If someone would ask who the best team in the NBA currently is, very few people would answer differently than the Golden State Warriors, and those who would are probably motivated by routing for one.
There would be just a little discrepancy even within the next few teams, as the recent playoff runs still ring in people’s minds. The further we go, the blurrier the image gets. Still, the ranking would be probably based on the recent results and the recent summer big name additions.
This is a good, natural concept to use. Of course, you wouldn’t want to base your ranking solely on the depth of the playoff run – use the entire last season – but it does give you a good starting point to see if the team managed to retain their position in the pyramid, climbed up, or slid down.
I’m going to make it easy for you and set it all up for your use. As punters might use different ranking systems, I’m going to use a general note on a team’s current status, in comparison to the end of the last season, so that everyone could implement it in their files. I used several tiers to group teams by their last year’s success, but some of the teams will change tiers up and down, so make sure that you follow the marks for each one.
The pinnacle of 2016/17
Golden State – the champions managed to re-sign all the players of significance and will feature the same level of squad next season.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Houston – the Rockets sacrificed their great depth to add another superstar, Chris Paul, sadly with big compatibility issues with Harden.
MARK: SLIGHTLY WORSE
Cleveland – they’ve been fairly active considering how much of their roster was set to return this season, managing to add even more depth and some youth to the selection – none of much significance though.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
San Antonio – The Spurs had major plans coming into the postseason, but couldn’t make the premier deals done, so they took what the market allowed them to. With Parker injured and Manu silent on retirement, the big men leaving, the Spurs will struggle to retain the status in this tier.
MARK: SLIGHTLY WORSE
The challengers of 2016/17
Boston – The Celtics managed to add the third star, but at a high cost. They had to let go off Olynyk and Avery Bradley, but managed to fill the emptied four spot with Morris. The good thing is that the younger forces will have more playing time. The Celts are knocking on the door of the upper tier.
MARK: BETTER
LA Clippers – Paul and Reddick are gone, Pierce retired and Crawford traded, but the Clippers managed to limit the damage by making some smart moves. Getting a contingent of useful players from Houston and signing a European top player will help their playoff streak going.
MARK: WORSE
Utah – The Jazz did not have much time to enjoy their rise to relevancy, losing one of the two top players in Hayward, and also enduring a switch on the playmaking helm. They are still solid, but will struggle to repeat the last year.
MARK: WORSE
Washington – The Wizards promised to match any offers for Porter and delivered the promise. This leads them to the taxpayers territory, but at least they’ll have the entire starting unit back. The bench remains an issue.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Stable playoff NBA teams of 2016/17
Toronto – The Raptors rewarded their free agents with lucrative contract, losing Tucker to no available space, and sending the disappointing Carroll to the Nets. The vacant small forward position will be filled from within, promoting Delon Wright to a regular season starter. In case this doesn’t work, Ujiri acquired C.J. Miles for backup PG Joseph.
MARK: SLIGHTLY WORSE
Atlanta – Millsap walked in free agency, Hardaway was let go after an enormous offer from the Knicks and Howard was traded to Charlotte for marginal players. The Hawks are going into a hard rebuild and will not be able to compete for the NBA playoffs even in the weak East.
MARK: SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE
Milwaukee – The Bucks have a young movement going, so they like their future. Acquiring more veteran help would probably be a good move, but they hope to improve with experience and preparation.
MARK: SLIGHTLY BETTER
Oklahoma City – Westbrook got help, but George is good and not Durant, so it’s hard to see them improve all that much. They should be better defensively.
MARK: SLIGHTLY BETTER
Teams that barely got to the 2016/17 playoffs
Indiana – Pacers lost George and Miles, waived Ellis and acquired Oladipo, Sabonis and Joseph, so they are refusing to go into the tanking mode. Still, they’ll have to do extremely well to match their last NBA season.
MARK: WORSE
Chicago – The last season’s roster was built to implode and the Bulls find themselves looking for pieces. This is probably good long term, but means a lot of L’s next season.
MARK: SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE
Memphis – It’s going to be weird not to see Zach Randolph in the Grizzlies uniform, but it was a good move to let him walk. Adding McLemore and Evans at bargain deals also qualify as good management. Still, neither of them helps the Grizz improve.
MARK: SLIGHTLY WORSE
Portland – The Blazers had a strong NBA draft and didn’t lose any significant player, so they are hoping to at least match the previous record.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
NBA Teams on the playoffs brink in 2016/17
Miami – Riley lost the Hayward sweepstakes and scooped up Olynyk, and also showed the money to two of their own players. With the cap space they had, this was a wasted opportunity for the Heat.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Denver – Getting Millsap to sign in Denver a couple of years later than they would have liked is still an improvement. Gallinari was going to leave anyways and the Nuggets have young Jokic to step up.
MARK: SLIGHTLY BETTER
Detroit – Van Gundy is aware that the things need to change, but with some bad contracts and unbalanced roster, he was limited to make more of this NBA offseason. Acquiring Bradley, even if for limited time, is a very good move, all things considered.
MARK: SLIGHTLY BETTER
Charlotte – The intention to win now has made the Hornets NBA draft a ready player and trade for Howard, but it doesn’t improve their roster much. It might be enough to get them to the NBA playoffs, but more because some of the teams are going to slip out.
MARK: SLIGHTLY BETTER
30-50 teams in 2016/17
New Orleans – The Pelicans overpaid for an average PG, afraid of wasting more Davis time. They hoped that adding Cousins would propel them into the NBA playoffs, but the West is too crowded. They are stuck.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Dallas – Cuban has going into his first full rebuild, but still has a very solid roster, so the Mavs won’t do worse than in the 2016/17 NBA season.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
New York – Another new era is starting in New York, but the roster is mostly the same, at least for now. The only difference is at the point guard position, where they’ll go from Rose to a third level player, but they probably still don’t have their next season’s look.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE?
Sacramento – After trading Cousins, Kings front office has been putting some nice moves that make perfect sense with the position they are at right now. Good NBA draft was backed up with adding good veteran pieces in Randolph, Carter and George Hill, so Sacto is looking more like an NBA team.
MARK: BETTER
Minnesota – Thibs is transforming the Timberwolves to his liking, and with the moves he’s managed to pull out this summer, the expectations in Minny are through the roof. I didn’t like the Teague addition, it’ll pull them back, but they should jump a tear and compete for one of the last spots in the West.
MARK: BETTER
Pyramid cellar of 2016/17
Orlando – The Magic have done very little to pull themselves out of the annual standings’ bottom.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Philadelphia – The Sixers added two very good players to their backcourt, Fultz and Reddick, and Simmons is back after the one-year hiatus. They’ll surely jump at least one tier up, but they could end up getting to the NBA playoffs as well.
MARK: SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER
LA Lakers – The new management of the Lakers has already earned the annual award in my book. They’ve added a new franchise face, got rid of the Mozgov contract and added a good player in the process and preserved their operational ability for the next year’s market by signing Caldwell-Pope on a short contract. It’s not enough for the NBA playoffs, but it’s a great start.
MARK: SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER
Phoenix – The Suns were supposed to be a player in the NBA free agency, but nobody would come to the desert, so they ended up with the same roster like last year, and a good draft pick.
MARK: SAME AS BEFORE
Brooklyn – The other New York team took all the bad contracts to turn their cap space into as many draft picks as they can. It’s a process for Marks and the Nets, going on for a while already, but it’ll take at least a couple of years before they would return to the NBA level.
MARK: SLIGHTLY WORSE
