Eastern Conference Power Rankings: Early January 2021 Edition

1. Sixers (6-1) — prev. rank #4

This, THIS, is the Philly defense we envisioned last season when we picked the Sixers to make it to The Finals. The 6-1 record is a great start, but those 6 wins have come against the Wizards, Knicks, Raptors, Magic and Hornets twice. And the lone loss was to the Cavs who have since lost 3 of their last 4. We should know a lot more about this team later this month after games against the Nuggets, Hawks, Heat (twice), Lakers and Celtics (twice). The 9.3 Net Rating and overall demeanor is quite encouraging.

2. Celtics (5-3) — prev. rank #3

The Celtics being this high has more to do with the eye test and the fact that they are still without Kemba. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have showed us that yes, they can take their games up another level. The J-Team is averaging a combined 53 points per game. It’s early, but rookie Payton Pritchard has certainly looked like their fourth best player (sans Kemba). On the other hand, the Celtics other 1st round pick, Aaron Nesmith, selected #14 overall, has scarcely played. That feels rather alarming.

3. Bucks (4-3) — prev. rank #2

The Bucks are 4-3 with losses to the Celtics, Knicks (!!) and Heat, however, they still rock the NBA’s best Net Rating at 13.4 thanks to blowout wins against the Warriors on Christmas, the Heat (when Milwaukee set the NBA record with 29 made threes), and the Bulls. The Bucks already look and feel more mortal in the regular season than the last couple of years, but it’s clear they are still quite capable of obliterating opponents, especially in the Central Division where they have won 29 of their last 32 games. There’s definitely some crunch time lineup issues to work on. We’ve seen Pat Connaughton get exposed a few times.

4. Pacers (5-2) — prev. rank #7

Another year, another pesky Pacers unit that’s so much tougher than you would think. T.J. Warren’s surgery to repair a stress fracture in his foot is unfortunate, yet it has opened the door for Oladipo to get more run, and Dipo is running with it. He really does have this bounce back. The Pacers have three players averaging 20+ points in Sabonis, Brogdon and Oladipo. Myles Turner is somebody who doesn’t get enough credit. Turner is averaging 3.6 blocks per game, tops in the league by a wide margin.

5. Nets (4-4) — prev. rank #5

Losing Spencer Dinwiddie is a big blow to this team with legit title aspirations. We’ve dropped them down a bit here due to KD missing time due to the health and safety protocol. (One of the reasons we picked the Nets Over on our preseason wins prediction was because most of the team already tested positive, so that Galaxy Brain theory has backfired nicely.) Zach Lowe noted in his first batch of Ten Things that through five games, Brooklyn ranked eighth in defense which was a shocking revelation. Three games later and they have already dropped to 14th. The offense, however, is as good as anticipated and should remain top 10 (currently 10th). We thought no KD against the Jazz would be tough sledding, and then Brooklyn beat the bricks off Utah behind phenomenal games from Kyrie and Jarrett Allen.

6. Heat (3-3) — prev. rank #1

The Heat have been a little difficult to read in the early going with Jimmy Butler in and out of the lineup. There was the tremendous Revenge Game win against the Bucks without Jimmy, but then the egg they laid the next game in Dallas, scoring a lowly 83 points with Jimmy. Bam has played fantastic. Tyler Herro starting at point guard is a good time. Still rather puzzled as to what is up with Kendrick Nunn’s minutes, only 12 per game. Seven Heat players are averaging 10+ points. A big matchup vs. the Celtics awaits tomorrow night on ESPN!

7. Magic (5-2) — prev. rank #12

The Magic are 5-2 but save for their win over the Heat in the first game, they have only beaten the Wizards (twice), the Cavs and the Thunder. The Magic also lost to the Thunder but played without Fournier. Chuma Okeke was helpful off the bench before a bone bruise has caused him another setback. The Magic’s second unit has still been good with Cole Anthony looking sharp and T-Ross forever pulling out his flame thrower off the bench. Fultz is shooting 89% from the line (!!) and averaging 6 assists per game while also leading this team in field goal attempts. Vooch is currently sniping 57.4 percent on threes, 5.4 attempts per game.

