rambis will keep his job. Kevin Love is averaging 16.9 ppg and 11.7 rpg, both team highs but not much else for the Wolves. Also, that four year-$20 million contract for Darko Milicic is looking great. He’s averaging 3.6 ppg and 5.0 rpg while playing only 20 minutes per contest.

29- Toronto Raptors: What has gotten into Reggie Evans? He’s averaging 12 rpg, one of the top marks in the league. Andrea Bargnani is averaging 19 ppg, which isn’t bad but who else is going to score on this squad. Until the defense improves, they will still be one of the worst teams in the league.

28- Charlotte Bobcats: You have to wonder if Larry Brown is regretting coming back for one more season with Charlotte? The point guard play of D.J. Augustine has been below-average and hasn’t proven to be an upgrade over last year’s starter in the position, Raymond Felton.

27- Washington Wizards: John Wall can do the Dougie all he wants if he can continue to produce excellent numbers. He’s not going to keep putting up 30/15/6 evenings with eight turnovers, but he’s going to be a star player. The bigger concern for the Wizards is the reality that Wall and Gilbert Arenas aren’t working well together in the backcourt. We all know which one has to go.

26- Detroit Pistons: This team is in major trouble. Rodney Stuckey openly disobeyed the head coach by not re-entering a contest earlier this season. There are legit trade rumors swirling around about Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Ben Gordon has been average. The organization needs to decide if its going to blow this thing up now or later.

25- Indiana Pacers: When Josh McRoberts is in your stating lineup, things aren’t going well. They’ve seen good development from Roy Hibbert, who is averaging 16 ppg and 10 rpg but the rest of the squad is struggling greatly offensively.

24- Los Angeles Clippers: Blake Griffin is a beast and already establishing himself as one of the top-10 forwards in the league. He hasn’t gotten much help from Baron Davis, who has been terribly disappointing and out with a “sore knee.” You know why I put that in quotes. The Clips have actually been more productive with an Eric Gordon/Eric Bledsoe backcourt.

23- Philadelphia 76ers: While Evan Turner has had a slow start to his rookie year, the return of top play of Elton Brand, who isn’t playing like his prime level when he was with the Clippers, but is producing at a nice rate. It will be interesting if the Sixers consider trading him and his slower style of play to usher in a more fast-paced unit which highlights the wing players.

22- New Jersey Nets: Considering that it took the Nets nearly two months last year to win its first contest and they already have two this season, things are looking up. The development of youngsters Derrick Favors and Terrance Williams has been pleasant to see. What hasn’t been pleasant is the offensive struggles of center Brook Lopez. The Nets need for him to be the top scorer to even consider having a winning record this season.

21- Houston Rockets: The Yao “24-minute” experiment has lead to a 1-5 start. The Rockets are better than that but what do you do? I don’t think you can start playing him more minutes but don’t play him for only six minutes a quarter. Let him go for 12 straight minutes for two increments so that the Rockets can develop a flow over a game.

20- Cleveland Cavs: The Cavs have been respectable in the “post-LeBron” era. What has helped is the development of Daniel Gibson who leads the team in points, assists and steals per game this season. It will be interesting to see what happens when Mo Williams comes back because you can’t play both of those guys at the same time.

19- Sacramento Kings: Tyreke Evans has been outstanding this season, the other guards have been solid and I like what I see out of Demarcus Cousins. What I don’t like is the defense, which has the second-worst unit behind Minnesota.

18- Milwaukee Bucks: I saw most of the contest at Boston last week and liked what I saw accept for the offense. The Bucks play hard and give good effort on defense but with Andrew Bogut getting back into form, the guards have to step up and that hasn’t happened. The combo of John Salmons and Brandon Jennings have to give the Bucks at least 40 ppg and that’s not happening.

17- New York Knicks: Besides having to deal with Isiah Thomas openly pine for a return to New York, the Knicks have been ok this year. Amar’e Stoudamire has been good but if New York wants to finally return to the playoffs, they can’t be inconsistent and do things like look good in back-to-back victories against Chicago and Washington and then lose at Philadelphia.

