Power Rankings: Spurs, C's open training camp on top

[BDodgers at aol.com]

Power Rankings: Spurs, C's open training camp on top


 
 
 


By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The NBA and its public have never endured a more depressing summer. Never, 
ever. Tim Donaghy, Eddie Griffin, Greg Oden, Seattle and its Sonics, Isiah 
Thomas and the Knicks in court ... it's too often been horribly bad or sad news.  
Yet it's time to move on -- or at least try -- and this is the best first 
step we've got. The return, after an absence of 167 days, of your beloved NBA 
Power Rankings.  
This is where you click for a (human) pulse-take on the NBA, starting with 
our annual training camp edition from the committee (of one). For the purposes 
of review, allow me to share my usual reminder that this set of rankings 
measures each team's standing and outlook heading into the season and is not a 
predicted order of finish.  
How last season ended and how good a team is projected to be in 2007-08 are 
only part of the equation at this early stage. How each team fared in the 
summer factors in as well, along with a dash of totally subjective whim. For 
example: It might be premature to bestow title-contender status on Boston, but the 
Celtics make the monumental leap from No. 29 in the final 2006-07 rankings to 
No. 2 after two blockbuster offseason acquisitions that upstaged the whole 
league. (Acquisitions, it says here, that do give them a real shot to win the 
wide-open East.)  
The next batch of rankings will appear on Oct. 29, one day before opening 
night, after all 30 teams have a month to show us something. The rankings will 
then continue every Monday throughout the regular season. _Click here to 
comment_ (http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/mailbagESPN?event_id=3018)  on the first 
helping.  
Editor's note: Last Week and Record categories are from the final Power 
Rankings of the 2006-07 regular season.  
• _Rank them yourself!_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/rank?versionId=1&listId=46)   
2007-08 Power Rankings: Training Camp  RANK (LAST WK) TEAM REC. COMMENT   1 
(2) _Spurs_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=sas)  58-24 Is this 
the season, after three titles in five seasons, San Antonio finally goes 
back-to-back? Here's what we do know for sure: Defending champs always start up here 
with the committee, even if they never repeat.   2 (29) _Celtics_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=bos)  24-58 Sobering fact: No team with 
three 20-point scorers has ever won it all. But all Boston has to do is get to 
the Finals to meet expectations, which (again) is very plausible now after the 
NBA's most spectacular offseason.   3 (3) _Suns_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=pho)  61-21 A trade demand on the eve of camp from someone of 
Marion's stature would normally lead to a bigger rankings slide. But Phoenix 
has years of practice dealing with (and winning in spite of) a mopey Matrix.   
4 (5) _Rockets_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=hou)  52-30 No 
West team did more to help itself over the summer. But championship material? 
We're starting to hear such chatter, which seems a tad premature until T-Mac 
and Yao win a playoff series together. Agreed?   5 (7) _Pistons_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=det)  53-29 Maybe we're in the minority, but 
the committee keeps looking at a roster that wasn't blown up as many expected 
and keeps seeing the best Pistons team -- at least on paper -- since the squad 
that won it all in 2004.   6 (1) _Mavericks_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=dal)  67-15 Dallas isn't starting so low because its season for 
the ages ended in first-round humiliation. Dallas is down here because it has to 
prove it can rebound from two extraordinarily painful playoff implosions in a 
row.   7 (12) _Cavaliers_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=cle)  
50-32 It's one thing to make zero changes to the roster, but now Varejao and 
Pavlovic don't plan to come to camp. In other words, "Saturday Night Live" was 
likely the last time you'll see LeBron smile for a while.   8 (10) _Jazz_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=uth)  51-31 The major doubt is not 
whether Utah has the talent to repeat last season's various breakthroughs. 
It's whether Utah will have the togetherness, after a trade demand from Kirilenko 
far more unsettling than Marion's.   9 (11) _Warriors_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=gsw)  42-40 As if the prospect of training camp in 
Hawaii isn't appealing enough, Golden State will have the unexpected privilege of 
claiming the brighter outlook of the two California teams based in the land 
of the luau. Sorry, Lakers.   10 (4) _Bulls_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=chi)  49-33 The Bulls are on the short list of favorites to win 
the East, but you have to wonder -- given their inability to trade for KG or Pau 
-- how much they're second-guessing themselves for letting Tyson Chandler go. 
  11 (9) _Nuggets_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=den)  45-37 
We didn't remember this at first, either, but the Iverson-and-Melo Nuggets 
were 10-1 in April. So maybe they were right to tweak minimally in the offseason, 
saving the spotlight for K-Mart's mountain of a comeback.   12 (6) _Raptors_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=tor)  47-35 J-Kidd recently 
