Kritik und Lob » RUNDespite the weekend losses,

Houston, New Orleans and Oklahoma City are meeting the media Friday. The NBAs other 27 teams open for business Monday.So its time!Time for the return of ESPN.coms weekly NBA Power Rankings, with your faithful Committee of One ?back to oversee the ladder for its 15th successive season.LeBron James and his title-winning Cavaliers -- how does that sound, Cleveland? -- naturally start out on top, upholding our longstanding tradition which mandates that the No. 1 spot must be where the defending champions open. That means Golden State, fresh off becoming the first team in ESPN history to sit atop this poll from wire-to-wire last season, must settle for No. 2, launching our first good rankings debate of the new season.Friendly annual reminder: Our Training Camp edition of the rankings is not meant to be a predicted order of finish in each conference. This introductory batch gives significant weight to a teams personnel successes (or failures) from the summer -- as well as any injuries -- when sorting the 1-to-30 order. Which should explain, for example, why Oklahoma City has tumbled to No. 10 after losing Kevin Durant in free agency. Or why Miami, no longer home to Dwyane Wade and facing an uncertain future given the status of Chris Bosh, opens at No. 20.1.?Cleveland Cavaliers 2015-16 record: 57-25 Final 2015-16 rank: 4The Cavs are the NBAs reigning champs, which should provide enough justification for seasoned Power Rankings consumers to explain why the Warriors, even after landing Kevin Durant, and thus winning the offseason?, open one notch lower than theyre so used to. And you should also note that the Cavs return almost intact, offsetting the departures of Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova with the handy acquisition of Mike Dunleavy (and assuming J.R. Smith will soon re-sign).2.?Golden State Warriors 2015-16 record: 73-9 Final 2015-16 rank: 1The regular season is obviously important because the Warriors and their superstar quartet need as much time as they can muster to build chemistry. But the regular season also threatens to be somewhat meaningless for the Dubs, since theres little they can do over the next 82 games to impress us after 73-9 failed to add up to a championship. The ride from now til April will be long, strange and chaotic.3.?San Antonio Spurs 2015-16 record: 67-15 Final 2015-16 rank: 2Did the Committee really see ESPNer and trusted pal @adamreisinger suggest that the Spurs are headed for a crash to their first sub-50-win season in what seems like forever? Not ready to go that far here, but a decline of sorts from a franchise-record 67 wins into the 50s seems unavoidable as we all face the mammoth adjustment of learning to function without Timothy Theodore Duncan.4.?LA Clippers 2015-16 record: 53-29 Final 2015-16 rank: 3Is this the second-best team in the West? Is the gap between the Warriors and Clippers/Spurs so dramatic that we shouldnt even bother asking? Do we need to include the obligatory line youre supposed to throw out about the Clips at the start of every season about how the Chris Paul-Blake Griffin-DeAndre Jordan trio better win ... or else? We wish the Clips offseason inspired fresher questions, but it didnt.5.?Toronto Raptors 2015-16 record: 56-26 Final 2015-16 rank: 5 A year ago?we were touting Boston as a viable surprise pick for Atlantic Division supremacy. The Raps let us know what they thought about that by winning a franchise-best 56 games and hanging in there all the way until Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. So the least we can do is start them out at No. 2 in the East this time. Especially after the productive summer for gold medalists Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.6.?Boston Celtics 2015-16 record: 48-34 Final 2015-16 rank: 8Restlessness among Celtics fans is tangible, but were not quite sure why. Boston officially left the Free Agents Never Choose Us club with the marquee signing of Al Horford and still has lots of trade chips to put into play. Id venture to say most teams out there would trade places with Danny Ainge, whose Celts -- dont forget -- also still happen to reside in the East. Life is pretty good in green.7.?Utah Jazz 2015-16 record: 40-42 Final 2015-16 rank: 15Folks tend to forget just how consistently good Utah was for the better part of two decades with that Karl Malone-John Stockton-Jerry Sloan foundation, but Im not sure Ive ever been more intrigued by a Jazz team than this one. Adding Joe Johnson, Boris Diaw and George Hill, along with a healed Dante Exum, to what the Jazz already had makes them the scariest of the Wests up-and-comers.8.?Memphis Grizzlies 2015-16 record: 42-40 Final 2015-16 rank: 16Mike Conley emerging as the highest-paid player in NBA history? Chandler Parsons vacating his (virtual) assistant GM role in Dallas to join his third Southwest Division team in four seasons? Committee fave Nick Van Exel coaching alongside new boss David Fizdale? Age and health remain major question marks in Memphis, but the Griz will be an irresistible watch because of those first three sentences ... at least to us.9.?Portland Trail Blazers 2015-16 record: 44-38 Final 2015-16 rank: 11Did we learn our lesson from last season? Thats what Blazermaniacs will surely be wondering when they hear were