8. Knicks (4-3) — prev. rank #14

Well well well… looky what we have here! The Knicks, by gawd, THE KNICKS, are a spunky bunch that play with more organization and togetherness than we ever could have imagined. Spacing, be damned! All hats off to Thibs here. Julius Randle has been a beast, averaging 22 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 40 percent from 3! R.J. Barrett looks more and more comfortable out there. Immanuel Quickley is fresh off two very nice games in which he very much contributed to Knicks wins. Speaking of, the Knicks already have three wins over projected Eastern Conference playoff teams (Bucks, Pacers and Hawks). All of this and Obi Toppin has only played one game!

9. Hawks (4-3) — prev. rank #8

The Hawks soared out of the gate with a rampaging offense that has sputtered in the last two games, losses to the Cavs and Knicks (both at home). Trae Young, per usual, has been the Hawks grand maestro, conducting the offense with both precision and wizardry. It’s the youngin’s on the wing who have really caught our eye. You can tell that Reddish and Hunter are both shooting with so much confidence this season. John Collins has made a strong case for a big pay day. Gallo and Rondo are banged up, so the major depth here is already helpful.

10. Cavs (4-3) — prev. rank #15

Uh… the Cavs.. the Cavs have the 2nd rated defense in the league currently with a defensive rating of 102.8! Gonna go out on a limb here and say that’s probably not sustainable. What can hopefully continue, however, is the Sexland backcourt’s vast, and we are talking VAST, improvement in the assist percentage department. Kevin Porter Jr. has yet to play due to personal matters while Kevin Love will be re-evaluated in 3-4 weeks due to a calf strain. Okoro looked sharp in the preseason and in the season opener vs. Charlotte, but he scored 0 points in the next game and hasn’t played since then, dealing with a calf strain of his own and also finding himself on the health and safety protocol list.

11. Bulls (4-4) — prev. rank #11

The Bulls have been pretty bad, but at least they beat the Wizards twice, took care of business against the Luka-less Mavs, and then carved out a hard fought come from behind win in Portland. It still feels like there is a much better version of this team lurking somewhere within, and maybe, just maybe, the Bulls are starting to find themselves. We’ll see how Chicago finishes off the current West Coast swing: Kings, Lakers and Clippers are up next, and then they get to come home and play the Celtics. Gulp.

12. Hornets (2-5) — prev. rank #9

Charlotte has two remarkable wins over the Nets and Mavericks. The problem is that those are the Hornets only two wins. It appears as though the Hornets can hang against opponents lacking on the defensive side of the ball, but facing a team with a good defense (i.e. Philly) is going to present some pretty big problems. LaMelo Ball has had some sizzling performances. Devonte’ Graham went through a serious slump but appears to have recently broken out. Miles Bridges is shooting a career-best mark from three-point range (39 percent) and Terry Rozier is still shooting 44.8 percent on eight three-point attempts per game!

13. Wizards (2-5) — prev. rank #10

The Westbrook-Beal pairing got off to a rocky start as the Wiz commenced the season 0-5 before winning two straight against the T-Wolves (expected) and Nets (unexpected). Thomas Bryant has continued the excellent stretch of basketball that he started in the bubble. It’s been a slow start for Bertans, getting paid massive money to shoot 32.7 percent from 3 on 7.4 attempts per game is probably not what Tommy Sheppard had in mind. Bertans numbers should improve which will help this offense immensely.

14. Raptors (1-5) prev. rank #6

Home is where the heart is and the Raptors are stuck 1,300+ miles away from home in Tampa. So much for sunny Florida brightening the Raptors moods during the cold winter months. Siakam has unfortunately looked more like Bubble Playoff Siakam than beginning of the 2019-2020 season Siakam. Any time you have one of the best coaches in the game, you’ve got a chance to turn it around. That said, the absence of Gasol and Ibaka has been super glaring.

15. Pistons (1-6) — prev. rank #13

The bad news is that the Pistons, like we suspected, are a weird and subpar basketball team. The good news is that they actually haven’t been quite as weird or bad as most thought. They have a big win (their only win) against the Celtics! Jerami Grant looks determined to get his. A suggestion for J-Grant would be to pass to his teammates more, it’s only going to help in the long run.

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