--Normally I wouldn't even post this stuff but I thought the comment on the Kings was pretty acurate/funny/sad...
Power Rankings: Undefeated Hornets, Jazz zip toward top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
There's nothing quite like those anything-seems-possible early days in the NBA Power Rankings.
A combined 1-4 record for the two titans who met in the NBA Finals and several more Week 1 surprises from teams down low have given the rankings an immediate jumble. We're already struggling to identify a clear-cut No. 1 -- given that our eventual choice, San Antonio, lost its home opener -- but that means there's no shortage of Cinderellas ... starting with New Orleans/Oklahoma City and Utah.
The Hornets and Jazz, two of the league's three remaining unbeatens, have taken up unexpected residence in the top five. It's difficult to imagine that they'll be staying up there long, but you can argue otherwise or send in any other feedback by clicking here.
SportsNation: Rank them yourself!
Team Archives: Select Team Atlanta Boston Charlotte Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit Golden State Houston Indiana LA Clippers LA Lakers Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minnesota New Jersey New York NO/Oklahoma City Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Portland Sacramento San Antonio Seattle Toronto Utah Washington
2006-07 Power Rankings: Week 1
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (3) Spurs 2-1 Winning in Big D and signing an athletic wing prospect (Flight White) so late gives SA plenty to offset what LeBron did to Duncan (and everyone else) Friday night.
2 (9) Hornets 3-0 At least one Western Conference upstart out there had shoulders broad enough to handle lofty expectations from the committee. Take notes, Warriors.
3 (14) Jazz 3-0 This should be fun: Jazz swept Pistons last season as a non-playoff team and play host to them Monday after a start that had made them darlings of scouts everywhere.
4 (8) Cavaliers 2-1 Honestly? The sight of Sean May rejecting LeBron at the rim -- and then looking down at him with a dismissive glare -- shocked me more than LBJ posterizing Duncan.
5 (5) Pistons 2-1 The only consolation for Pistons after their opening-night debacle -- a small one, granted -- is that all four of last season's final four teams lost their first game.
6 (2) Mavericks 0-2 A few folks in Mavsland warned the committee to expect a slow start from the reigning West champs. Guess they knew what they were talking about.
7 (1) Heat 1-2 Didn't expect them to stay up here long, not after winning it all without ever reaching No. 1. But I didn't expect Heat to lose interest by halftime on Opening Night.
8 (7) Clippers 2-1 More evidence it's a new day in Clipperland: Dunleavy's lads suffered one understandable loss in three games and folks are still asking What's wrong?
9 (19) Lakers 3-1 After a nightmarish preseason, who saw this coming? They're 1-1 with Kobe playing and 2-0 with Odom, Bynum, Turiaf and Walton running the operation.
10 (11) Nets 1-1 Nets' start is best summed up by two words: Weird scheduling. They'll play only four games in the season's first 11 days . . . with two of those against Miami.
11 (4) Suns 1-3 Opening up 4-5 last season, that was a bad start. Blowing big leads on the road (Lakers) and at home (Utah) adds up to a full-fledged worrying start.
12 (6) Bulls 1-2 After torching Miami, Bulls should have flown in Kareem to give the same speech he gave Magic after his first NBA game: Stop celebrating. There are 81 more of these.
13 (18) Bucks 2-1 You know us. Winning in Detroit on Opening Night was a big team step . . . but all we really care about is our man Redd shredding Pistons for 37.
14 (12) Rockets 1-2 Rockets are 1-1 in their division after going 1-15 vs. Southwest last season. But just when T-Mac's back seems fine, his new problem (free throws) persists.
15 (15) Wizards 1-1 Arenas told us he's ''going to do a documentary on myself . . . just to see how quirky I really am.'' Isn't wearing a boxing robe to the home opener a decent hint?
16 (26) 76ers 3-0 Guess this also isn't the season that Iverson, now 31, slows down. AI and new sixth man Korver have been deadly in one of the most surprising starts anywhere.
17 (17) Pacers 2-1 The impact newcomer in Indy is . . . Darrell Armstrong? Our man DA just posted back-to-back, double-digit scoring games after registering two all season in '05-06.
18 (20) Timberwolves 2-1 Told you Wolves had a great rookie. What we didn't tell you is that his name, in Week 1, would be second-rounder Craig Smith (who?) and not Randy Foye.
19 (13) Nuggets 0-2 'Melo apologized for his opening night ejection and took the blame for both losses. I wouldn't worry about him, in other words. I'd be worried about Utah.
20 (10) Warriors 1-2 It's too early in the game to say Sports Guy was right and we were wrong about these guys. A deserved drop, but no panic buttons pressed here . . . yet.
21 (16) Magic 1-2 First they pounded Chicago. Then Magic pulled a Chicago and lost their focus after hearing everyone gush about how good they looked in their first game.
22 (22) Kings 1-2 We can't help but root for Ron-Ron, but we say this for his own good: Stop shooting. Eighteen hoists a game, three more than Kev Martin, when he's at 28.3 percent?
23 (28) Hawks 2-1 The story, for once, is not that they passed up Chris Paul. The story is that Hawks, like Paul's Hornets, are a first-place team. Someone photocopy the standings.
24 (29) Bobcats 1-2 Beating Cavs was a big moment, but the most encouraging development is Okafor's fine start (13.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.3 bpg) after a worrying preseason (7.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
25 (30) Trail Blazers 2-1 A rare mistake from the committee: Roy is wowing folks already and will remain the ROY favorite in a lot of precincts even if Blazers don't win two out of every three.
26 (21) Raptors 1-2 No shame in losing two out of three given Raps' schedule so far. The distressing part is hearing about Bosh and Tim Duncan trading plantar fasciitis stories.
27 (27) SuperSonics 1-2 If this really is Sonics' last season in Seattle, the minimum requirement is beating out Portland in the Pacific NW standings. Yet somehow they're already playing catch-up.
28 (23) Grizzlies 1-2 Little Kyle Lowry's 10 rebounds in his first NBA game. Rudy Gay's 21-point debut. Hakim Warrick's coming-out party. Pau-less Grizz ain't laying down, that's for sure.
29 (25) Knicks 1-2 For a couple nights at least, Knicks were over .500 for the first time since early January 2005. Of course, Isiah easily could be 0-3 right now.
30 (24) Celtics 0-3 If you're tempted to say Celts never would have started 0-3 under Red, be advised that it did happen . . . once. In '50-51, Red's first season in Boston.
Power Rankings: Undefeated Hornets, Jazz zip toward top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
There's nothing quite like those anything-seems-possible early days in the NBA Power Rankings.
A combined 1-4 record for the two titans who met in the NBA Finals and several more Week 1 surprises from teams down low have given the rankings an immediate jumble. We're already struggling to identify a clear-cut No. 1 -- given that our eventual choice, San Antonio, lost its home opener -- but that means there's no shortage of Cinderellas ... starting with New Orleans/Oklahoma City and Utah.
The Hornets and Jazz, two of the league's three remaining unbeatens, have taken up unexpected residence in the top five. It's difficult to imagine that they'll be staying up there long, but you can argue otherwise or send in any other feedback by clicking here.
SportsNation: Rank them yourself!
Team Archives: Select Team Atlanta Boston Charlotte Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit Golden State Houston Indiana LA Clippers LA Lakers Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minnesota New Jersey New York NO/Oklahoma City Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Portland Sacramento San Antonio Seattle Toronto Utah Washington
2006-07 Power Rankings: Week 1
RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT
1 (3) Spurs 2-1 Winning in Big D and signing an athletic wing prospect (Flight White) so late gives SA plenty to offset what LeBron did to Duncan (and everyone else) Friday night.
2 (9) Hornets 3-0 At least one Western Conference upstart out there had shoulders broad enough to handle lofty expectations from the committee. Take notes, Warriors.
3 (14) Jazz 3-0 This should be fun: Jazz swept Pistons last season as a non-playoff team and play host to them Monday after a start that had made them darlings of scouts everywhere.
4 (8) Cavaliers 2-1 Honestly? The sight of Sean May rejecting LeBron at the rim -- and then looking down at him with a dismissive glare -- shocked me more than LBJ posterizing Duncan.
5 (5) Pistons 2-1 The only consolation for Pistons after their opening-night debacle -- a small one, granted -- is that all four of last season's final four teams lost their first game.
6 (2) Mavericks 0-2 A few folks in Mavsland warned the committee to expect a slow start from the reigning West champs. Guess they knew what they were talking about.
7 (1) Heat 1-2 Didn't expect them to stay up here long, not after winning it all without ever reaching No. 1. But I didn't expect Heat to lose interest by halftime on Opening Night.
8 (7) Clippers 2-1 More evidence it's a new day in Clipperland: Dunleavy's lads suffered one understandable loss in three games and folks are still asking What's wrong?
9 (19) Lakers 3-1 After a nightmarish preseason, who saw this coming? They're 1-1 with Kobe playing and 2-0 with Odom, Bynum, Turiaf and Walton running the operation.
10 (11) Nets 1-1 Nets' start is best summed up by two words: Weird scheduling. They'll play only four games in the season's first 11 days . . . with two of those against Miami.
11 (4) Suns 1-3 Opening up 4-5 last season, that was a bad start. Blowing big leads on the road (Lakers) and at home (Utah) adds up to a full-fledged worrying start.
12 (6) Bulls 1-2 After torching Miami, Bulls should have flown in Kareem to give the same speech he gave Magic after his first NBA game: Stop celebrating. There are 81 more of these.
13 (18) Bucks 2-1 You know us. Winning in Detroit on Opening Night was a big team step . . . but all we really care about is our man Redd shredding Pistons for 37.
14 (12) Rockets 1-2 Rockets are 1-1 in their division after going 1-15 vs. Southwest last season. But just when T-Mac's back seems fine, his new problem (free throws) persists.
15 (15) Wizards 1-1 Arenas told us he's ''going to do a documentary on myself . . . just to see how quirky I really am.'' Isn't wearing a boxing robe to the home opener a decent hint?
16 (26) 76ers 3-0 Guess this also isn't the season that Iverson, now 31, slows down. AI and new sixth man Korver have been deadly in one of the most surprising starts anywhere.
17 (17) Pacers 2-1 The impact newcomer in Indy is . . . Darrell Armstrong? Our man DA just posted back-to-back, double-digit scoring games after registering two all season in '05-06.
18 (20) Timberwolves 2-1 Told you Wolves had a great rookie. What we didn't tell you is that his name, in Week 1, would be second-rounder Craig Smith (who?) and not Randy Foye.
19 (13) Nuggets 0-2 'Melo apologized for his opening night ejection and took the blame for both losses. I wouldn't worry about him, in other words. I'd be worried about Utah.
20 (10) Warriors 1-2 It's too early in the game to say Sports Guy was right and we were wrong about these guys. A deserved drop, but no panic buttons pressed here . . . yet.
21 (16) Magic 1-2 First they pounded Chicago. Then Magic pulled a Chicago and lost their focus after hearing everyone gush about how good they looked in their first game.
22 (22) Kings 1-2 We can't help but root for Ron-Ron, but we say this for his own good: Stop shooting. Eighteen hoists a game, three more than Kev Martin, when he's at 28.3 percent?
23 (28) Hawks 2-1 The story, for once, is not that they passed up Chris Paul. The story is that Hawks, like Paul's Hornets, are a first-place team. Someone photocopy the standings.
24 (29) Bobcats 1-2 Beating Cavs was a big moment, but the most encouraging development is Okafor's fine start (13.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.3 bpg) after a worrying preseason (7.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
25 (30) Trail Blazers 2-1 A rare mistake from the committee: Roy is wowing folks already and will remain the ROY favorite in a lot of precincts even if Blazers don't win two out of every three.
26 (21) Raptors 1-2 No shame in losing two out of three given Raps' schedule so far. The distressing part is hearing about Bosh and Tim Duncan trading plantar fasciitis stories.
27 (27) SuperSonics 1-2 If this really is Sonics' last season in Seattle, the minimum requirement is beating out Portland in the Pacific NW standings. Yet somehow they're already playing catch-up.
28 (23) Grizzlies 1-2 Little Kyle Lowry's 10 rebounds in his first NBA game. Rudy Gay's 21-point debut. Hakim Warrick's coming-out party. Pau-less Grizz ain't laying down, that's for sure.
29 (25) Knicks 1-2 For a couple nights at least, Knicks were over .500 for the first time since early January 2005. Of course, Isiah easily could be 0-3 right now.
30 (24) Celtics 0-3 If you're tempted to say Celts never would have started 0-3 under Red, be advised that it did happen . . . once. In '50-51, Red's first season in Boston.
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