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NBA power rankings: Heat is consensus top team, Sixers the worst

With the offseason just about wrapped up, a bunch of SB Nation NBA team bloggers did some power rankings to get a feel for how the association stacks up. Naturally, the Heat are the unanimous No. 1 squad and the Sixers are expected to be real, real bad.

Alexander Tamargo

The 2013 NBA offseason is just about wrapping up, with the Detroit Pistons' acquisition of Brandon Jennings likely marking one of the last major moves of the summer. There could always be another surprise big move or two heading into the upcoming season, but most of the activity should be relatively minor outside of Greg Oden's decision and whatever ends up happening to Nikola Pekovic.

With most rosters pretty much set, it's only natural to take stock of things and project where teams will fall for next season. With that in mind, 22 SB Nation NBA team bloggers crafted some power rankings. Here are the results, showing each team's final ranking, their average ranking, best ranking and worst ranking. (Note: almost all of these votes were cast BEFORE the Jennings trade.)

Teams Final Ranking Average Ranking Best Ranking Worst Ranking
Heat 1 1.0 1 1
Thunder 2 3.0 2 7
Spurs 3 3.8 2 7
Pacers 4 4.4 2 8
Clippers 5 4.7 2 9
Bulls 6 6.2 4 9
Rockets 7 6.7 3 11
Nets 8 7.5 3 11
Grizzlies 9 8.7 7 11
Warriors 10 9.4 6 11
Knicks 11 11.0 9 14
Timberwolves 12 13.5 12 19
Nuggets 13 13.9 12 22
Hawks 14 14.2 10 21
Trail Blazers 15 15.5 12 18
Pelicans 16 17.4 13 23
Wizards 17 17.4 14 23
Cavaliers 18 17.9 11 24
Mavericks 19 18.3 13 26
Lakers 20 19.3 15 23
Pistons 21 20.5 18 24
Raptors 22 21.7 18 28
Bucks 23 22.2 16 27
Kings 24 24.7 21 27
Jazz 25 25.3 22 30
Celtics 26 25.5 22 28
Bobcats 27 26.8 23 30
Magic 28 27.3 21 30
Suns 29 28.1 24 30
Sixers 30 29.7 27 30


The two-time defending champion Heat were voted as the unanimous No. 1 team, which shouldn't come as too big a surprise. Yes, the Heat showed plenty of vulnerability in last year's postseason, but they bring back almost everybody and still have LeBron James. Until somebody actually knocks Miami off again in the playoffs, they're the cream of the crop.

It's interesting to note how the rest of the top of the East is viewed. The top four rounds out with the Pacers, Bulls and Nets, but Brooklyn did get a vote as high as No. 3 while Chicago's highest ranking was No. 4. The Bulls have been a dominant regular season team under Tom Thibodeau with Derrick Rose in the lineup, but some are clearly taking a wait-and-see approach in regards to how the star point guard returns from his knee injury.

Over in the West, the Rockets, much like the Nets, saw a bit of disparity in their voting. The signing of Dwight Howard could vault Houston close to the top of the league, but if Howard doesn't fully recover from his injuries, they may just turn out a bit better than last year.

The biggest voting disparities came between two teams in the middle of the pack. That would be the Cavs and Mavs, who both had a difference of 13 spots between their highest and lowest ranking. The huge range for Cleveland makes some sense because a healthy Andrew Bynum could make them rather formidable, while the other extreme could make them just another team in the blob.

And finally, those poor Sixers. It's going to be a rough go for them next year, although that's pretty much the plan. If the Basketball Gods have any mercy, Philadelphia wins the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes in exchange for dealing with the Bynum nightmare.

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