decreed that Raps, as defending division champs, deserve Team To Beat status in 
the Atlantic. They'd settle for second place and a return to the playoffs, 
honestly, but welcome the rare props.   13 (15) _Magic_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=orl)  40-42 No team from last season's eight playoff 
qualifiers in the East did more in the offseason than Orlando. Yet you'd struggle to 
find anyone picking newcomers Rashard and SVG to lift D-Howard into the elite 
just yet.   14 (13) _Nets_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=njn) 
 41-41 The suspicion here remains that the Nets have a better shot than 
anyone at eventually trading for Jermaine O'Neal. In the interim, they'll settle 
for a smooth return for Krstic and a resurrected Magloire.   15 (18) _Wizards_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=was)  41-41 He's an Internet 
legend with his blogs, interviews and quirks. He's also the new NBA Live 
video-game cover boy. But is he a leader? Maybe this is the season Arenas -- in his 
contract year -- lets us know.   16 (19) _Hornets_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=nor)  39-43 No one knows for sure what sort of support awaits 
the Hornets in their full-time return to the Crescent City, but a return to 
the playoffs sounds realistic if they can find some consistent health there.   
17 (27) _Bucks_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=mil)  28-54 The 
Bucks were busier than most teams over the summer and spent a lot more than 
they usually do. So Sen. Kohl will inevitably demand big things from the team GM 
Larry Harris has assembled, starting with the Big Yi.   18 (20) _Bobcats_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=cha)  33-49 Sam Vincent might be 
facing an unusual amount of pressure for a rookie coach if the guy who hired him 
(Michael Something or Other) shares the growing belief that the Bobs, in Year 
4, should make a real playoff push.   19 (14) _Lakers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=lal)  42-40 Confidence in Lakerland is high that Kobe 
will indeed attend all of training camp. The mere fact that was ever in doubt, 
though, lets you know how turbulent this season is bound to be for the Zen 
Men.   20 (8) _Heat_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=mia)  44-38 
It's probably not encouraging that Riles -- who recently gave himself 'an F' for 
Miami's lack of offseason upgrades to a brittle roster -- responded testily 
last week to questions about Wade and Shaq's health.    21 (30) _Grizzlies_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=mem)  22-60 Losing 60 games must 
have been a torturous farewell for Jerry West, but the Grizz have found 
credibility without The Logo faster than anyone expected after hiring Iavaroni and a 
flurry of summer improvements.   22 (24) _SuperSonics_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=sea)  31-51 Blanket coverage of the team's uncertain 
future in the Pacific Northwest can only help Durant. He'll undoubtedly welcome 
focus on other matters given how much he and his young team figures to struggle 
in Year 1.   23 (23) _Trail Blazers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=por)  32-50 Don't know that this will provide much consolation for 
devastated Blazermaniacs, but we've been assured Greg Oden will be eligible to win 
Rookie of the Year in the 2008-09 season if he sits out all of this season.   
24 (25) _Knicks_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=nyk)  33-49 The 
new season begins with Balkman freshly injured and Isiah corralled in a 
Manhattan courtroom instead of introducing Zach Randolph at media day. It's a 
calamitous start, even by Knicks standards.   25 (22) _Kings_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=sac)  33-49 We repeat: Sacramento's 
turn-of-the-century rise from perennial doormat to title contender was a fairy tale, but 
rebuilding this castle -- nearly three years after exiling Webber -- is proving a 
much tougher job.   26 (28) _Hawks_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=atl)  30-52 The Hawks have a new logo, color scheme and pair of hot rookies. 
But Hawks Fever isn't exactly rampant when they've also inherited the 
league's longest playoff drought, at eight seasons and counting.   27 (17) _76ers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=phi)  35-47 Philly's first full 
season AAI (After Allen Iverson) begins with numerous question marks. The 
biggest of those: Do you see a core on the roster worth building around? Without a 
clear-cut franchise player, not yet.   28 (16) _Clippers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=lac)  40-42 If the injured Elton Brand is right about 
what the teammates he's left behind can do, this ranking and zillions of 
skeptics are all wrong: 'You tell us we suck? Well, they're going to show you that 
we don't.'   29 (21) _Pacers_ 
(http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=ind)  35-47 Why do we keep dredging up the melee in Detroit? Because that 
turning point in Pacers history happened in the fall of 2004, but things in 
Pacerland are getting progressively worse nearly three years later. Not better.   30 
(26) _Timberwolves_ (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=min)  32-50 
You suspect that Mr. McHale won't mind starting Life After KG with what has to 
be the most faraway training camp in NBA history. Can't imagine he'll 
encounter too many disgruntled Wolves fans in Turkey.




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