http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings/_/year/2015/week/-1 1. SAS 2. CLE 3. CHI 4. LAC 5. OKC 6. DAL 7. GSW 8. POR 9. WAS
Man, espn gives us no respect. Edit: oops I thought that was western conference only. Actually I disagree about Golden state, but that actually looks about right
Everyone seems to be putting Dallas ahead of us for adding a way past his prime injury prone center and a sf that Batum is better than. Oh, and Fatty Felton, that should be enough to put you as the eighth seed at best right there.
Gasol looked very good during the FIBA games, and I think he'll be highly motivated to outperform what he did in LA last year. Pau and Noah are going to be the best frontcourt in the league this season, by a wide margin.
It's becoming increasingly clear that ESPN is about as knowledgeable on sports as a doorknob when they put Chicago at 3 with a guy who hasn't more than 50 games in 2 years. I mean, they are utter fucking morons. It'd of been interesting if Oden had come back after being out for 3 years and played for us. We'd surely be given a top 4 spot, right? Fucking morons at ESPN, I tell ya.
Forgot about the Gasol pick up, that bumps them up for sure. Still think 3 is kind of high for that group at this point though. OKC and LAC should be ahead of them at least, I put them more in the Por/Dal/Was/GS tier group.
First thoughts are that Chicago is way too high and that we should definitely be higher than Dallas. Other than that, looks OK.
So what we're all saying is that it is reasonably arguable that the Blazers could be considered the 5th best team in the NBA going into the season?
