NBA Power Rankings

Dan McQuade's NBA Power Rankings

Jerry Sloan shocked the NBA by stepping down this week. Dan McQuade is shocking the world with his latest NBA Power Rankings. OK, not so much shocking as tweaking ... but read 'em anyway.

(AP Photo/Colin E Braley)

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NBA Power Rankin... Jerry Sloan shocked the NBA by stepping down this week. Dan McQuade is shocking the world with his latest NBA Power Rankings. OK, not so much shocking as tweaking ... but read 'em anyway.

(AP Photo/Colin E Braley)
30. Cleveland Ca... When there is an ongoing news story -- like the Cleveland Cavaliers' 26-game losing streak -- we can always count on local TV stations to come up with inane ways to cover them. For example: "Psychologist weighs in on Cleveland Cavaliers' 26-game losing streak." "So what you need to do is follow the Stockdale Paradox," Dr. Michael McKee tells the TV station. Admiral James Stockdale survived torture in Vietnam using this strategy; apparently, this is how bad things have gotten for the Cavaliers.

(AP Photo/LM Otero)
29. Washington W... This Sunday is another Super Bowl, only instead of the top two football teams going at it for the Lombardi Trophy... Cleveland is playing host to Washington. The Cavs should have a 27-game losing streak coming into the game, while the Wizards will be 0-26 on the road coming into the game. Hopefully the Cavs will bring Christina Aguilera out to do another incorrect version of the national anthem.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
28. Toronto Rapt... Reggie Evans' wife is pregnant, and she's about to give birth. How close? Here's what Evans told The Globe and Mail: "Right now he’s, like, two centimetres? As in being eight from 10 [centimetres dilated]." That's a Canadian newspaper, so its wacky spelling and measurement system has been retained in that quote. Or maybe when someone plays for Toronto, he has to talk in Canadian English.

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)
27. Minnesota Ti... Kevin Love is now an All-Star, replacing Yao Ming on the Western Conference team. Even more impressively, he now has his own bobblehead.

(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
26. Sacramento K... The Kings aren't all that interesting this season, so let's continue the coverage of Arco Arena's name change: The place becomes Power Balance Pavilion on March 1, so the ARCO ARENA letters are being taken down and season ticket holders will be entered into a raffle to win a letter. Where would one put a giant letter from a stadium sign?

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
25. New Jersey N... The Nets should really have stayed in the hunt for Carmelo Anthony. They've really fallen out of the news since ending their pursuit of 'Melo. Of course, not many 16-37 teams get national pub; the Nets were just an exception before.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
24. Detroit Pist... Look at the new owner of the Detroit Pistons: He is a native of around Flint, and he has a glamorous headshot. He and Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov ought to have a cool-off.

(AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
23. Charlotte Bo... The Bobcats' secret weapon: Michael Jordan! Okay, only in practice. But, hey, the Bobcats' owner might actually be able to crack the Bobcats' rotation. He'd help pump up attendance a little bit, at least.

(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
22. Milwaukee Bu... It's 10-day contract season, and Garrett Temple is on his second for the Bucks. Temple was actually on the Spurs earlier in the year; yes, this is the difference between the 22nd ranked team in the Power Rankings and the first.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
21. Golden State... The Warriors' retro-inspired jerseys are some of the best in the league, and sometimes they're wearing these excellent jerseys from the 1974-75 season. Hey, you take victories where you can get them.

(AP Photo)
20. Indiana Pace... The Pacers are 5-1 since Frank Vogel took over for Jim O'Brien. And, while the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore is really from various parts of the Northeast, Vogel is actually a native of Wildwood Crest, N.J. MTV's probably working on a show about him right now.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
19. Los Angeles ... Turns out Blake Griffin can't make every dunk. This Randy Foye alley-oop attempt was just a little far away for Griffin to handle it. And here everyone thought throwing it anywhere within 45 feet of the rim would get it done.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
18. Phoenix Suns... Stop the presses! The Phoenix Suns' Gorilla has been nominated for Most Awesome Mascot in the Cartoon Network Hall of Game awards. He's up against the Phillie Phanatic, T-Rac of the Tennessee Titans and Bango of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Phanatic will probably win this thing, but the Gorilla does have his own budget ("the Gorilla budget"), so he's pretty big time still.

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
17. Houston Rock... Yahoo! has these new-ish "Fan analysis" game recaps, user-generated content that the company hopes will show up on Google (or, um, Yahoo!) searches. More clicks equal more page views equal more advertising dollars, etc. The best headline on any of them: "Houston Rockets continue Lazarus-like rise, win third straight." In the Gospel of John, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead; the Rockets winning three straight is apparently a similar feat.

(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
16. Philadelphia... Despite nearly blowing a late lead, the 76ers won a close game last Friday against the New York Knicks. Sure, Philly lost the rematch of the home-and-home on Sunday, but then came out and torched the Hawks, 117-83. Now only if they'll start outdrawing Villanova at the Wells Fargo Center.

