2014-2015 Raptors Power Rankings

[Joey]

Jose is in NY, reunited with Bargs. Those two plus Amare probably form the worst defensive trifecta in the league.

Jameer Nelson likely starts in Dallas, though he's not a giant upgrade over Jose anyways.

OH YA! Shit ... never mind, they're working with Felton or Devin Harris ...

[Jclaw]

can we just pause for a moment and note that espn has us ranked as the 10th (and possibly 9th) best team in the league going into the season? Yes, it's just an espn ranking but how many years have we looked at a list like this, seen the Raps down in the twenties and thought "Espn?! #clown"?..only to see it play out. I'll smell this rose.

[Scraptor]

Dallas has a nice starting 5, but they're old. Jose, Monte, Parons, Dirk and Chandler are going to win some games though.

Jose is in NY, reunited with Bargs. Those two plus Amare probably form the worst defensive trifecta in the league.

Jameer Nelson likely starts in Dallas, though he's not a giant upgrade over Jose anyways.

[Miekenstien]

Wall/Beal is way better than Lowry/Derozan? Hmmm, that's an interesting comparison.

This upcoming season Wall/Beal aren't better than Lowry/DeRozan. The Wiz are gonna start Paul Pierce and he cannot guard 3's anymore and they have otto porter behind him who's an unproven player. I like the Wiz starting 5 but there bench isn't good enough.

i think if beal can up his game they are the better back court. i agree that their bench isn't as good as ours and that beal having a big break out is unlikely. i am saying if he makes a jump then i would take wall/beal over lowry/derozan.

i also think our front court is better than theirs whether you play amir or peterson at the 4.

[Joey]

This upcoming season Wall/Beal aren't better than Lowry/DeRozan. The Wiz are gonna start Paul Pierce and he cannot guard 3's anymore and they have otto porter behind him who's an unproven player. I like the Wiz starting 5 but there bench isn't good enough.

Ya they're a mystery to me. I think they have potential to be better than us, but I think a lot of things need to go right.
Mind you, a lot of things need to go right for us to have repeat success.

I agree that #6 is possible, with it mostly being "also rans" after the top 4 or 5.

Golden State should be healthy this year and looking to make some noise however, so we'll see how Kerr does with them.

Portland are just as mysterious to me as the Wizards. They could be awesome, or meh.

Dallas has a nice starting 5, but they're old. Jose, Monte, Parons, Dirk and Chandler are going to win some games though.

[MACK11]

This upcoming season Wall/Beal aren't better than Lowry/DeRozan. The Wiz are gonna start Paul Pierce and he cannot guard 3's anymore and they have otto porter behind him who's an unproven player. I like the Wiz starting 5 but there bench isn't good enough.

[Joey]

and wall/beal is way better

Wall/Beal is way better than Lowry/Derozan? Hmmm, that's an interesting comparison.

[Miekenstien]

Fine. Ill take it. Still think we are better than Washington.

I think we'll do better than the Wizards again.

And we are pretty much locks for top four (as we're in the worst division in the league)

Everyone has us a spot behind the Wizards, its going to be close, but I see us in the 3rd spot
can't wait to get the season started

i see beal as the big question mark for the wiz. i see us being better than them but i can also see beal bringing it bigtime and wall/beal is way better

[YoungGunRaptor]

I'm not ok with it, we are better then Washington and we proved that. Their team did not improve at all this off season. Chi town at number 3 is a complete joke, i still have no clue why everyone thinks this team will be so good. The expectations of D Rose after his last injury laughable. Remember how he injured it, yeah same shit as Brendan Roy the guys done. I see 3 teams on that list that i think we would not be able to beat in a 7 games series San Antonio, The clippers, and GSW

Washington did upgrade their bench with younger role players whilst also retaining Gortat and bringing in Pierce. They also have some young talent on their roster who they expect will make improvements this season. (Glen Rice, Otto Porter).

But what if Pierce cannot fill the gap left at the 3 spot by Trevor Ariza? What if the Wizards' young talent does not meet their expectations? What if Gortat gets injured? What if Blair and Humphries do not perform well off the bench?

Questions like these can be posed for every team, and for that reason, we have to wait until the season starts to find out.

