NBA Western Power Rankings Week 5: Thunder thrive, Grizzlies rise
By Tom West
Nov 22, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) celebrates after a three point shot against the Dallas Mavericks during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
From the undefeated Golden State Warriors to the soon-to-be Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers, here’s our weekly power ranking to break down the NBA’s Western Conference.
Another week of NBA action is in the books, and the Western Conference continues to change and take shape as the season progresses. The Golden State Warriors are still winning (nothing has changed there), the San Antonio Spurs have solidified 2nd place, and the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to make a big push with the return of Kevin Durant last week. That’s how the top few seeds are playing out, but further town the very early playoff picture the standings are still all over the place.
Who expected the Dallas Mavericks to start this season so strong? Did anyone think the Houston Rockets were going to be this bad? It’s safe to say the West has provided us with plenty of entertainment and surprises so far, and we’ll continue to break that down each week with this power rankings series.
For this episode of our Clipperholics rankings, myself, and writers Jose Salviati and Jeff Nisius have combined our individual choices for each spot in the West to form a collective ranking for all 15 teams. To achieve this result, we used a weighted point system to see how our personal votes would position each team. For every 1st place vote a team gets, they receive 15 points. For every 2nd place vote a team gets, they receive 14 points, and so on until the worst of the bunch in 15th place earns just one point.
To provide our reasons for each pick and have a look at the state of each franchise this week, the three of us have discussed each team’s performance.
Let’s get started with the Los Angeles Lakers and the soon-to-be-departed legend that is Kobe Bryant.
Next: Los Angeles Lakers