Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings: Giannis & Bucks dominating, Steph Curry & Warriors on brink

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to the weekend. Only two more shows before we take a couple of days off. Today, we're gonna be doing our first edition of Power Rankings for this year. My game plan is to do these about every two weeks, and then in the off weeks we'll do a show each week where we go over the top ten players that have been impressing me the most. Over the course

of the previous two weeks. You know, before the season, we did power rankings, and I intended for that to be more of like, who's my team that I think is going to perform the most, performed the best over the course of the season, like championship contenders. I want these during the season power rankings in during the season, you know, m v P rankings or top ten players, whatever we're gonna call them. I want them to be more of like a who's playing the best as of late?

And so it's gonna be a lot more shuffling, a lot more movement up and down on each list, a couple of basic rules. It's just gonna be who's playing the best basketball right now? And then I'm gonna give a little bit more of a leash two teams that I think have more playoff legitimacy. So for the Warriors, for instance, it's gonna take more bad for me to stop believing in them, and it's gonna take less good for me to start believing in them again. For instance,

Utah is playing really good basketball. I don't have them in my top ten. I don't think there are top ten team in this league. Boston is four and three, and uh, Golden State is three and five, but I both have them on my list, So it's gonna be a combination of recent success mixed with what I believe in as your ceiling and without any further ado, let's start with number ten, the Golden State Warriors. They are three and five, sevent in offense, twenty four and defense

and twenty four and net rating. They have not played well to start this year. There's still my championship favorite, but I am just ever so slightly starting to lean towards the Bucks, and if things keep trending this way, if the Bucks keep dominating and the Warriors continue to struggle, I will switch my pick to them, But for now, I'm still hanging with Golden State is my championship favorite. The only reason I have them on this list still instead of off the list entirely right now is their

starting lineup is still whooping everybody's ass. So as long as they have Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney and Draymond Green on the floor, they have a hundred and twenty seven point four offensive rating, which is amazing, a defensive rating which is amazing, which leads to a plus twenty nine point three net ratings. So the Warriors are kicking everybody's ass. As long as they have their starters on the floor, that's your silver lining. That's why

I still have them in my top ten. That's your biggest sign of optimism if you're a Warriors fan. The problem is is there bench is a catastrophe, and it's not just James Wiseman's fault. The whole group can't defend. They put four bad perimeter defenders around James Wiseman and he's not Anthony Davis, so he's not going to clean up all of those messes. A couple of things that should fix this is getting minutes restrictions dropped from Draymond

Green and Clay Thompson. Getting Andrea Gudali into the lineup a little bit might help. And then the reality is is that they might need to look to get one more veteran piece. I don't know if that's in the trade market or in the buy out market, but they're gonna need to get one more veteran piece on their bench to give them a little bit more defensive talent there.

And then, honestly, Steve Kerry isn't doing enough to stagger those lineups so that there's a little more overlap between the starters and the bench players so that the deck isn't so stacked against them when they get into those settings. A couple of signs for optimism. Steph looks better than ever um. I think this is the best he's been,

so that's something to be optimistic about. Clay Thompson this year is fifteen for fifty seven on catch and shoot threes, which is horrific, and that will almost certainly improve their good looks. Clay's gonna start making shots. And then Draymond is still the world beating defender that we've always thought of him to be. Uh. The realities is their twenty seven and half court defense right now, according to Cleaning the Glass, So they just need to start defending better,

particularly with their bench lineups alright. Number nine, the Chicago Bulls, they're five and four. They are twenty second in offense, but the air seventh in defense, and a huge part of that is their backcourt being bolstered by iodasun Moo, who has made the a Lonzo ball injuries way less painful because he's just killing it on both ends of the floor, kind of recapturing that defensive dynamic they had early last year with Crusoe and a Lonzo ball on

the floor. Now it's the Sun Moon and and Caruso that are kind of accomplishing that same thing. As a result their ninth and net rating that are really impressive. Road win in Brooklyn coming from behind the other night, zach Lavine just absolutely torched them. They defend the paint very well, they don't foul. They four seventeen point six turn over his per one hunter possessions, which leads the league.