lukewarm on the nearly $300 million Portland spent this offseason. The Blazers made a lot of experts look foolish in 2015-16, so maybe theyll do it again, but expectations might also be rising too quickly in the Pacific Northwest. How much help did Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and Terry Stotts really get?10.?OKC Thunder 2015-16 record: 55-27 Final 2015-16 rank: 6Question: How wounded were Oklahomans by Kevin Durants departure? Answer: They celebrated what might be only one extra season of Russell Westbrook as if it were a championship. Plenty of uncertainty about the future remains, but lets also be clear: Our respect for Angry Russ is such that we still expect the Thunder, thanks to some typically Presti-esque tweaks around him, to make a run at 50 wins even without KD.11.?Indiana Pacers 2015-16 record: 45-37 Final 2015-16 rank: 13The Committee still aint sold on Indy swapping out Frank Vogel for Nate McMillan -- not at all -- but there also isnt an executive alive who cares less about what external know-it-alls think than Larry Legend. The Pacers summer shakeup was so uncharacteristically dramatic that well just sit back now and watch how Nate, Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young and Al Jefferson all settle in around Paul George.12.?Atlanta Hawks 2015-16 record: 48-34 Final 2015-16 rank: 7Were all on the same quest in the East. Were all on the lookout for a team or two that can legitimately prevent a third successive Cleveland trip to the Finals that again looks like such an inevitability. Nominating the Hawks to do just that means you think Dwight Howard and a promoted Dennis Schroder can give Atlanta more than Al Horford and Jeff Teague did. Were trying to talk ourselves into it.13.?Detroit Pistons 2015-16 record: 44-38 Final 2015-16 rank: 12Cant remember the last time you could ask this same question in the East and the West: Whos the fourth-best team in the conference? Yet its an anomaly that represents a grand opportunity for Stan Van Gundys Pistons, who just snapped a run of seven successive seasons with a losing record by going 44-38 and, according to ESPN Forecast, start the new season as a favorite to snag the Easts fourth seed.14.?Dallas Mavericks 2015-16 record: 42-40 Final 2015-16 rank: 14 Death, taxes, these Power Rankings ... and Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas. Four things you can always count on. Its going to be a big adjustment for all of us -- life without Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan; new teams for Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade -- but Dirk continues to hang in there gamely with a franchise that, like it or not, is also becoming increasingly known for its Plan B offseasons.15.?Houston Rockets 2015-16 record: 41-41 Final 2015-16 rank: 17Dwight Howard-bashers will tell you the Rockets are poised for improvement based purely on an addition-by-subtraction basis. Not so fast. For all our years of unabashed Mike DAntoni fandom, we have to ask: Youre sure that the boost James Harden gets from the DAntoni Effect offensively can offset all the problems this Houston roster is going to have guarding people?16.?Minn. Timberwolves 2015-16 record: 29-53 Final 2015-16 rank: 18The season begins with only three West teams youd confidently classify as 50-win material, which is the lowest number we can remember for ages. The flip side: Portland, Utah and these Wolves have pundits everywhere gushing about how big a jump theyre about to make. New boss Tom Thibodeau will naturally try to temper expectations, but whos going to stay rational about Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins?17.?Charlotte Hornets 2015-16 record: 48-34 Final 2015-16 rank: 10Exactly how much has Charlotte lost through the exits of Al Jefferson, Courtney Lee and Jeremy Lin? ESPN Forecast pegs the Hornets to win 43 games -- down from 48 last season -- while the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook tagged them with an over/under of just 39.5 wins. What seems clear, whichever projection you prefer, is that the Hornets top-eight status in the East is under threat on top of losing Februarys All-Star Game.18.?Chicago Bulls 2015-16 record: 42-40 Final 2015-16 rank: 19The legit June whisper going around was that the Bulls were planning a quiet July. Instead they wound up finally acquiring Dwyane Wade -- six years after they first tried -- to conclusively win the subsequent news conference. But can they win actual games with a Jimmy Butler/D-Wade/Rajon Rondo core? And when their coach ranks as their best outside shooter? Put us firmly in the camp with all the other skeptics.19.?Washington Wizards 2015-16 record: 41-41 Final 2015-16 rank: 20Scott Brooks isnt easily fazed; dont forget he once endured a 3-29 start to the season in his early OKC days. But his new gig sure wont be an easy one. Not when it begins with fresh questions about how well Washingtons backcourt stars mesh ... questions curiously raised by John Wall himself. Wasnt getting spurned in free agency by local product Kevin Durant supposed to be the low point of the summer?20.?Miami Heat 2015-16 record: 48-34 Final 2015-16 rank: 9With such a fancy training camp location -- Atlantic Paradise Island Resort in the Bahamas! -- Miami clearly rejects the notion that this is no longer one