Music to listen to: Maven Fade by Kerreta
1) San Antonio Spurs: Its little surprise that the team that the team that keeps the most consistent roster in the NBA would get off to a 6-1 start. What has been surprising is the continued efficiency of the offense (first in the NBA in assists per game at 25.0), the stability of Tim Duncan at his advanced age for a post player and that Manu Ginobili has missed several games this season. Another season of finishing the regular season with the best record in the West is a distinct possibility.
2) Miami Heat: Some may want to mark the Heat further down because of its loss at Memphis on Sunday but those defeats happen. However, Miami is still in prime position as long as LeBron James is still walking. The Heat still lead the league in scoring at 105.5 PPG. The defense could be better (Miami is 24th in points allowed per game) but that may be due to the increased pace of play. We’ll know more about the Heat Wednesday when it travels to face the Clippers.
3) Los Angeles Clippers: Speaking of the Clippers, outside of an odd home loss to Cleveland, they have had a solid start to the season. Blake Griffin looks to have improved his outside shooting by his standards, DeAndre Jordan is showing flashes of being a top-tier two-way player and Chris Paul has been solid. The bench has been outstanding for LA, especially Jamal Crawford who is leading the team in scoring at 20.3 PPG.
4) New York Knicks: The Knicks are off to a 4-0 start, including wins over Miami, Philadelphia and Dallas, all playoff teams from last season. They’re second in the league in scoring and first in defense. Carmelo Anthony is averaging more than 27 PPG. So why aren’t they #1 on my rankings? The list has been home-friendly (three of the four contests have been at Madison Square Garden) and the Sixers and Mavs were missing their best players. New York travels to San Antonio and Memphis this week so that will give us a better prospective on the Knicks.
5) Memphis Grizzlies: The Grizzlies are quietly off to a 5-1 start, including an impressive 104-86 win against Miami, and Rudy Gay is providing some much-needed perimeter scoring.
6) Oklahoma City Thunder: The fall out of the James Harden trade has finally shaken out and Kevin Martin is providing just as much scoring off the bench. The “Russell Westbrook takes too many shots” angle has been overworked by many, including myself, but in the Thunder’s two losses this season, he has been overly aggressive and negatively affected the offensive flow of OKC.
7) Denver Nuggets: An 0-3 start to the season had some worried about the Nuggets but they won the next four before last night’s inexplicable loss to the lowly Suns. The positives have been that Kenneth Faried has been a rebounding machine, Iggy leads the team in scoring and the offensive balance is showing. The negative is that one player needs to emerge to take the Nuggets to the next level and the person with the top skill set for this task, Galinari, has struggled shooting throughout the start of this campaign.
8) Chicago Bulls: They’re treading water until Derrick Rose returns and have been doing a decent job so far this season. The defense is still in the top-five throughout the NBA but last night’s loss at home to Chicago showed that for all of the balance that the Bulls have, they still need an elite player to become a championship-caliber team.
9) Boston Celtics: Rajon Rondo has been making his case for being the best point guard in the NBA but the rest of the Celtics have been underwhelming so far.
10) Philadelphia Sixers: Andrew Bynum looks to be out another month due to the bad knee. The good news is that Evan Turner is finally starting to look like a lottery pick-caliber player and the defense is good. However, similar to the Bulls, the Sixers need their top player to make any noise in the postseason.
11) Los Angeles Lakers: The melodrama that is the Lakers took another turn this week as head coach Mike Brown was replaced by Mike D’Antoni this week after five games. The public flirtation with Phil Jackson won’t help the cause either. The reality is that we won’t know more about the Lakers until Steve Nash returns, Dwight Howard gets healthier with his back and the offense can get implemented.
12) Dallas Mavs: It was a nice start for the Mavs (even Eddy Curry was getting buckets for Dallas). However, after consecutive losses to Charlotte and Minnesota this past week, Dirk needs to return as soon as possible.