And then Demarta Rosen has been great as usual, and then zach Lavine has been shooting really really well from the three point line. He talked the other night about how he wants to finish a little bit better around the rim, but the reality is is he's still giving you all of that great pull up shooting that we've come become accustomed to with zach Lavine, and he was the one who got hot and beat the nets the

other night. I don't view them as a legit contender, but I do think we need to acknowledge that they're playing really good basketball to start the season, and they belong on this list alright number eight. The New Orleans Pelicans sixth in offense twelfth and defense sixth and net rating their four and three despite only getting six combined games out of Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones due to injuries.

Or Jones is their best defensive player. In Brandon Ingram is their best offensive player, and he's also a very good defender. So that's a huge influx of talent that should be coming soon. I'm really enjoying Jose Alvarado off the bench. He's one of my favorite backup point guards in the league to watch. Just the little things he does to impact the game defensively and the way he uses speed and and intricate shot making in the lane to make up for his lack of size makes him

fun to watch. C Jim McCollum is playing really well. He stole a game earlier, I think it was last week against the Dallas Mavericks by going crazy and high pick and roll in the fourth quarter. Trey Murphy is shooting from three on six attempts per game, and then Zion Williamson, just like he did in one, is making nine shots per game in the restricted area, albeit on a lower percentage uh than he did in that particular season. But he's starting, he's missing a lot of shots he

usually makes. I expect that to go up. Willie Green is doing a really nice job with this group. They're playing hard, they play smart if they get healthy, which they should. Although a couple of their guys, Ingram and um Zion in particular, I've always had a little bit of a concern with them their ability to stay on the court. If they can get healthy, I think they have a really good chance to be a home court team in the first round in the Western Conference. All right,

Number seven, the Dallas Mavericks there four and three. Kind of uh. They kind of remind me of how I feel about Boston because they blew a couple of winnable games, so the record doesn't look great, but they've actually kind of outplayed their opponent in like six of their seven games. They blew a game late against Phoenix they should have won um and then they blew a game against the Pelicans that they had no business losing when they were

undermanned at home. Their second in offense right now, fourteenth and defense fifth and net rating. Lucas scoring has been the story of the early season, they lost Jalen Brunson, and all he's done is just tick up his own usage. For the first time in his career, he's got a usage rate over he's actually a forty one percent right now. And the wild part is that even though he's ticked up his efficients or his usage, his efficiency has gone

up with it. Typically when players go up in usage, they get more fatigued, they have to take tougher shots, and so your efficiency tanks. But that could not be further from the truth. He's got a sixty shooting percentage right now, which is the highest market his career, despite the fact that he's shooting terrible from three. So far this season, he's only shooting on pull up three's. He hasn't made a catch and shoot three all season, but

he's just making everything else that he's taking. He's fifty seven percent on pull up two's in the restricted area, sixty six percent in the paint outside the restricted area, and overall in the mid range, which is just all insane uh marks for a player like him. He's also taking care of the basketball better than ever before. He's averaging a career high and assist and a career low in turnovers right now. So to go up in usage and to see him increases efficiency and take better care

of the basketball, that's pretty unheard of. And as soon as he starts knocking down these step back three's, it's gonna get really ugly for everybody. I think. I think there's a couple of big reasons that are driving this. First of all, he came into the season in shape thanks to euro Basket, and I think that's a big part of this. Uh, most season he plays his way

into shape, comes in a little bit overweight. He looks great right away this year, and you're seeing that with his rim finishing and all of his short range shots, which so typically rely on lift. And then I think a big part of it too, is just mastering this style of offense. Yes, they brought in JaVale McGee, but by bringing in Christian Wood, they've given themselves more five out options, and they've just kind of nailed their spacing concepts and everyone knows where they're supposed to be um

