New power rankings from Fox Sports & Dime Magazine. They have the Spurs in the #1 spot, as expected. But, PHX at #2? Now that's quite surprising, considering how they lost 2 of their starting 5 this year. Indy over Detroit? I'm not so sure about that. And Miami slotted at the 5# spot. With Dime citing some possible chemistry issues, as a lot of other folks are predicting, as the reason for the lower ranking. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/4826798
Suns at #2 is really surprising. My rankings 1. Spurs 2. Miami 3. Detroit 4. Suns 5. Indiana Of course, very subjective. No way past the Spurs, but Miami quite better, by player- means. We shouldn't forget that we probably advanced to the Finals because of Wade getting injured.
Overall, the rankings looked very reasonable to me. It does seem like Phoenix is about 3 spots too high. I think New Jersey is a bit high also. New York was a little lower than I expected and I think Seattle will do well again. I'm not sure why Seattle wasn't ranked higher? Miami...they concern me less than they did a couple of weeks ago, but they could be very dangerous. No way I'm just going to assume they will implode. Detroit I'd put anywhere from 1 to 4. I'm probably too biased to look at them objectively, lol.
Re: Miami being too low I love the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comment next to the Pistons bug referring to Miami. Clearly, Riles is about two steps out on the plank, and if this big trade doesn't pan out, he'll probably ask Van Gundy to take his place and walk the plank.
DarthTater Maybe jdmiser (from the Det. News forum) will swing by and offer a little insight as to why they felt Phx derserved such a high ranking, while most folks would have them much lower. He does a lot of their fantasy coverage for them, so he might be able to find out what their reasons were.
Never forget that the officiating was beyond suspicious. Yeah, that's right - I'm complaining about officiating during the dead of summer. Do I need help? Also, these rankings are strange. Beyond the top 5, is it really possible that Dallas is #6 and Cleveland #7? If anything, Houston got stronger than Dallas, and I'm not convinced Houston won't be better than Phoenix. Cleveland's just....they're like the Lions, in a way. They have the talent now, but the franchise is so used to losing. They need to prove that they've broken through that mentality before I believe they're a top 10 team.
Marc Stein's Initial 2005-06 Power Rankings Pistons #2 Three teams from the Central in the top Nine. Nuggets number #7. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2006&week=-1
About right I'd put Phoenix behind Indiana, but other than that, I think he nailed it. There is no way that the Suns would beat the Pacers in a 7 game series without Q or JJ. Especially with Artest and a healthy JO'neil.
Dallas I think that a full strength Indiana would not just beat, but would dominate the Mavs. Suns are fun, but they are not built to beat SA, Det, or Indiana. Detroit and Indiana should be pretty evenly matched this year. I just don't see Phoenix as a team that can possibly win the championship this year. I would stongly bet against them. I'd also bet against Miami.
Pistons are number one He has the Pistons as number 2. I would make them as number one after hearing what Flip has planned from his interview. With Davis (and maybe Darko) our front line will be the biggest and most talented in the league. Our offense will no longer be predictable as our opponents will have their own match-up problems. And, we can still play lock down defense. This Piston team should have a whole other gear to display.
Pinstons/ SA I like Det over SA too, but you can't do that if you are Stein. SA beat us straight up, and they added more proven parts than we did. With a new coach and philosophy, you need to see it work before you can jump to conclusions. That is why he put Miami back in the pack... although everyone thinks they'll be good, they need to prove that there are no chemistry issues with the new composition of the team.
Good to see the Central and the East back The East has risen again! Led by the Pistons back to national prominence, every Piston fan should be proud. However, it's not just Detroit, now Indy, Miami, and a surging Cav team are making a move. This is a great time to be a Piston, Central, Eastern Conference fan.
Finally We finally get some respect from the media. Unitil we get knocked off as eastern conference champs we should be the team to beat in the East. Although I am extremely anti-Miami they are rated kind of low. But really any true basketball fan/mind can see it's probably going to be us and Indy in the conf. finals. Detroit 2006 champs (Dyansty)
I agree. I think Detroit is better than San Antonio I think the big reason we lost is that we really messed up in games 1 and 2, but Stein couldn't because like it or not the spurs are the champs. Oh by the way San Antonio we want the trophy back we let you guys BORROW over the summer.
Here's what I think If you look at Marc Stein's picture up above, it occurs to me that Marc Stein and Jay Marriotti (from "Around the Horn") look alike. I think they are the same person. This way, ESPN gets two sports writers and only has to pay one. Seriously though, the East is loaded this upcoming season with Indiana returning to old form, Miami with a more mature Wade and possibly some more help, and the Pistons with a chip on their shoulder. I can't wait for the season to start. Might be one of the more interesting seasons in recent years from an Eastern Conference fan's standpoint. Saw Wade on "The Hot Seat," that little segment that ESPN does, and he said Miami is lacking a "shooter" and that they shouldn't have let Damon Jones go.
Heat just inked Jason Kapono of 40+% 3 point shooting fame to an offer sheet yesterday. Good lord have the Heat made a lot of moves.
