To the rankings!
NBA.com
#18 (+4!)
Pace: 108.1 (1) OffRtg: 105.5 (6) DefRtg: 105.4 (24) NetRtg: +0.1 (17)
Rajon Rondo has been pretty good and the Kings hung tough in both meetings with the Clippers last week. But they played Rondo and Darren Collison together down the stretch and saw both of them get punished on switches against Paul Pierce and Blake Griffin. They're playing nine of their first 11 games at home, but almost all the opponents are tough and DeMarcus Cousins is dealing with a sore Achilles.
This week: vs. MEM, @ PHX, vs. HOU, vs. GSW
Sports Illustrated
#21 (-1)
Has the cookie begun to crumble, or is DeMarcus Cousins just day-to-day with an Achilles strain? For all the jokes surrounding the franchise, the Kings played the Clippers close twice this week and have the makings of a solid bench. But without Cousins in a four-game week, the going could get rough pretty fast.
CBSSports.com
#17 (+1)
Sacramento hung with and pushed the Clippers. Those were both good losses. So with their drubbing of the terrible Lakers, they have two good losses and a dominant but still unimpressive win (on account of, again, the Lakers being terrible). We'll have a better way to evaluate them after the next ... oh, five games against teams expected to be in the playoff race in the West.
ESPN.com
#22 (-3)
For all the inevitable fretting attached to the sudden uncertainty surrounding DeMarcus Cousins' right heel, here's the flip side: George Karl is already getting quite a response from Rajon Rondo, who put together back-to-back games over the weekend with at least 20 points for the first time since December 2012.
Hollinger Daily Ranking
Needs more "data". Nerd.
USA Today
Nothing Yet.
Yahoo! Sports
Apparently BDL has taken over, and would rather cover drama over actual gameplay. Not sure if Yahoo will have a power ranking this year, or if they're just waiting, or if I'm just looking in the wrong spot.
NBCSports
#18
The Kings have started big but have played a lot of smaller ball with Rudy Gay at the four — and Rajon Rondo has seemed comfortable with that. They looked pretty good — both their losses were to the Clippers and they hung around in those games.
(I'm trying out NBC to see if they'll be consistent all year. If so, I'll dump Yahoo...or USA Today)
Mean Ranking: 19.2
Moved up despite tough week in W-L dept.
