NBA Power Rankings Update: The Toronto Raptors Claw Their Way to the Top
Teams Ranked 30th to 21st
The Detroit Pistons slide into the bottom-10, while the rest of the league's worst teams shuffle ever so slightly.
| Ranking | Team | Record | nERD | Last Ranking | Plus/Minus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Phoenix Suns | 5-24 | 11.2 | 30 | 0 |
| 29 | Chicago Bulls | 6-23 | 16.2 | 28 | -1 |
| 28 | Atlanta Hawks | 6-21 | 19.8 | 29 | 1 |
| 27 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 7-21 | 27.3 | 27 | 0 |
| 26 | New York Knicks | 8-21 | 28.6 | 26 | 0 |
| 25 | Orlando Magic | 13-15 | 37.9 | 22 | -3 |
| 24 | Washington Wizards | 11-17 | 40.9 | 24 | 0 |
| 23 | Brooklyn Nets | 11-18 | 43.7 | 23 | 0 |
| 22 | Detroit Pistons | 13-13 | 44.9 | 18 | -4 |
| 21 | Miami Heat | 11-16 | 45.7 | 21 | 0 |
Risers
The Atlanta Hawks are the only team to move upward in the bottom tier this week (other than the San Antonio Spurs, who leapt out entirely), but they're not on a particularly good run or anything. They've dropped four of their last five contests by an average margin of 13.25 points per game, although their one win did come against the Western Conference's top team in the Denver Nuggets. Let's be honest, though: their rise is more about making room for the backsliding Chicago Bulls than it is about their success.
Fallers
The Chicago Bulls have somehow gone from bad to worse. They were losing plenty of games under head coach Fred Hoiberg (5-19) before he got axed last week, but under Jim Boylen (1-3), they're taking L's both on and off the court. Bulls players reportedly contacted the National Basketball Players Association this week regarding Boylen's extreme tactics with regards to practice, and nearly boycotted a session on Sunday following a 56-point shellacking by the Boston Celtics. They're giving the Phoenix Suns -- our every-week lock for last place -- some competition for the title of worst team in the league.
The Detroit Pistons have had a rollercoaster of a season. They started it off by winning four in a row, then dropped five straight, then went 9-2 over an 11-game stretch, and are now in the midst of a six-game losing streak. They plummet down into the depths of the bottom tier this week, but at the rate they're going, don't be surprised if they yo-yo back up into the middle seven days from now.