and Luca just kind of makes the right play. Every time you leave him on an island, He's gonna score. If he's send help, he's going to kick the shooters and they really have a lot of continuity now and their offense is rolling. Umdwyt Powell needs to get a random shout out. I was much maligned this summer for saying that I thought he defended really well for Dallas in the playoffs. Um, and you know, Mavericks fans were like, oh, actually he's not that good defensively, and don't get me wrong,

he had some struggles over the years. I was just you know, I started with the volume in February, started covering the Mavericks really in like April, and so I really only watched them during that playoff run, and I was impressed by what I saw from Pale defensively, had a great defensive game last night against Utah, hung up plus twenty five. Christian Wood is still providing offensive punch.

Spencer Dinwiddie is thriving in that secondary creative role. The couple of areas for improvement for Dallas their peri Their perimeter defense right now is is not great, and it wasn't great last year either, but they just were really good rotating out of it. Um, that's gonna be an issue for them. It became an issue for them against Golden State it's been it's going to continue to be an issue for them until they kind of, um um, figure out a way to get Luca don Che to

contain the ball a little bit better. Right um. But they had to go zone a lot this year to throw teams out of rhythm. They had to do it again last night against Utah and then there twenty four and transition defense, that's another big area for improvement. And I still think, you know, when it comes to super high usage guys, it's just a dangerous way to go without getting them more backup ball handling. So I'd still like to see them find one more reliable dribble creator.

They're another team that, like if Kyrie Irving were to get cut by the nets, um them in the Lakers are the two teams that I would seriously consider looking at Kyrie, even though he comes with all that baggage, just because they so desperately need another dribble creator. Number six the Portland's Trailblazers. They're five and two, eleven in offense, eleventh in defense, and eighth and net rating. The biggest driving force for them offensively right now is there manufacturing

easy offense at the free throw line. And in transition, Dame and Jeremy Grant are attempting fifteen free throws per game. Portland as a team makes twenty two point two free throws per game, which leads the league and then their second in fast break points scored per one possessions at seventeen point six. By the way, one team in fast break points is way ahead of the rest of the field. We're gonna get to them later. Start guessing now, and we'll see if you're right when we get to that point.

No cheating, no going on the website. Um, this team is legitimately good when they're healthy. Dame looks like Dame, although he's dealing with the calf injury right now. Jeremy Grant was a really nice pick up, and Phreny Simon's is just freaking bawling right now. Josh Hart seven in the league and rebounding right now, averaging almost tend of game. And then Shade and Sharp, who had a really rough night last night against Memphis, but he's looking like a

future star. Just absurd athleticism on the wing. And then Gary Payton the second should be coming back in a couple of weeks, which I'll bolster them on their perimeter defense, and then Justice Winslow kind of adds a real interesting depth on the wing for them. Uh, if they stay healthy, which is a big if, I do think that they'll

get out of the play in in the West. Based on what I've seen, they just they leaned into They leaned into perimeter defense around Dame and and I think that was a smart way to go, giving him lots of wing athleticism to kind of cover for his own shortcomings. Number five the Boston Celtics their four and three, but they had too ot losses to Cleveland that could have easily gone either way. Uh their eighth in offense right

now nineteen and defense tenth and net rating. Their defense hasn't been very good, but I did just talk about that last night, so I'm not gonna dig too far into it. I think it's easy to use Rob Williams as an excuse, but the reality is is, even with the personnel that they have, they should be defending better

than they do. They did. I did think it was an interesting adjustment that last year in in in the playoffs, they were horrific transition defense, and one of the things they've done so far this year is they've basically abandoned crashing the offensive glass to just get back on defense, which as a result, has massively improved their transition defense, but their half court defense has been the problem, which is kind of embarrassing for the level of talent that

they have. Got a shout out Jayson Tatum here. I called him the sixth best player in the league this summer, put him over Yokichen Embiid. Everybody called me insane. My whole take on it was like, you have to respect what he did in that playoff run, leading them to within two games of the title with outstanding defense and efficient scoring, and he was passing the ball pretty well

