They went from being 26th during Training Camp, to 24th in the Preseason, and have now made a phenomenal jump to 10th place in ESPN Power Rankings. Now the pressures on to maintain our success. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Vinsanity and his Raps had a dream week worthy of a massive jump . . . apart from that court ruling which mandates a payment of nearly $5 million to VC's former agent.</div>Link
IMO, they're underestimated still. Beating three playoff teams, two of them in the West and the other the champions, should give you at least a top 7 spot. Putting them behind the 2-2 Rockets, who they beat, really goes to show that this power ranking is certainly not accurate.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spawn:</div><div class="quote_post">Those rankings are kind of wierd. Some 0-3 teams are ranked higher then unbeaten teams?</div> Sacramento? The lost three road games against Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
Yea, I agree with Trip these are not accurate power rankings, the rockets arent meshing well and are 2-2 while the raptors are 3-0 and yet the raptors are behind them. If it were to me the raptors would be in the top 5 teams as of now, because of there win streak and the consistency of Rafer Alston, Loren Woods and the raptors bench has lead to this.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Sacramento? The lost three road games against Houston, Dallas and San Antonio </div> Well, these rankings are based weekly on the team's record isn't it? Clearly the Raptors had a better week then the Kings. It's not like the teams that the Raptors faced were "cakewalk". Sacramento is looked upon as many as being better then the Rockets and they are also known to be more powerful than the new look Mavs so they were expected to win those two games but couldn't pull it off. San Antonio was the only team they faced that they weren't at even odds with for winning. Meanwhile no one really expected the Raptors to beat the "dynamic duo" of Tracy Mcgrady and Yao Ming. They weren't expected to beat the defending champions either and Portland was a toss up. Two Western teams and the defending champs is no easy task, be it home court or not. He is clearly understating them, they deserve to be higher.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spawn:</div><div class="quote_post">Those rankings are kind of wierd. Some 0-3 teams are ranked higher then unbeaten teams?</div>Am I going crazy? Because the best 0-3 team is Sacramento and all the undefeated teams are placed above them. Anyways, I would say that being ranked 10th is fair. It's true that we did face some tough competition, but they're all home-court defeats and some of them took us too lightly. We've done enough to merit a jump from 14 places, but I don't think we've proven ourselves to be any better than that. I'm sure the people at ESPN are just waiting for the Raps to complete the western road trip before they can say we're a top 5 team in the league.
^^ these rankings aren't based solely on the team's weekly record. It's basically ranking the teams on their chances of winning a championship and partly on their record for the week. Even though the Raps are doing well and Sacramento isn't, Sacramento still has a better chance at winning a championship than we do and would probably beat us in a playoff series. If you look at all the teams above us, they would all probably beat us in a 7 game series. 10th is just about where we should be.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spawn:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, these rankings are based weekly on the team's record isn't it? Clearly the Raptors had a better week then the Kings. It's not like the teams that the Raptors faced were "cakewalk". Sacramento is looked upon as many as being better then the Rockets and they are also known to be more powerful than the new look Mavs so they were expected to win those two games but couldn't pull it off. San Antonio was the only team they faced that they weren't at even odds with for winning. Meanwhile no one really expected the Raptors to beat the "dynamic duo" of Tracy Mcgrady and Yao Ming. They weren't expected to beat the defending champions either and Portland was a toss up. Two Western teams and the defending champs is no easy task, be it home court or not. He is clearly understating them, they deserve to be higher.</div> No, it's based on which teams are considered good, and a little on their team record for the week, but it's not just on team record If Detroit went 0-3, they'd still be in the top 10 because it's Detroit and that just means they're having a slow start. The rankings aren't just on record, they're on what is already thought + the record of the team. If you did a power ranking right now, would you have the Raptors as the 7th best team in the league because they started 3-0? Not likely.
I agree.. the raps are starting well, but you can't have them ranked higher because they are 3-0. The raps started 2-0 last year and we all know how that turned out. These rankings take more into consideration that just record. Bench depth, proven players, changes from previous seasons, etc.... The Raps should be happy with 10th, and look to build on that. If they have a top 5 record at the allstar break and they are ranked 10th, then you might be able to make an argument.
