David Aldridge reveals which teams, to him, are the Top 15 squads in the NBA at this moment.
(last week’s record in parenthesis; previous ranking in brackets)
1) LA Clippers (4-0) [2]: Maybe he regresses to his mean, but Raymond Felton has made 7 of 13 threes so far this season (53.8 percent). He’s never shot better than 45 percent behind the arc in 11 NBA seasons — and he only did that once, with Denver, in 2010-11.
2) Cleveland Cavaliers (2-1) [1]: Big Three of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all averaging more than 21 points per game. The last time three teammates averaged more than 20 per game in one season was 2007-08, when Golden State’s Baron Davis (21.8 per game), Monta Ellis (20.2) and Stephen Jackson (20.1) pulled it off.
3) Golden State Warriors (4-0) [3]: Call off the hunt. We found Steph.
4) San Antonio Spurs (2-1) [4]: They’ve already lost three times as many regular season home games this season as they did all of last season.
5) Atlanta Hawks (3-0) [6]: Looking Hawks-ish again: 31 assists on 48 baskets in Saturday’s win over Philly.
6) Toronto Raptors (3-0) [9]: Okay, Bebe Nogueira. I see you.
7) Charlotte Hornets (2-2) [8]: Charlotte, which has led the league in fewest turnovers the past three seasons, is again No. 1 so far this year.
8) Utah Jazz (3-1) [15]: They finish a their East swing 4-1 and play 12 of their next 16 at home.
9) Portland Trail Blazers (3-1) [10]: Winning ugly, but winning. Bodes well for the second half of the season.
10) Boston Celtics (2-1) [11]: Does Jae Crowder’s absence have this big an impact on the Celtics’ defense?
11) Oklahoma City Thunder (1-3) [5]: Enes Kanter’s numbers last season (12.7 points, 57.6 percent shooting in 21 minutes off the bench), said the haters, were a creation of playing off of Kevin Durant. He’s got virtually the same numbers (12 points, 58 percent shooting in 18 minutes off the bench) so far this season.
12) Chicago Bulls (3-1) [13]: They still have to feed Jimmy Butler regularly for this offense to work. They can get away from him for long stretches.
13) Houston Rockets (2-1) [14]: No movement yet as of the weekend between the Rockets and restricted free agent Donatas Motiejunas.
14) Los Angeles Lakers (2-2) [NR]: After beating the Pelicans Saturday, the Lakers were two games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2012-13 regular season, when they finished 45-37.
15) Milwaukee Bucks (1-1) [NR]: Jabari Parker already has eight 3-pointers this season. He had nine all of last season.
Dropped out: Detroit [7], Memphis [12]
TEAM OF THE WEEK
LA Clippers (4-0): Best start (9-1) in franchise history includes road wins at Portland, Memphis, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. Very, very impressive so far.
TEAM OF THE WEAK
Miami (0-3): The Heat look discombobulated. That is not what you’re used to seeing.
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Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
