NBA Rankings - 9 Nov

We are 11 days into the NBA season, and we are already left with just one undefeated team and one winless team. As the Kansas City Chiefs know, being the only team without a loss does not make you the best team, and being the only team yet to win does not necessarily mean you're the worst. Here are my full rankings, with each team's predicted final record and playoff seeding included.

Rank	LW	Team	Record	Rating	Pred	Change	Playoff
1	11	Golden State	4-2	-16.4662	66-16	+18	1W
2	7	Indiana	6-0	-14.8817	66-16	+10	1E
3	28	Orlando	3-3	-12.2781	59-23	+39	2E
4	22	Minnesota	4-2	-11.2148	56-26	+24	2W
5	3	Memphis	2-3	-10.8319	53-29	-8	3W
6	4	LA Clippers	3-3	-9.86445	53-29	-6	4W
7	1	Miami	4-2	-9.2094	52-30	-10	3E
8	19	New Orleans	3-3	-8.87248	50-32	+14	6W
9	6	Oklahoma City	4-1	-8.83418	51-31	-4	5W
10	5	San Antonio	5-1	-8.64431	50-32	-6	7W
11	18	Dallas	3-3	-8.13894	48-34	+11	8W
12	30	Phoenix	4-2	-7.43783	46-36	+29
13	10	Houston	4-2	-7.19958	45-37	-2
14	25	Detroit	2-3	-6.10628	43-39	+13	4E
15	12	Portland	3-2	-4.75801	39-43	-5
16	14	Toronto	2-4	-3.92941	38-44	-3	5E
17	17	Chicago	2-3	-3.89656	38-44	-2	6E
18	15	Washington	2-3	-3.15885	35-47	-5	8E
19	13	Atlanta	2-3	-3.1269	35-47	-7
20	24	Boston	2-4	-2.75521	34-48	+4
21	27	Philadelphia	4-2	-2.75406	37-45	+14	7E
22	8	New York	2-3	-2.3643	33-49	-20
23	2	Brooklyn	2-3	-1.93853	32-50	-30
24	23	Milwaukee	2-2	-1.56435	31-51	-2
25	20	LA Lakers	3-4	-0.91218	29-55	-6
26	21	Cleveland	2-4	-0.06541	28-54	-8
27	26	Charlotte	3-3	1.248338	25-57	-3
28	16	Sacramento	1-4	1.879342	20-62	-18
29	9	Denver	1-4	3.254105	19-63	-32
30	29	Utah	0-6	4.941838	15-67	-4

The biggest surprise of the season so far has been Orlando, which won only 20 games last season and was predicted to do the same this year, but the Magic have already won 3 times, including wins over the Clippers, Nets, and Pelicans. Two of their losses are against Indiana and Minnesota, both top 4 teams right now, and Nikola Vucevic is showing some major improvement, putting up 17 and 13 per game in his second season as a starter.

Denver has been one of the biggest disappointments so far, going from being a team with playoff potential to a team with lottery dreams pretty quickly. They haven't played a particularly tough schedule, but have only managed one win, a nail-biter against Atlanta on Thursday. They play Utah on Monday is the Pillow Fight of the Week.

Brooklyn has not played up to their potential yet either, going 0-3 on the road to open the season, with wins over Miami and Utah at home to make things look a little better. The Nets have one of the most loaded lineups we've seen in a while, but they haven't been able to gel yet, and this week won't be an easy one, with a home game against undefeated Indiana followed by a 3-game road trip.

Another pleasant surprise has been Phoenix, who was projected to win only 17 games, but have already made it a quarter of the way there, taking 4 already, with their only losses coming at Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Eric Bledsoe has adjusted well to his starting role, putting up 20 points and 7.5 assists per game, and Markieff Morris is playing very well off the bench, averaging a 16 and 7 of his own.

Predictions

Upset picks are in italics.

Utah at Toronto - Raptors by 12
Dallas at Atlanta - Mavericks by 4
Indiana at Brooklyn - Pacers by 8
Philadelphia at Cleveland - Cavaliers by 1
Boston at Miami - Heat by 12
LA Clippers at Houston - Rockets by 1
Golden State at Memphis - Warriors by 1
Dallas at Milwaukee - Bucks by 1
Portland at Sacramento - Trail Blazers by 3

Prediction Results

NBA: 16-18 (.471) 46-38 overall (.548)
Upsets: 5-4 (.556) 8-7 overall (.533)