for the most part. You have to acknowledge that. What I said was if you just put Kawhi Leonard's name on the back of his jersey or Paul George's name on the back of his jersey and he has an exact same playoff run, you're viewing him as one of the best superstars in the league. But because it's Jayson Tatum, and because there's a lot of anti Celtics energy, especially with the large Laker fan base, he just gets kind

of undermined in that respect. Um I had a feeling that coming off of that playoff run, he'd have a lot of confidence that he'd played with that confidence this year, and then the motivation of coming up short in that playoff run should push him to improve over the summer, and he's been one of the five best players in the league this season. Like, yes, six over the summer might have been a push, but if you're grading players based on how they played this season, he's easily in

the top five. Last year, he average four. This year, that's up to thirty eight and four. He's shooting a ridiculous sixty four percent on two's thirty eight percent on eight point three three three point attempts. The biggest difference is he's massively improved at the rim and in mid range. Last year he only made just under four shots in the restricted area per game at sixty eight percent. This year he's making five at eight percent, which is borderline

Janice lebron Zion type of deduction. I think Janis and lebron were both at like six and a half last year. Makes so for Tatum to be up at five a is really really impressive. And then last year he was thirty seven percent on three point four mid range attempts mid range attempts per game this year, he's up to fifty on two point four attempts. I think a big part of this, too is Rob Williams being out and just giving them more natural five out spacing, which is

opening up those driving lanes. As I've always said, I actually think the Celtics are a little bit better, if not the same with Robert Williams off as they are with him on. They just need to defend a defend better than they have to start this year. And then he just Tatum just flashes these ridiculous superstar plays, like that dunk last night on Jared Allen, which was ridiculous, or his big time block on Donovan Mitchell's pull up

jump shot to try to win the game. He had another kind of transition lay up in ot last night where he looked like a freight train, like just freak athleticism. You're seeing him really start to grow into his body and just become a dominant two way winging in this league. And then Jaylen Brown, you're getting a career high twenty six points per game on fifty true shooting. And then Grant Williams, you know he bet on himself in his negotiations wanted more. Uh walked away from the table and

he's shooting six on catching shoot threes this year. Now is he gonna shoot that Well, probably not, but if you can keep that in the you know, high forties, he might get that number that he's wanting next summer. So good for Grant Williams betting on himself. My favorite thing about the Celtics and the reason why I'm such

a big believer in them, is their matchup flexibility. Um. You know, even if you do happen to guard have the right matchups to guard Tatum and Brown, just having Marcus Martin Malcolm Brogden, two big, strong guards that can bully their way to the rim is a huge advantage and that was a huge part of how they succeeded in crunch time last night against Cleveland to send that game to ot when Donovan Mitchell did everything in his

power to try to take it away with shot making. Um, they just they just have so many different directions they can go on both ends of the floor in terms of matchups, which gives them so much upside in the playoffs. Number four the Toronto Raptors five and three third in offense, eighth in defense, fourth and net rating. They kind of remind me of the Lakers because they entirely depend on transition. So their third in offense, but they're twenty fourth and

half court offense according to Cleaning the Glass. And that's despite the fact that they continue to shoot way above their expected shot quality. They're shooting on catch and shoot threes this year, which is second in the league. And don't get me wrong, I expect some incremental improvement from their roster, but that's not their strength. They're gonna come

back down to earth in their shooting. So their half court offense is a legitimate issue, but they just get a ton of steals and they get out in transition NonStop. Do you guys remember earlier when I asked you who was number one and fast break points scored per one possessions, Well it's the Toronto Raptors. And while uh, they're up at twenty six fast break points per one possessions, second place was what seventeen points six, So they have a

massive lead in that department. They lead the league and steals. A couple of guys to shout out, Pascal siakam Is is an all NBA player to start this season. I talked about this a little bit last week, so I won't dig too far into it. But he's shooting pull up two is really really well, which is opening up his attacking lanes because defenders have to come out a little bit further on him. Gary Trent is shooting the ball really well. Scotty Barnes. What's impressing me the most