16- Phoenix Suns: The Steve Nash trade rumors are ridiculous. He’s not the problem. The issue is having a perimeter-based squad that isn’t shooting the ball well and the only reliable post player in Robin Lopez being ineffective.

15- Memphis Grizzlies: You can question the contract extensions to Rudy Gay and Mike Conley, and you would be correct, but both guys are playing well so far this year, especially Gay. Maybe the experience of playing in the FIBA World Championships for Team USA helped him develop but he has emerged as a top player in the NBA.

14- Utah Jazz: Major win over Miami on Monday and it was lead by Paul Millsap who has proven once again that he has been just as valuable and arguably a better player than the guy he is replacing Carlos Boozer. Deron Williams is playing well but they will need Al Jefferson to get on the same page as the rest of the squad but that will happen over time.

13- Oklahoma City Thunder: We all know how great Kevin Durant is but the Thunder are going to need for the rest of the squad to step up not named Russell Westbrook. I’m looking at you James Harden.

12- Chicago Bulls: Derrick Rose is outstanding and Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson are some of the more productive big men in the league but they need Carlos Boozer back in a big way to compete with the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

11- Denver Nuggets: If Carmelo Anthony stays, the Nuggets can possibly be the second-best team in the West but he’s getting traded at some point. For now, you have to give credit to head coach George Karl to not only get Denver playing well despite the trade rumor distractions but having success with forwards such as Sheldon Williams and Melvin Ely getting major minutes for the squad.

10- Golden State Warriors: Is that Golden State actually giving effort on defense and taking smart shots? I like the Monta Ellis/Steph Curry backcourt because it creates major matchup problems for other teams. The front court of David Lee, rugged Andris Biedrins and a cast of others have the Warriors thinking playoffs.

9- Atlanta Hawks: Yes Atlanta got off to its 6-0 start playing inferior opponents and lost its last two games against good competition of Phoenix and Orlando, but I liked what I saw in the Magic game on Monday. Dwight Howard still had an excellent game, he dominates the Hawks, but it was Vince Carter who did Atlanta in. That’s not going to happen every time.

8- Portland Trailblazers: They seem to find a way to win. If Marcus Camby can stay healthy along with the return of Greg Oden, Portland may be the only team in the West that can match the Lakers in productive size. They still have to work out the Andre Miller/Brandon Roy backcourt unit.

7- San Antonio Spurs: They are finally getting solid production from Richard Jefferson and its needed because Tim Duncan is starting to slow down in production. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are playing well.

6- Dallas Mavericks: They are actually better defense than offense if you look at the statistics. This has mainly been due to having productive bigs in Tyson Chandler and Brandan Haywood protecting the rim. What has to worry the Mavs is the offensive struggles of Caron Butler.

5- Miami Heat: Defense, defense, defense. Heard an argument on ESPN that Erick Dampier would be a better fit for this edition of the Heat than Chris Bosh. I’m not willing to go that far but unless Miami can find a way to improve its interior defense, they will fall to any team with good post play.

4- Orlando Magic: They are rounding into form and I’m looking forward to the Orlando/Boston conference finals. Dwight Howard is showing some excellent post moves and that’s been good because the three-point shooting has dipped so far this year. This will get better because Orlando has good shooters. I’ve also liked seeing Marcin Gortat get major playing time as well.

3- New Orleans Hornets: Chris Paul has been the three-week NBA MVP so far but I would still take the top-two teams in my poll over them.

2- Boston Celtics: They’re back to being the best defensive team in the league but their biggest weakness is the outside shooting of star point guard Rajon Rondo. In the Celtics contest against Dallas on Monday, the Mavs played off Rondo and made him take jump shots to beat them and he couldn’t.

1- Los Angeles Lakers: Pau Gasol has been the best forward in the league this season and has allowed Kobe Bryant to ease into this season while recovering from off-season knee surgery. Lamar Odom is playing outstanding as well, Ron Artest is playing excellent defense, the Derek Fisher/Steve Blake point guard combo has been successful and all of this is without Andrew Bynum.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?