NBA Power Rankings V2: Ranking Every Team in the NBA
Written by SOURCE on February 15, 2021
We have a new No. 1 in the season’s second edition of our power rankings and that shouldn’t surprise anybody.
The Jazz has been playing incredible basketball, and while we all know the Lakers remain heavy favorites to repeat as world champions for all the obvious reasons, Utah is clearly the NBA’s top squad at the moment. Seriously, it ain’t even a debate.
Utah has the NBA’s best record, has only lost two games in a row once this season, and features the league’s top average margin of victory (9.30). They’re doing it with defense, they’re doing it by hitting a ton of their shots from beyond the arc, and they’re doing it by being incredibly unselfish.
“It’s like passing money around at a casino,” Jazz forward Georges Niang said after Utah’s win over Miami, talking about the team’s ball movement. “Everybody gets a little piece.”
Quick note regarding these power rankings: If you’re unfamiliar with net rating, know that it’s a team’s average point differential, or more specifically the difference between a team’s offensive rating per 100 possessions compared to its defensive rating per 100 possessions. We’re featuring it because NBA champions almost always end up owning a top 5 net rating—team’s that barely score more points than they allow usually do not end up having deep playoff runs. So it’s kind of noteworthy/important.
We’ll be updating the rankings every other week, so there are no massive knee jerk reactions to a few bad games. After Valentine’s Day, here’s where we stand:
