Power Rankings, Week of 10/26

[Spike]

Hey, I might as well get on it before Brick brings out the bat. Apparently science now says that bacon (and other processed meats) causes cancer. That's hella bad news for me, as I usually have bacon for breakfast, bacon for lunch...and then I usually drink my dinner. One thing that we can and should be optimistic about is our upcoming season, right? Right!

(Here's the image for my banner, Brick. I think it's pretty accurate.)
On to the rankings!
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ESPN
#19
One scout I trust implicitly is imploring me to be bold and pick the Kings to snag the eighth spot. He likes 'em that much. Not sure I have the gumption to go that far, but maybe they really have added enough veteran firepower to join Utah at the head of the list of West teams primed to leapfrog Dallas and Phoenix.

USA Today
#22
If DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo can coexist with the front office, the Kings have enough talent to finish much better than the 29-53 mark they put up last season.

NBA.com
#22
The Kings took 32 percent of their shots from 3-point range in the preseason, a jump (biggest in the league) from just 20 percent last season.Call it the Belinelli Effect, though DeMarcus Cousins (1-for-12 from beyond the arc) might want to stay inside. It will be interesting to see if George Karl leans on Darren Collison or Rajon Rondo late in games.
This week: vs. LAC, vs. LAL, @ LAC

Sports Illustrated
#20
With an ensemble cast of stars at all levels of the organization combined with a lack of obvious directive, logic or chemistry, this could go so many different ways. Still, when you toss out all of the distracting headlines, this is a team that significantly improved its roster. This could be chaos more beautiful than a Vlade Divac bounce pass, with tons of personality and the talent to surprise, or everything could just fall apart immediately. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Hollinger Daily Rankings
Apparently he needs "data." How quaint.

CBSSports
#18
The Kings have circled the wagons and are adamant that all the drama is behind them. They have a better team full of combustible players with a combustible coach and a combustible owner. Now they just have to hope there isn't a spark that sends the whole thing up in flames.

Yahoo! Sports
Not yet feelin' it. We'll see if they make it.

Mean Ranking : 20.2
(For now)

 

[lwc]

What does a projected record look like for the 20.2 ranked team?

 

[Spike]

What does a projected record look like for the 20.2 ranked team?

Good question.

Let's say that the 20.2 ranking indicates that we are the 20th best team in the NBA wrt to W/L. Using last year's W/L data, that would put us around Utah's record of 38-44 (which they shared with Indiana and Brooklyn). I think we need about 7 or 8 more wins than what they're expecting in order to make the playoffs.

 

[Jkbiker]

In Sunday's paper Jason Jones ranked Kings at #16 and that was behind Dallas and based on rankings would put us at number 9 missing playoffs

However Jason did pick us to land the number 8 spot instead of Dallas when everyone made their picks for the playoffs

So I guess Jason thinks Dallas has a better team, but thinks we will sneak into the playoffs anyway

 

[FaStRmAn]

These prognosticators are invariably WRONG. Every year they are very wrong. How in H3LL can they have ANY predictions when not even ONE regular season game has been played? I am mystified by the sheer audacity of these East Coast Biased writers who probably didn't even watch ONE PRESEASON game and are making predictions based on their own biased perceptions. BOLD predictions indeed..... EGAD !

 

[rainmaker]

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USA Today
#22
If DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo can coexist with the front office, the Kings have enough talent to finish much better than the 29-53 mark they put up last season.

Some clown got a paycheck for that?

 

[gunks]

Dont worry gang,

Once we start winning, we'll all be able to exchange knowing glances and smug grins at one another.....Or whatever the message board equivalent of that might be.

 

[Bricklayer]

(Here's the image for my banner, Brick. I think it's pretty accurate.)
​

​

Nag nag nag nag nag nag NAG!

Its only been a year!

SMH. Some people...​

 

[Hadlowe]

Assuming that everything comes together well, here are Hadlowe's unofficial rankings.

List of teams that the Kings are definitely better than:

• Celtics
• Nets
• Knicks
• Sixers (that Atlantic division, smh)
• Pistons
• Hornets
• Magic
• Lakers
• Suns
• Nuggets
• Wolves
• Blazers
• Pacers
• Mavericks

List of teams in the Kings' ballpark:

• Raptors
• Bucks
• Wizards
• Pelicans
• Jazz
• Heat

Teams better than the Kings:

• Bulls
• Cavs
• Hawks
• Warriors
• Clippers
• Rockets
• Grizzlies
• Spurs (that Southwest division, smh)
• Thunder

That puts the Kings somewhere between 10 and 17 in the league. The problem is that the Kings can be the 12th best team in the league and still miss the playoffs if they can't get over the Jazz and Pelicans.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

Dont worry gang,

Once we start winning, we'll all be able to exchange knowing glances and smug grins at one another.....Or whatever the message board equivalent of that might be.

Probably this:

 

[nebs]

This will be me looking at the naysayers.

 

[Chupacabra]

Assuming that everything comes together well, here are Hadlowe's unofficial rankings.

List of teams that the Kings are definitely better than:

• Celtics
• Nets
• Knicks
• Sixers (that Atlantic division, smh)
• Pistons
• Hornets
• Magic
• Lakers
• Suns
• Nuggets
• Wolves
• Blazers
• Pacers
• Mavericks

List of teams in the Kings' ballpark:

• Raptors
• Bucks
• Wizards
• Pelicans
• Jazz
• Heat

Teams better than the Kings:

• Bulls
• Cavs
• Hawks
• Warriors
• Clippers
• Rockets
• Grizzlies
• Spurs (that Southwest division, smh)
• Thunder

That puts the Kings somewhere between 10 and 17 in the league. The problem is that the Kings can be the 12th best team in the league and still miss the playoffs if they can't get over the Jazz and Pelicans.

About that last sentence; if you think that the Blazer and Mavericks will both miss the post season then that frees up 2 spots in the playoffs. This would mean that both the pelicans AND jazz could have a better season than the Kings and the Kings could still get in.

 

[Hadlowe]

About that last sentence; if you think that the Blazer and Mavericks will both miss the post season then that frees up 2 spots in the playoffs. This would mean that both the pelicans AND jazz could have a better season than the Kings and the Kings could still get in.

I count 6 teams as locks in the west, barring major catastrophe. In no particular order, GS, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Rockets and Grizzlies are all going to be playoff teams. If I had to put money on it, I don't think the Pels do any worse than they did last year and grab the #7 spot. I think that Exum's injury means the Kings are slightly better than the Jazz.

 

[Chupacabra]

I count 6 teams as locks in the west, barring major catastrophe. In no particular order, GS, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Rockets and Grizzlies are all going to be playoff teams. If I had to put money on it, I don't think the Pels do any worse than they did last year and grab the #7 spot. I think that Exum's injury means the Kings are slightly better than the Jazz.

I forgot about the Thunder.

 

[Section 101]

I forgot about the Thunder.

Thunder are going to disappoint this year. They will take a few steps back.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

I count 6 teams as locks in the west, barring major catastrophe. In no particular order, GS, Spurs, Thunder, Clippers, Rockets and Grizzlies are all going to be playoff teams. If I had to put money on it, I don't think the Pels do any worse than they did last year and grab the #7 spot. I think that Exum's injury means the Kings are slightly better than the Jazz.

I think we've got a decent chance to have a better record than Houston. Wouldn't be surprised if it happened,...which basically means our season ceiling would be the 6th seed. It happened in '99, it could happen again.

I was in the mood to get way ahead of myself

 

[Section 101]

Hey, I might as well get on it before Brick brings out the bat. Apparently science now says that bacon (and other processed meats) causes cancer. That's hella bad news for me, as I usually have bacon for breakfast, bacon for lunch...and then I usually drink my dinner. One thing that we can and should be optimistic about is our upcoming season, right? Right!​

Breathing causes cancer. I guarantee if you stop breathing right now you will not get cancer.

 

[dude12]

I'm not ready to concede a playoff spot to the Pelicans.....Tyreke needs to stay healthy for that team and they do have trouble staying healthy as a whole. The Jazz losing Exxum hurts their defense quite a bit. Your replacing him with T Burke who is not a good defender.

 

[kingsboi]

Breathing causes cancer. I guarantee if you stop breathing right now you will not get cancer.

Speaking of, Gupta said not too long ago there are about 103 things that can give you cancer...life sure is dangerous

 

[Bricklayer]

I think we've got a decent chance to have a better record than Houston. Wouldn't be surprised if it happened,...which basically means our season ceiling would be the 6th seed. It happened in '99, it could happen again.

I was in the mood to get way ahead of myself

You do realize that Houston won 57 games last year without Lawson, and only half seasons from Terrence and Dwight right?

I am sneakily optimistic about this season, in that I will never admit that I can squint and see us shocking and threatening 50 wins, but I am not willing to quite call us a contender just yet. I want the playoffs, against a team not called the Warriors, and then I want to start crossing digits.

 

[Larry89]

this is a great substitute for toilet paper

 

[jcwkings]

This is how I see the west in terms of regular season tiers. Meaning I could see lower seeds being more playoff centered.

57- 60 plus wins

Warriors
Rockets
Thunder

52-56 wins

Spurs
Clippers

48-51 wins
Grizzies

42-47 wins

Pelicans
Kings
Jazz

36-41 wins

Suns
Mavs

28-35 wins
Portland
Denver

27 wins and under
T Wolves
Lakers