with him is his passing ability. So good at backing his man down into the post, palming the basketball and then throwing these like slingshot cross court passes that hit hit shooters in the in the shooting pocket. Kind of lebron Esque passing out of the post here early in his career. Really impressive for a young player. He's averaging four point four assists on only one point nine turnovers per game UM, So obviously they're still massively performing their

shot quality. That's gonna come back down to earth. But then also Fred VanVleet is shooting well below what you would expect from him, so I expect a little bit of positive regression there from him. The reality is with the Raptors is if you trapped them in the half court, you'll beat them. They're eighteenth and half court defense because they over help too much when they don't need to, which I've talked about a bunch this year, and then

their twenty four and a half court offense. If you can trap them in that setting, you're gonna beat them. But the reality is his teams haven't been able to. They're super long and athletic, they play the passing lanes, they're aggressive on the ball, they forced a lot of turnovers. They get out in transition, and they're getting baskets in transition.

That's what kind of reminds me of the Lakers. Everyone was like, Oh, they can't score in the half courts, can't score in a half court, and then it just never mattered because no one could score on them, and so they just kept getting out in transition and getting baskets. And so for now, regardless of how you feel about them in the half court, they belong among the top teams in the league. Number three Cleveland Cavaliers there six and one, seventh in offense, third in defense, third in

net rating. We've talked about them twice in the last week, so I'm not gonna spend too much time on them here today. But the short quick synopsis is Donovan Mitchell looks amazing. That was a great pick up this summer. UM. He already has a pretty natural given take with Garland based on what I saw in preseason and last night. Uh, Jared Allen and Evan Mobley are completely anchoring this defense

right now, and they deserve a ton of credit. Their biggest question marks, the things that concerned me is what they're gonna do at the three spot, whether or not they want to go defense or go Dean Wade, especially in closing groups. I would go with defense personally, especially with how well Donovan Mitchell shooting and pull up jump shooting situations which are a little bit more immune to spacing concerns. UM. But that's one thing they got to

figure out. And then Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland on defense. I don't know what to expect from Darius Garland because of his physical limitations, but Donovan Mitchell simply has to be better or they will get beat early in the playoffs. Donovan Mitchell had a couple of nightmare defensive possessions late in the game against Boston last night. Number two the Phoenix Suns. You know, earlier in the summer, I told you guys that I thought they'd still win a ton

of games because they're super talented. And then they came out in the preseason and they looked a little rough. DeAndre Ayton in particular, wasn't defending. And then they fell down huge to Dallas in their first game of the season. But then they came back and beat Dallas, and then they've just beat everyone's ass ever since. They're six and one, first in offense fifth and defense first, and net rating. They lead the league and assist per game with thirty

their fifth fewest in turnovers. They defend the paint well, they defend and transition well. And then the big driving force behind this because Chris Paul is having a pretty rough season in terms of his scoring. He's still passing the ball well, he's still generating good stuff in pick and roll, He's still making some big plays in crunch time. But Devin Booker is number two in my m v

P rankings to start the season, behind you, honest. He's averaging a career high twenty eight points per game on sixt true shooting, which is outstanding, pent on elevin pull up jumpers per game, which is unbelievable. He's getting to the rim a lot. He's shooting sixty on five attempts in the restricted area per game, and he's not even really hitting as above the break threes yet he's only hitting about a third of them, so that should tick up a little bit as well. And then he's been

outstanding defensively. His favorite player growing up was Kobe, had a good relationship with him. Kobe would be proud, very proud of the type of player that Devin Booker has become as a two way competitive or in this league. He's been certainly one of the five best players in basketball to start the season. I had him second in my m VP rankings, which will probably do a deeper dive into next week. Um, and it's really covering for

the fact that CB three hasn't been that good. The other guy I wanted to shout out here is Michael Bridges. He's UH on twos this year, which is just completely ridiculous on three sixteen points per game. That's ridiculous efficiency even for a role player. Um, he had to play, you know. And then defensively, he still is just one of the biggest like conundrums that that he can present to other teams that you'll see in the league. There

was a play late in the game against Minnesota. I was watching the other night where Anthony Edwards was really in a good groove and Anthony drives to the right and Michael Bridges digs down off of the left wing and kind of contains the ball and and picks up his dribble and pulls the ball out and throws a swing pass out to the corner, and Michael somehow recovers back out, sticks his arm out and just snatches the

basketball and starts a fast break the other way. How many players in the league can dig down off of the strong side one pass away and still get back to their man and steal the basketball. Just unbelievable stuff from him. I still the same playoff concerns with the Sons, obviously. You know, will Devin Booker's pull up jump shot continue to fall in the biggest moments? Will Chris Paul be effective? Can guys like Bridges and eight and score when their

stars can't? I don't know. But they're still one of the most talented rosters in the league, and they're just gonna be a pain to beat every night. So they're gonna win a lot of games. Number One Milwaukee Bucks, seven and oh despite being down two starters, Chris Middleton and Pat Conaton offense first in defense. First in defense by about three points per one hunter possessions, which is a pretty solid margin. Second in net rating. The biggest

deferend a different I can't talk. The biggest difference in their defense this year is they're not over helping as much and they're staying home on shooters. Last year, they gave up more than twenty wide open threes per game, which was worse than the league. This year, they're only giving up about fifteen, which is sixth best in the league in terms of giving up wide open looks. Remember, wide open looks, according to NBA dot Com, is defender

at least six feet away. So they stopped over helping and they're just counting on Brooke and Janice to just hold their own in these help situations around the rim. And they've both played like defensive players of the Year, which unfortunately will cancel them out when it comes to that voting. But that's what's really driving their defense. They're still struggling to score in the half court offensively, their eighteenth according to cleaning the glass and half court offense.

But getting Chris Middleton back and Pat Connachton should help a ton with that, especially with their problems with spot up shooting. Right now. Joannice is just having a ridiculous season. Over the summer. I told you guys that I thought he was the best player in the league by a wide margin. And I told you I thought he was a safe bet to win m v P at plus seven hundred because they would win a ton of games and he would put up the numbers. And he hasn't won in a couple of years, and it lost the

title last year. So motivation is just at a peak high. And he still isn't making anything outside of the restricted area. He's twenty on above the A of the break threes, he's over on corner threes in the midrange, and thirty two percent in the paint outside the restricted area. But he is making a ridiculous nine points seven shots per game in the restricted area. At that's the highest mark that I have ever seen, even higher than Zione when he made nine per game. And then in addition to that,

he's a defensive Player of the Year candidate. Like I said, although I do think he'll get canceled out by Brooke. That's why I think Anthony Davis is in first place right now. And then he's also averaging a career high two point three offensive rebounds per game, many on his own misses. So Janice is whopping everybody's asked. The Bucks are whipping everybody's ass. I think he's gonna win m v P. Everything is pointing me towards thinking the Bucks

could win be the real championship favorite. But I do want to give it a couple more weeks before I bail on Golden State. Um. Brooke and Drew in particular both deserved shoutouts as well. They're both defending like all defense guys. Drew Holiday is shooting on five pull up threes per game. He's got this really reliable, like pound dribble between his legs step back that he's making it a high rate. And then Brook Lopez is back to hitting over two threes per game for the first time

in a long time. So look, I think at this point, uh Broke, the Bucks are starting to look like that safe bet. But like I said, it's only been seven games, so we gotta give it a little bit more time. Alright, guess that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. We'll be back tomorrow with one more film breakdown on some of tonight's games and Wednesday night's games that I didn't get to, and then we'll be off for the weekend. As always, I sincerely

appreciate your guys support, and I'll see you tomorrow. The Volume