Pre season NBA power rankings

Pre season NBA power rankings

Pre season NBA power rankings

With NBA opening night just a couple short days away, let’s see where each team ranks after the pre season.

30. Utah Jazz

Biggest Strength: Two really good rookies in Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton Jr.

Biggest Weakness: Front court injuries piling up with Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler.

29. Brooklyn Nets

Biggest Strength: Plethora of rookies with potential.

Biggest Weakness: Lack of veteran leadership, I mean their oldest player is 29 year old Terrance Mann.

28. Washington Wizards

Biggest Strength: Young guys like Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, and more should make a jump after last season showed flashes.

Biggest Weakness: Outside of Sarr, there is not a lot of interior presence on either side of the ball.

27. Portland Trail Blazers

Biggest Strength: Defense was already good and got better with the Anfernee Simons trade for Jrue Holiday

Biggest Weakness: They don’t have anyone who can consistently score the ball.

26. Charlotte Hornets

Biggest Strength: Extremely exciting young talent in Lamelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and now Kon Kneuppel.

Biggest Weakness: Injuries, Lamelo has missed 141 games over the last three seasons, Miller missed over half last season, they’ve got to stay healthy.

(Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)

25. Chicago Bulls

Biggest Strength: Offensive scheme, they play at one of the fastest speeds in the game making everyone a threat on any given night.

Biggest Weakness: This team is fun to watch, but they’re reckless. If someone’s off you’ll see a direct impact on the team’s flow.

24. New Orleans Pelicans

Biggest Strength: Zion looks the healthiest he’s been since entering the league, and he’s surrounded by an incredibly deep group.

Biggest Weakness: Plenty of other injury prone players, so it’s a good thing they have 12 playable guys.

23. Phoenix Suns

Biggest Strength: It’s Devin Booker’s team again, and rather than rely on aging stars like KD and Bradley Beal, they’ve surrounded Booker with lots of young talent.

Biggest Weakness: New head coach in Jordan Ott + brand new roster = there should be some growing pains.

(Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)

22. Indiana Pacers

Biggest Strength: They are very well coached and should still be solid without Tyrese Haliburton.

Biggest Weakness: Without Haliburton the offense is going to take a huge hit, and the team can’t rely on Myles Turner’s defense now.

21. Philadelphia 76ers

Biggest Strength: They are loaded with talent. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, plus the young guys McCain, Grimes and Edgecombe.

Biggest Weakness: Will Joel Embiid ever play basketball again? Find out next time on Locker Room!

20. Toronto Raptors

Biggest Strength: Lots of versatile wings in Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and RJ Barrett.

Biggest Weakness: Relying too much on both Ingram’s health and Barnes’ development to really carry them.

19. Sacramento Kings

Biggest Strength: Domantas Sabonis, Demar Derozan, and Zach Lavine are a very good trio.

Biggest Weakness: They just scream play in team, very solid core but lacking the juice to truly content.

18. Memphis Grizzlies

Biggest Strength: They’ve got a ferocious defense that will give wing scorers trouble. Plus Ja Morant hopefully staying healthy

Biggest Weakness: Deep down they know they don’t have enough to contend in the West, otherwise they wouldn’t have traded Desmond Bane

17. Miami Heat

Biggest Strength: Erik Spoelstra always finds a way to keep this team somewhat competitive.

Biggest Weakness: We’ll see how Tyler Herro looks once he returns from foot surgery around November, he was an all star last season, he’ll need to get back to playing at that level.

(Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)

16. Boston Celtics

Biggest Strength: Jaylen Brown and Derek White are still all stars. Plus Joe Mazzulla never takes a night off.

Biggest Weakness: Obviously no Jayson Tatum, but they also lost all their interior presence with the departure of Kristaps Porzingis.

15. Atlanta Hawks

Biggest Strength: They’ve assembled the perfect defense around Trae Young, and Zaccharrie Risacher should take a solid leap.

Biggest Weakness: Depending on the health of Kristaps Porzingis is always a risk, so the chemistry might take a while.

14. San Antonio Spurs

Biggest Strength: The potential this team has after getting a healthy Victor Wembanyama back is through the roof, they’ve surrounded him with more than enough talent for year 3.

Biggest Weakness: They’re missing a lights out shooter from outside, but could look to add a 3 point specialist during the season.

13. Milwaukee Bucks

Biggest Strength: Giannis Antetokounmpo exists, and with that this team is always a threat.

Biggest Weakness: Myles Turner was a solid acquisition, but outside of that this team really has no help for Giannis whatsoever.

12. Detroit Pistons

Biggest Strength: Cade Cunningham looks like a potential MVP candidate, and everyone else around him should improve.

Biggest Weakness: They lost some key pieces in Malik Beasley and Dennis Schroder, but replaced them with Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert real quick.

11. Dallas Mavericks

Biggest Strength: An already great team added the number one pick to their squad.

Biggest Weakness: Kyrie Irving is going to miss some time to start, and Anthony Davis’ health is always a question, but they are loaded with talent.

(Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)

10. Orlando Magic

Biggest Strength: The addition of Desmond Bane to the Paolo and Franz Wagner duo makes this team a serious threat.

Biggest Weakness: Bane is going to have to carry the shooting load for a team that struggled from behind the arc last year.

9. Golden State Warriors

Biggest Strength: Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and others all under the helm of Steve Kerr should be a force to be reckoned with.

Biggest Weakness: The personalities can certainly clash on this team, that in addition to the missed time for injuries and rest that’s inevitable, there will be some obstacles.

8. Los Angeles Lakers

Biggest Strength: Luka Doncic can finally take over this team, with Lebron James still always a factor, this team has plenty of star power.

Biggest Weakness: Outside of newly acquired Deandre Ayton, the center position is severely lacking, so they’re banking he produces this year.

7. Los Angeles Clippers

Biggest Strength: The veteran heavy roster is extremely deep surrounding James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, so they’ve got plenty of guys they can turn to.

Biggest Weakness: Their age is definitely a blessing and a curse with this bunch, healthy they can turn some heads, but they could for sure run out of gas.

6. Minnesota Timberwolves

Biggest Strength: Anthony Edwards as well as most of this team’s core returns for this season, and should be a threat once again in the West.

Biggest Weakness: As good of a veteran as Mike Conley is, this team is lacking a true point guard, and can’t rely on Edwards to take that role.

(Photo by Zoe Davis/Getty Images)

5. Cleveland Cavaliers

Biggest Strength: Much like Minnesota they retained their whole core of players, and we’ve seen what their top 4 guys are capable of.

Biggest Weakness: If anyone were to fall to injury, this team is not very deep as far as bench pieces go, and really need to rely on health to stay competitive.

4. Houston Rockets

Biggest Strength: The acquisition of Kevin Durant to an already loaded roster changed everything, this team could compete for a 1 seed if healthy.

Biggest Weakness: Amen Thompson may have to be this team’s point guard, and there’s no way of knowing if he’s capable of that.

3. New York Knicks

Biggest Strength: Jalen Brunson and KAT will be a top duo in the league once again.

Biggest Weakness: Interior defense if Mitchell Robinson goes down is their downfall, and it wasn’t addressed in the off-season, plus brand new head coach in Mike Brown should be interesting.

2. Denver Nuggets

Biggest Strength: They still have the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic

Biggest Weakness: Their defense will again be underwhelming, and relying on offense every night is a tricky thing to do.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

Biggest Strength: Kept an entire championship core together

Biggest Weakness: Some players tend to lose focus after winning a championship, we’ll see if they can avoid that hangover.

(Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images).
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