Our NBA Power Rankings were a real treasure trove of information.
As mentioned on the pod, I dove into the numbers a bit to see what we could learn.
NBA Tiers
While there were plenty of disagreements about exact rankings, I did find several ranges where we each had the same set of teams.
Contenders (1-2): These are the runaway favorites to meet in the Finals.
- Thunder
- Celtics
Pretenders (3-13): These are good teams, just not good enough
- Cavs
- Knicks
- Mavs
- Bucks
- Magic
- Nuggets
- Grizzlies
- Rockets
- Warriors
- Suns
- T-Wolves
Playoff Mix (14-18): These teams should be in the playoffs, but no ones worried about playing them.
- Heat
- Hawks
- Clippers
- Lakers
- Kings
Play-in Mix (19-22): Not outright bad, but something's definitely off
- Spurs
- Pacers
- Pistons
- Bulls
Bad (23-29): These teams stink
- Hornets
- Raptors
- Blazers
- 76ers
- Nets
- Jazz
- Pelicans
Wizards (30-30): A class of their own
- Wizards
Way Off Base
On the pod, we discussed where we most badly missed the mark. Here are the biggest whiffs we had in each direction.
| Stacker | Too High | Too Low |
|---|---|---|
| @grayruby | Rockets | Knicks |
| @Undisciplined | Knicks | Cavs |
Rankings
| Rank | Average | @gnilma | @Undisciplined | @grayruby |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thunder | Thunder | Thunder | Celtics |
| 2 | Celtics | Celtics | Celtics | Thunder |
| 3 | Cavs | Cavs | Knicks | Cavs |
| 4 | Knicks | Knicks | Bucks | Mavs |
| 5 | Mavs | Mavs | Cavs | Rockets |
| 6 | Bucks | Bucks | Mavs | Bucks |
| 7 | Magic | Magic | Magic | Knicks |
| 8 | Nuggets | Nuggets | Grizzlies | Magic |
| 9 | Rockets | Grizzlies | Nuggets | Nuggets |
| 10 | Grizzlies | Rockets | Warriors | Grizzlies |
| 11 | Warriors | Warriors | Rockets | T-Wolves |
| 12 | T-Wolves | Suns | T-Wolves | Warriors |
| 13 | Suns | T-Wolves | Suns | Suns |
| 14 | Heat | Heat | Heat | Hawks |
| 15 | Hawks | Hawks | Clippers | Heat |
| 16 | Clippers | Clippers | Kings | Clippers |
| 17 | Kings | Lakers | Lakers | Kings |
| 18 | Lakers | Kings | Hawks | Lakers |
| 19 | Spurs | Spurs | Pacers | Spurs |
| 20 | Pacers | Pacers | Spurs | Pistons |
| 21 | Pistons | Pistons | Pistons | Bulls |
| 22 | Bulls | Bulls | Bulls | Pacers |
| 23 | Hornets | Hornets | Raptors | 76ers |
| 24 | Raptors | Raptors | Hornets | Nets |
| 25 | Blazers | Blazers | Blazers | Hornets |
| 26 | Nets | 76ers | Nets | Blazers |
| 27 | 76ers | Nets | Pelicans | Raptors |
| 28 | Jazz | Jazz | Jazz | Jazz |
| 29 | Pelicans | Pelicans | 76ers | Pelicans |
| 30 | Wizards | Wizards | Wizards | Wizards |