of the leagues glamour teams. But who really knows what to expect from whats left of the Heat in Year 1 post-Wade? I frankly never thought Dwyane Wade would leave and dont know what to think now until we know more about Chris Boshs availability.21.?New York Knicks 2015-16 record: 32-50 Final 2015-16 rank: 25National broadcasters seem to believe in Phil Jacksons offseason, given the 22 games the Knicks will have on ESPN, ABC or TNT compared to seven last season. Your faithful Committee, by contrast, prefers to reserve judgment, with just too many valid questions about how much Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah have left to be the Knicks new chief sidekicks flanking Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis.22.?Milwaukee Bucks 2015-16 record: 33-49 Final 2015-16 rank: 22 Jittery Bucks fans dont have to worry about us getting carried away with our projections like we did in this cyberspace a year ago. Not after the Khris Middleton injury news; Milwaukee was outscored by 12.6 points per 100 possessions with Middleton off the court last season. The afterglow emanating from Giannis Antetokounmpos $100 million contract extension lasted all of three days.23.?Orlando Magic 2015-16 record: 35-47 Final 2015-16 rank: 21Our own Zach Lowe recently tried to make sense of Orlandos overload of big men and the new arrival -- Frank Vogel -- who has to sort it all out. ?Its really no clearer, two months since Zachs deep dive, if the Magic can bring a halt to their four-season playoff drought, but we know this much: Vogels plan to use Aaron Gordon like Paul George at small forward makes it a story worth tracking.24.?New Orleans Pelicans 2015-16 record: 30-52 Final 2015-16 rank: 27Goal No. 1, of course, is seeing Anthony Davis crack the 70-game plateau for the first time in his career. The grander goal would then be climbing back into the Wests top eight and resurrecting the momentum that the Pels were mounting after The Brows third season, when they made the playoffs before hiring Alvin Gentry away from Golden State to unleash Davis. ?Jrue Holidays availability is obviously another huge variable.25.?Sacramento Kings 2015-16 record: 33-49 Final 2015-16 rank: 23The opening of the new Golden 1 Center should at least temporarily revitalize Sacramentos playoffs-starved fan base and might even spawn a second honeymoon period for owner Vivek Ranadive. How long any of that lasts, though, remains to be seen, with all eyes on star big man DeMarcus Cousins and new coach Dave Joerger -- and how they click -- as well as the Rudy Gay saga and Cousins ongoing lack of a true top-shelf sidekick.26.?Denver Nuggets 2015-16 record: 33-49 Final 2015-16 rank: 24The Nuggets did try to barge their way into the D-Wade Sweepstakes but ultimately head to training camp with five players 21 or younger: Nikola Jokic, Emmanuel Mudiay, Juan Hernangomez, Malik Beasley and Jamal Murray. Since we all know youth doesnt win in the NBA, brace for lots of losses in Denver to go with all the trade rumors about the Nuggets packaging some of those pieces into a deal for a true cornerstone.27.?Phoenix Suns 2015-16 record: 23-59 Final 2015-16 rank: 26Devin Booker, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss ... much of what we said about the Nuggets applies to the Suns, too. Are they going to go slow and build around their three prized youngsters? Or will they instead try to pool their assets -- either some of those newer ones or vets such as?Tyson Chandler and either Eric Bledsoe or Brandon Knight -- to make some significant deals? These are questions youll hear from now through the February trade deadline.28.?Los Angeles Lakers 2015-16 record: 17-65 Final 2015-16 rank: 29A long Year 1 back in Lakerland awaits rookie coach Luke Walton -- brutally long if you believe the oddsmakers whose livelihoods depend on getting these forecasts right. The Lakers over/under via Vegas going into training camp, with all that youth on their first Kobe Bryant-less roster in two decades, is 24.5 wins, according to the Las Vegas Westgate SuperBook ... three fewer than the Sixers projected 27.5.29.?Philadelphia 76ers 2015-16 record: 10-72 Final 2015-16 rank: 30This season marks the 50-year anniversary of Wilt Chamberlains 68-13 Sixers of 1966-67. Its also the start of a new era in Philly, with Ben Simmons ranking as the undisputed Rookie of the Year favorite and what was affectionately known as The Process now a memory. Are we getting ahead of ourselves to be swept up in all that romanticism and start these guys higher than No. 30? You really expected otherwise?30.?Brooklyn Nets 2015-16 record: 21-61 Final 2015-16 rank: 28All of the wise, measured moves weve seen from Sean Marks since the affable Kiwi assumed control of Brooklyns front office cant change the reality that the Nets, until they prove otherwise, look like the weakest team in the leagues weakest division. As much as wed love to give bonus points for our fond memories of Olympic chats with new Net Luis Scola, or our longstanding belief that Jeremy Lin is underrated, we cant.PS -- The next edition of the rankings hits Oct. 24, on the eve of Opening Night, with peerless data and background material provided, as always, by ESPN Stats & Information and the Elias Sports Bureau. Then well meet up back here every Monday during the regular season to take the pulse of all 30 teams, relying on our trusty formula that weighs whats happening in the present against that teams big-picture outlook for the season, while always allowing for a dash of subjective whim.Nike Air Max NZ Mens . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. Air Max 90 Sale Nz . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. http://www.airmaxnzwholeale.com/cheap-air-max-97-1-nz.html . The scientists believe the small earthquake during a Marshawn Lynch touchdown was likely greater than Lynchs famous "beast quake" touchdown run three years ago, which also came against New Orleans during a playoff game. Air Max 720 Womens Nz . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Nike Air Max 270 Nz Womens . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said.CLEVELAND -- The Indians silently packed their bags for the road.The party was postponed again.With a chance to clinch its first AL Central title since 2007, Cleveland was shut out 3-0 on Sunday by the Chicago White Sox, who got eight dominant innings from Carlos Rodon and spoiled the Indians home finale.Disappointment could be sensed in every corner of Clevelands clubhouse as players stripped off uniforms that remained dry instead of being drenched with champagne.Like the bottles of bubbly, the championship remains on ice.You want to do it in front of the home crowd, second baseman Jason Kipnis said. It would have been fun to give high-fives down the line, all that stuff, but well push it back until tomorrow in Detroit, hopefully.Rodon struck (8-10) struck out a career-high 11 and blanked the Indians on just two singles. The left-hander easily handled the division leaders who still havent wrapped up a playoff spot and have gone flat at the worst time possible. Cleveland needed to win its regular-season finale at home and Detroit to lose to Kansas City for the Indians to win the division crown.The Tigers lost 12-9 to the Royals, but the Indians didnt do their part. Theyve clinched a share of the title, and now theyll try to win it outright on the road against the Tigers, whom theyve beaten 13 times in 15 games this season. The clubs open a four-game series Monday at Comerica Park.Nothing has come easy this season for Cleveland, which has overcome major injuries and must now defeat the Tigers, their long-time rivals, to return to the postseason for the first time since 2013.Its a little fitting, said starter Josh Tomlin, who allowed just one earned run in 6 2/3 innings. But we have a resilient group. Were ready for the next challenge. If it has to be in Detroit or Kansas City, wherever it may be, we need to get it done. We know what the task is and were prepared for it. Hopefully we get it done sooner rather than later.Cleveland had three errors for the second straight game and scored just one in the past two days.Carlos Sanchez had two RBI off Tomlin (12-9), who matched Rodon. However, the Indians couldnt do much against the left-hander, who turned in his best outing this season in Clevelands biggest game. Rodon struck out the side in the eighth before David Robertson worked the ninth for his 36th save.ddddddddddddWith little to play for, the White Sox enjoyed playing spoiler.Theyre eventually going to win it but we wont be around to see them celebrate, third baseman Todd Frazier said. Youve got to take pride in every game and every series, so theyll have to do it on the road now.Maybe feeling some of the pressure to wrap up a division theyve led since June 4, the Indians didnt get their first hit until the fifth, when Cleveland threatened to get a run across.Brandon Guyer singled leading off and took second on a passed ball. Coco Crisp walked and Chris Gimenez sacrificed. But Michael Martinez popped to short right, not deep enough to score Guyer and Rodon struck out Rajai Davis.Tomlin gave up a leadoff infield single to Tim Anderson in the first and then retired 12 straight, nine on fly balls to the outfield, before Frazier singled to open Chicagos fifth. He stole second with two outs and scored when Sanchez slapped a single for the only run Chicago would need.Indians manager Terry Francona didnt lament a loss that stung more than most.The itinerary says go to Detroit, he said. Well go where they tell us and play who they tell us and try to win. Thats what we always do.SAD SITUATIONBefore the game, players on both teams stood in front of clubhouse TVs and watched coverage of the tragic death of Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, killed in a boating accident.White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, who like Fernandez defected from Cuba, sat quietly at his locker with his face turned from the room. Abreu did not speak to reporters following the game.ATTENDANCE BUMPThe Indians drew 202,000 more fans this season than in 2015.HOME RUNDespite the weekend losses, the Indians went 15-5 at home since Aug. 21.UP NEXTWhite Sox: At a loss to explain his struggles since coming to Chicago in June, James Shields is 0-6 in his last 10 starts. The right-hander starts the series opener against Tampa Bay, the team he played for from 2006-12.Indians: Cy Young candidate Corey Kluber goes for his career-high 19th win as Cleveland begins its final road trip. Hes 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the Tigers this season. ' ' '