RealGM

Week 2: the Bulls move up from 19 to 10. Discuss.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32445694/nba-power-rankings-week-2-where-do-lakers-stand-slow-start-season

This is the type of ESPN article that puts fear in Nick Friedell.

Bulls move from 10th in the East to 6th. MIL, BKN, MIA, PHI and ATL are still ahead of us.

These rankings were created before we beat TOR. That win probably would not make a difference, as TOR is ranked 22.

MrSparkle wrote:This is the type of ESPN article that puts fear in Nick Friedell.

I don't even think he actually believed the words that came out of his mouth. I see it as him taking a blind opportunity to hate on the team he used to cover, regardless of whether it was based in reality or not.

bad knees wrote:Bulls move from 10th in the East to 6th. MIL, BKN, MIA, PHI and ATL are still ahead of us.

These rankings were created before we beat TOR. That win probably would not make a difference, as TOR is ranked 22.

I feel like the only team that is clearly superior to us is MIL right now. BRK has struggled and is below .500. MIA is good, and they always play hard, but personel wise I like our team better. I think it would be a tough series if we met them in the playoffs right now, and not sure who would win. I'm not sold on PHI without Simmons. ATL seems to reliant on Trae- and with Lonzo and Caruso, I think we have the guys who can slow him down.

So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

Jvaughn wrote:So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

Power rankings tend to have whatever the opposite of Recency Bias is.

Jvaughn wrote:So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

I think the Lakers are overhyped, but I think they were being generous putting the Bulls at 10th. I doubt the Bulls finish with the 10th (or better) best record in the NBA this year.

dougthonus wrote:

Jvaughn wrote:So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

I think the Lakers are overhyped, but I think they were being generous putting the Bulls at 10th. I doubt the Bulls finish with the 10th (or better) best record in the NBA this year.

How many wins would that equate to? I think we can win 50 if injuries don’t derail us and we address the frontcourt issue.

WindyCityBorn wrote:

dougthonus wrote:

Jvaughn wrote:So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

I think the Lakers are overhyped, but I think they were being generous putting the Bulls at 10th. I doubt the Bulls finish with the 10th (or better) best record in the NBA this year.

How many wins would that equate to? I think we can win 50 if injuries don’t derail us and we address the frontcourt issue.

Just looked at the last 3 years (two of which are pro-rated due to COVID):
20/21: 49
19/20: 50
18/19: 49

So seems right around that 49/50 mark.

dougthonus wrote:

Jvaughn wrote:So Bulls are 4-0 and 10th, but the 1-2 Lakers are ranked 8th. Hmm

I think the Lakers are overhyped, but I think they were being generous putting the Bulls at 10th. I doubt the Bulls finish with the 10th (or better) best record in the NBA this year.

Yeah this year would be a great success if we end the season that high. As far as the rankings go, 10 is likely right based on strength of schedule. the 3 teams we beat were all missing an important player Cade/Zion/Siakim. Granted in Cade's case it would have been his first and second NBA games so I don't think he would have made a big impact but that still is of note.

New rankings came out today and we moved up 1 spot to number 9.

We all know espn is trash at this sort of stuff, but its a little annoying. Utah is ranked 1st.

InsideInfo wrote:New rankings came out today and we moved up 1 spot to number 9.

We all know espn is trash at this sort of stuff, but its a little annoying. Utah is ranked 1st.

At least they have the Heat who have been absolutely destroying teams at #2. Their current SRS of 17.3 would be far and away the best of all time if they kept it up for a season. The 72 win Bulls had an SRS of 11.8, for comparison. That Heat-Jazz game on Saturday has the potential to be a really good one.

InsideInfo wrote:New rankings came out today and we moved up 1 spot to number 9.

We all know espn is trash at this sort of stuff, but its a little annoying. Utah is ranked 1st.

I think #9 is pretty fair. At the end of the season, what place do you think the Bulls will be in?

If they moved everyone around based on head to head matchups, you would have an impossible task because Team A will beat Team B who beats Team C who beat Team A. Of the six 1 loss teams, the Bulls have had the easiest schedule and only have one quality win.

Brooklyn at #3 when they are 4-3 is nonsense. All the other 5 win teams other than Utah are below.

We did beat the Jazz, but we lost to the Knicks so #9 is fair. I'm actually thrilled that we're ranked that high by a mostly pessimistic media like ESPN, who had us #19 to start the season.

We have a very hard schedule this week (@Boston, @Philly, vs Philly), but if we go 3-0, I bet you that we crack top 6.

FriedRise wrote:We did beat the Jazz, but we lost to the Knicks so #9 is fair. I'm actually thrilled that we're ranked that high by a mostly pessimistic media like ESPN, who had us #19 to start the season.

We have a very hard schedule this week (@Boston, @Philly, vs Philly), but if we go 3-0, I bet you that we crack top 6.

If we go 3-0, we deserve to crack the top 5 IMO.

Early in the season, people don't drop their preseason expectations based on a handful of games, but if the Bulls were 8-1 and had four straight quality wins, you'd have to start giving them real love even if you backed it off later.

It's not really a matter of power rankings "making sense," because by definition they can't. If they only evaluate this season's early results, then you get things like rating the Orlando Magic from a couple of years past the best team in the NBA (or nearly) because they started 6-0. If you take into consideration last year's record and along with pedigree, then you get Brooklyn at #3 while being 4-3.

Pick your poison. But realize that from another perspective, whatever argument that people make about power rankings is also wrong.

So I don't pay them any real attention.

1 lil funky a$$ jumpshot from being 6-0 smh

Just to emphasize how much better the Bulls are this year (or at least how much more exciting it is to be a Bulls fan):

This season 6 games to 5 wins.
2020-2021... 13 games to reach 5 wins.
2019-2020... 15 games to 5 wins.
2018-2019... 18 games to 5 wins.
2017-2018... 25 games to 5 wins.
2016-2017... 9 games to 5 wins (with Butler/Wade/Rondo... the "retool, not rebuild" year).

Granted, there are some schedule wins this year, but I think regardless of that, we can say that we are AT LEAST as good as the retool year, and the eye test says we're significantly better than that.