As for Chicago, last year's roster somehow earned the 4th seed in the East despite having a lacklustre offense. Not only did they lose Derrick Rose 10 games into the season, they traded away Luol Deng before the trade deadline. Adding Pau Gasol, Mirotic, Mcdermott, and Brooks while also getting a healthy Derrick Rose back definitely puts them in contention for the top spot in the East because they addressed their need for players who can score and make plays for others.

But like I said, we will only know for sure once the season has started.

[Day One]

Training Camp Power Rankings

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings...r/2015/week/-1

#1 - San Antonio Spurs

#2 - Cleveland Cavaliers

#3 - Chicago Bulls

#4 - LA Clippers

#5 - OKC Thunder

#6 -Dallas Mavericks

#7 - Golden State Warriors

#8 - Portland Trail Blazers

#9 - Washington Wizards



4th in the East. 10th Overall. I accept this.

Anyone ahead of us you see that we can pass? Will we finish the year at 10?

I'm not ok with it, we are better then Washington and we proved that. Their team did not improve at all this off season. Chi town at number 3 is a complete joke, i still have no clue why everyone thinks this team will be so good. The expectations of D Rose after his last injury laughable. Remember how he injured it, yeah same shit as Brendan Roy the guys done. I see 3 teams on that list that i think we would not be able to beat in a 7 games series San Antonio, The clippers, and GSW

[white men can't jump]

I am not sold on the Dallas roster, Dirk is Dirk, but it will be interesting to see how the other pieces fit this year, 3 new starters to start the season. Washington has depth issues, but their starting 5 is nice. Portland will be in a dogfight all year in the West, I could see us having a better record than them.

I'm sold on Dallas' roster being better than last year, but I'm not sure I'm sold on them being a contender. And I think they've had so much change that there's at least some chance, possibly a high chance, that they start kind of slow until they work out rotations and chemistry. If it takes them too long, they could struggle to match last year's success (where they barely made the playoffs), but if they click fairly quickly I can see them being a top 4 team in the West.

[white men can't jump]

Training Camp Power Rankings

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings...r/2015/week/-1

#1 - San Antonio Spurs

#2 - Cleveland Cavaliers

#3 - Chicago Bulls

#4 - LA Clippers

#5 - OKC Thunder

#6 -Dallas Mavericks

#7 - Golden State Warriors

#8 - Portland Trail Blazers

#9 - Washington Wizards



4th in the East. 10th Overall. I accept this.

Anyone ahead of us you see that we can pass? Will we finish the year at 10?

I don't really have a problem with their rankings, but it's hard to guess such a thing so early.

I expected Cleveland and Chicago to get the highest spots out of East teams, and the Spurs, Thunder and Clips to get the top spots of the West teams, making up roughly a top 5.

After that, not sure how much stronger the next batch of West teams is over Toronto and Washington. I like what Dallas did this offseason, but they've had pretty major changes, so we'll see if/when they find a rhythm. GSW, Portland and Houston would also be clustered together in roughly the same range. And Toronto, Washington and Charlotte the likeliest teams from the East to match/better the success of those teams.

So basically, I'm cool with 10, and think that around 6th is probably the highest spot the Raps could finish at. Of course, these are just power rankings, and I wouldn't care if Toronto is 15th as long as they finish atop their division, and hopefully 3rd seed for the playoffs. I'd be ok with 4th too, if the team still plays as well as hoped, but someone (WAS/CHA or another) just plays crazy good (and obviously assuming Cleveland and Chicago round out the top 4, but that's far from a given too).

[WJF]

Training Camp Power Rankings

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings...r/2015/week/-1

#1 - San Antonio Spurs

#2 - Cleveland Cavaliers

#3 - Chicago Bulls

#4 - LA Clippers

#5 - OKC Thunder

#6 -Dallas Mavericks

#7 - Golden State Warriors

#8 - Portland Trail Blazers

#9 - Washington Wizards



4th in the East. 10th Overall. I accept this.

Anyone ahead of us you see that we can pass? Will we finish the year at 10?

I am not sold on the Dallas roster, Dirk is Dirk, but it will be interesting to see how the other pieces fit this year, 3 new starters to start the season. Washington has depth issues, but their starting 5 is nice. Portland will be in a dogfight all year in the West, I could see us having a better record than them.

[lilmamba_]

Everyone has us a spot behind the Wizards, its going to be close, but I see us in the 3rd spot
can't wait to get the season started

[007]

I think we'll do better than the Wizards again.

And we are pretty much locks for top four (as we're in the worst division in the league)