13) Atlanta Hawks: Seeing rumors that Pau Gasol may be traded to the Hawks for Josh Smith. After seeing Smith’s start to this season, I wouldn’t make that move if I were the Hawks.
14) Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis are a fun backcourt to watch…and that’s all I got about Milwaukee.
15) Utah Jazz: The Jazz finally have a road win…even though it took three overtimes and it was against Toronto last night…its still a victory outside of Salt Lake City.
16) Minnesota Timberwolves: Nice win by the Wolves at Dallas last night to improve their record to 5-2. This ranking may be too low, considering that the Wolves are still missing Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. Minnesota has become the home of the reclamation project as the team’s leader in rebounds (Andrei Kirilenko), assists (Brandon Roy) and steals (Luke Ridnour) have worn out welcomes at other places due to age or injuries and have been revitalized in the Twin Cities. It may also have something to do with Rick Adelman, my early pick for NBA coach of the year.
17) Brooklyn Nets: The expected bounce from being in a new hometown in a new arena hasn’t taken place for the Nets who still have a losing record and have gotten minimal contributions from Joe Johnson.
18) Indiana Pacers: Danny Granger is out three months and that’s a problem. The bigger issue is Roy Hibbert, who has had a slow start to the season.
19) Portland Trail Blazers: Portland started the season 2-1, including an impressive win at home against the Lakers. Since then, the Blazers are 0-4 despite LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum playing well along with rookie Damian Lillard making major contributions.
20) Houston Rockets: Harden had an excellent first week with the Rockets, a subpar one for the second week and now we’ll see how the youngest team in the NBA can adjust to missing their head coach, Kevin McHale, for some time.
21) New Orleans Hornets: Anthony Davis has been as good as advertised, Greivis Vasquez has been a steady performer in the backcourt and the defense is only allowing 88.6 points per game, good enough for third in the NBA. However, the Hornets are only averaging 88.3 PPG. Expect numerous inconsistent efforts from this squad who looked poised to pull an upset in the season-opening loss to the Spurs.
22) Golden State Warriors: Steph Curry has been good and the surprise of the early NBA season may be Carl Landry. Outside of this, the Warriors need more offense.
23) Phoenix Suns: Goran Dragic has been a good point guard for the Suns but the lack of talent is starting to show in Phoenix.
24) Charlotte Bobcats: They have two wins so far this season and Kemba Walker has been entertaining. That borderline legendary status in Charlotte for Bobcats’ fans considering the past few seasons.
25) Toronto Raptors: The good news is that they can score (100.1 PPG) but can’t stop a nose bleed at this stage on defense (104.7 PPG). If you’re going to lose, at least do it in an entertaining way, right?
26) Orlando Magic: The Magic score the least amount of points in the NBA (87.8) and Jameer Nelson is injured. At least there’s Disneyworld…
27) Cleveland Cavs: A typical Cavs’ game is Kyrie Irving scoring 20 points, getting about six assists and they lose by 10 points. I don’t know if that’s a knock on coaching, players or even Irving but this is going to turn into another lost season for Cleveland if nothing changes soon.
28) Sacramento Kings: I’ve been a big defender of DeMarcus Cousins’ skills on-the-court, he can still become the best center in the NBA if he kept his mind right, but another suspension for off-the-court issues may warrant a trade at this stage. Tyreke Evans is still on the team, right?
29) Washington Wizards: The only reason that they’re not in last place is that John Wall and Nene still haven’t suited up for the Wizards yet this season. Until then, this is the fate of Washington, even though going winless is difficult to pull off on purpose.
30) Detroit Pistons: This once proud franchise that gave us Dave Bing, Isiah Thomas, Grant Hill, Dennis Rodman and the legendary John Salley now sit at 0-8. What is it about starting the season on losing streaks for head coach Lawrence Frank? He was the HC when the Nets started the year 0-16 back in 2009 and that Frank his job.
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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