NBA Rankings - 28 Feb

The hottest team of the past month has been the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won 8 in a row to start February, before losing 3 of 4 in the past week, with all 3 losses coming by single digits on the road. The coldest team of February has been Phoenix, who lost 7 of 11, and earned two of those wins on buzzer-beaters against inferior teams, though injuries to their two best players have had an impact. Here are my full current rankings and playoff picks:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	1	Oklahoma City	-9.525	46	15	63	19	W1
2	3	Detroit	-6.13	44	14	61	21	E1
3	4	San Antonio	-6.108	43	16	59	23	W2
4	5	Boston	-5.744	39	20	54	28	E2
5	2	Houston	-4.817	37	21	53	29	W3
6	6	New York	-4.413	38	22	52	30	E3
7	11	Cleveland	-3.893	37	24	51	31	E4
8	9	Denver	-3.568	37	23	50	32	W4
9	7	Minnesota	-3.149	37	23	50	32	W5
10	12	Miami	-2.039	31	29	44	38	E7
11	10	Golden State	-1.98	31	28	44	38	W8
12	13	Toronto	-1.65	34	25	47	35	E5
13	15	Charlotte	-1.519	29	31	41	41	E9
14	8	Phoenix	-1.389	34	26	46	36	W6
15	14	Philadelphia	-1.071	33	26	45	37	E6
16	17	Orlando	-0.289	31	27	43	39	E8
17	16	LA Lakers	0.295	34	24	46	36	W7
18	19	LA Clippers	0.3034	27	31	40	42	W10
19	18	Atlanta	0.3937	30	31	40	42	E10
20	20	Portland	0.8552	29	31	41	41	W9
21	21	Memphis	2.5486	22	36	31	51
22	24	Milwaukee	2.6673	26	32	36	46
23	23	Dallas	3.8414	21	38	28	54
24	22	Chicago	4.022	24	36	32	50
25	25	New Orleans	4.6003	18	42	26	56
26	27	Utah	6.3265	18	41	25	57
27	26	Brooklyn	6.9164	15	44	21	61
28	28	Indiana	7.2123	15	45	20	62
29	29	Sacramento	8.2522	14	47	20	62
30	30	Washington	9.4463	16	42	20	62

Playoff Picks

Play In

(7) Heat over (8) Magic

(9) Hornets over (10) Hawks

(9) Hornets over (8) Magic

(8) Warriors over (7) Lakers

(9) Trail Blazers over (10) Clippers

(7) Lakers over (9) Trail Blazers

First Round

(1) Pistons over (9) Hornets in 6

(2) Celtics over (7) Heat in 6

(3) Knicks over (6) 76ers in 6

(4) Cavaliers over (5) Raptors in 6

(1) Thunder over (7) Lakers in 4

(2) Spurs over (8) Warriors in 6

(3) Rockets over (6) Suns in 6

(4) Nuggets over (5) Timberwolves in 7

Second Round

(1) Pistons over (4) Cavaliers in 6

(2) Celtics over (3) Knicks in 7

(1) Thunder over (4) Nuggets in 5

(2) Spurs over (3) Rockets in 7

Conference Finals

(1) Pistons over (2) Celtics in 7

(1) Thunder over (2) Spurs in 6

NBA Finals

(1) Thunder over (1) Pistons in 6

NBA Rankings - Preseason

It has been 7 years since a team has repeated as NBA champions, so even though the Boston Celtics were dominant in last season's playoffs, they still aren't guaranteed to do it again. There are a couple of teams with young rising stars, and several with former MVP winners, that all look poised to give Boston a challenge this season. Dallas was the hottest team at the end of the regular season last year, and took that momentum all the way to the NBA Finals, and with one of the greatest young players in the game leading the way, they are starting this season as my pick to win the 2025 championship. Here are my full preseason rankings:

				Record		Proj
Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	Seed
1	6	Dallas	-9.253			64	16	W1
2	8	Indiana	-7.523			61	19	E1
3	13	Milwaukee	-6.24			58	22	E2
4	4	Denver	-5.707			55	25	W2
5	18	LA Lakers	-5.362			55	25	W3
6	11	Phoenix	-4.236			51	29	W4
7	1	Boston	-4.219			54	26	E3
8	12	Sacramento	-3.585			50	30	W5
9	2	Oklahoma City	-3.274			50	30	W6
10	3	Minnesota	-3.131			49	31	W7
11	14	Philadelphia	-2.886			50	30	E4
12	7	New York	-1.929			47	33	E5
13	24	San Antonio	-0.59			42	38	W8
14	16	Cleveland	0.1474			41	39	E6
15	5	New Orleans	1.0274			37	43	W9
16	23	Utah	1.1792			37	43	W10
17	10	Golden State	1.8916			35	45
18	21	Atlanta	2.2563			36	44	E7
19	9	LA Clippers	2.5489			32	48
20	29	Detroit	2.8345			34	46	E8
21	19	Miami	3.6009			31	49	E9
22	17	Houston	3.6563			30	50
23	15	Orlando	3.9349			31	49
24	28	Washington	4.001			31	49	E10
25	25	Toronto	5.0643			27	53
26	27	Portland	5.198			25	55
27	22	Brooklyn	5.6578			26	54
28	20	Chicago	6.5938			23	57
29	30	Charlotte	7.9831			21	59
30	26	Memphis	8.0526			19	61