(AP Photo/Michael Perez)
15. New York Kni... Ha! Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni says New York's fans are hurting the team by chanting for Carmelo Anthony. Good job, Knicks fans. And here we thought Clippers' owner Donald Sterling was the only fan who booed his own team in the stands.

(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
14. Utah Jazz (L... Jerry Sloan is gone, apparently unable to coexist with Deron Williams. Sloan had been coaching the Jazz since Ronald Reagan was president, and Dr. Jack Ramsay chronicled some of his homespun folk wisdom: "They were all over us -- busy as a stump full of ants." Aw. We'll miss him.

(AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)
13. Portland Tra... Bad news for the Blazers' Dante Cunningham: He fractured his face in a win over Cleveland. For those who haven't had a fractured face, it is apparently very painful. Who knew?

(AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
12. Memphis Griz... Hey, why not? The surging Grizzlies signed Jason Williams and Geoff Calkins of The Commercial Appeal noted the last time Williams was in Memphis, he stole Calkins' pen -- and was fined $10,000. The NBA is really tough on pen-related crime.

(AP Photo/Paul Connors)
11. Atlanta Hawk... The Hawks' 34-point home loss to the 76ers last week was actually the team's second loss at home by 30-plus points this season; Atlanta lost to New Orleans by 41, 110-59, in January. Yikes.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)
10. New Orleans ... The Hornets may have lost four in a row, but they're still hosting Hornets Day at the Zoo Sunday! It will feature "Hornets players, Hugo, Honeybees, Stingers, Hornets Drum Line, live music and interactive games." Man, there sure are a lot of Hornet-related puns there. How is there not a secondary mascot named Buzz?

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
9. Oklahoma City... Kevin Durant talked to Complex magazine about calling out Chris Bosh: "So I stand behind it. Don’t get it confused, I respect him as a player and everything like that, but I’m just standing up for myself and my team." Yep, this feud is still incredibly boring.

(AP Photo/Steve C. Wilson)
8. Denver Nugget... In Denver's game against the Mavericks on Thursday night, Carmelo Anthony had a dislocated finger popped back in while a teammate was attempting a free throw. He didn't even come out of the game! He scored 46 in that win over the Mavericks, which was maybe the best game of the year so far. Oh, and Anthony also scored 50 against the Rockets. That's finally enough to distract everyone from attempting to comprehend the meta-tattoo Chris Andersen has of someone (himself?) dunking a basketball.

(AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
7. Orlando Magic... How are things going in Orlando? Oh, not bad, you know, Gilbert Arenas' estranged ex-fiance just sent out a press release calling him a terrible father. Naturally, she is on Basketball Wives. I hope that press release was titled, "What's Eating Gilbert Arenas?"

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
6. Los Angeles L... ESPNLA.com's Dave McMenamin reports Phil Jackson wished Shaq a Happy New Year after Lakers-Celtics on February 10. I looked it up: It is the latest anyone has ever wished someone a Happy New Year ever. Phil might as well have been wishing him a Happy 2012.

(AP Photo/Chuck Cook)
5. Chicago Bulls... There's a great chapter in The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History (put together by the guys at FreeDarko) about YouTube basketball highlights; one of the insights in the essay is how the famous footage The Shot -- Michael Jordan's celebration punch of the air after buzzer-beater against the Cavaliers in the final game of a 1989 playoff series -- wasn't even shown on TV at the time. The footage CBS used after the winning shot? Right: Coach Doug Collins running around the court celebrating. Collins now coaches the 76ers. He has much less hair now.

In other news, Derrick Rose is awesome.

(AP Photo/George Frey)
4. Boston Celtic... Kevin Garnett has taken a bit of heat recently for perceived (okay, not just perceived) dirty play. Guess who defended him? Who else: Kobe Bryant! "He's a great guy," Bryant said, obviously. Kobe also called the Lakers the "good guys," which is incorrect. It's "lesser of two evils." But don't be hard on Bryant; it's not like he studied characterization in lit class in college.

(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
3. Dallas Maveri... The Mavericks got burned on the Arron Affalo buzzer-beater on Thursday night, but they had won 10 games in a row before that loss. And, hey, look, another amazing ridiculous promo, this time for J.J. Barea bobblehead night!

(AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)
2. Miami Heat (L... On Thursday, LeBron tweeted: "Man its gonna be crazy and weird seeing anyone besides Jerry Sloan walking the sidelines for the Utah Jazz!" James needs to go back to tweeting about the Cavs losing and talking about contracting teams. Good LeBron is just too boring.

(AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
1. San Antonio S... Here's why the Spurs are the best team in the league: Best record, second best point differential, well coached, near the top in any rating system imaginable. Here's a more fun reason: Matt Bonner's acting career. From basketball training video parodies to riffing on Napoleon Dynamite, Bonner's keeping San Antonio on top.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
NFL Team's Most ... To see a division-by-division look at some of the most pressing needs for the 32 NFL teams, click here.