The NBA Playoff Bandwagon Rankings

All-Star Weekend is done, the trade deadline is over, and even buyout week is about to come to a close. That means that for the NBA fan, only two things of import are left in this NBA season--the lottery and the playoffs. If your own team is out of one or the other--or in the case of Knicks fans, poor poor Knicks fans, out of both--you're probably looking for a new team to root for, a team you can ride or die with until May or June, one worthy of your temporary allegiance and one whose success will give you a satisfaction roughly approaching that you'd get from your usual team of choice. 

Thus: The fourth annual NBA Bandwagon Power Rankings. We'll take on the playoff-bound teams today, and the lottery-bounds tomorrow. As explained in the link earlier in this paragraph, this is my rankings of the 16 teams currently in the playoff race, in order of how worthy they are of your bandwagon affections over these climactic months of the NBA season. As in the last three years, these lists do not include the Lakers or Heat, simply because I can not, will not think rationally about teams involving one or both of Kobe Bryant or LeBron James. (Though this is the first time in PBR history that the Heat and Lakers would not be showing up on the same list, anyway. Strange feeling.)

To continue my self-plagiarizing column explanation, teams are ranked based on a variety of factors in highly unequal and imprecise percentages. These factors include, but are not limited to: How likely the team is to make the playoffs (optimally: very likely), how likely the team is to make a deep run (optimally: likely, but not so likely that they’re a foregone conclusion), how interesting the team is compared to past years’ incarnations, how many intriguing subplots surround the team, and how good a mixture they have of familiar, possibly friendly faces and fresher, newer names in the mix. General unpredictability is a huge boon in the PBRs, and straight-through staleness is a sure kiss of death. And as always, you’d also like them to at least have a half-court shot in hell's chance of beating the Miami Heat.

So let's get under way with these bandwagon-friendly and unfriendly teams, to see who you should be attempting your spring fling with. And sorry Eastern Conference, but despite the best intentions of the GMs and ownerships involved, the Cavs, Pistons and Knicks were all determined to be too far out of the race to be worth ranking. You'll see at least two of them in tomorrow's column, at least. 

16. Atlanta Hawks (Last Year: 16) I feel bad for ranking the Hawks this low yet again--in four years of doing this column, they've never been higher than 14th--because I actually enjoy watching this team some. This isn't Charles Barkley's despicable Atlanta Hawks team of years past, the sullen, character-less squads led by Josh Smith and/or Joe Johnson, this is a team that tries, executes, and (generally) only takes threes that are well-considered. They're imminently more watchable than any Hawks team since at least 2009, and you generally want good things for NBA pro's pros like Paul Millsap, Kyle Korever and Elton Brand. 

But sad to say, this Hawks team just doesn't have the juice. You don't have to be a legit finals contender to fare well in the PBRs, but it's good to have at least the slightest chance to do something, and after suffering about five injuries too many to recover from--most notably, of course, the season-ending pec tear for Al Horford--it's finally started taking its toll on Atlanta, and they've slipped all the way from three to eight in the standings, which all but ensures them a four-game immolation at the hands of the Pacers and Heat. They might make a game or two exciting, and they might get you pumped for next season at the Highlight Factory, but for now, they're just too long a shot (and too depressing an injury-riddled roster) to really consider here. Sorry guys, you'll make the top ten someday. I hope. 

15. Brooklyn Nets (Last Year: 15) I actually kinda like this creaky, vet-laden Nets team, because they're such a different sort of watch than any other NBA team at the moment--when they run sets between the likes of Paul Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko, it can feel like watching a Phantom Cam recording in real time--but as with the Hawks, injuries have taken their toll here, and when Brook Lopez went down for the season, it ensured that this team would be too depressing to be any higher than this in the rankings. You can only get so excited for a Deron Williams/Joe Johnson backcourt anyway, and the trade-deadline addition of Marcus Thornton didn't exactly do a ton for their League Pass cred. 

You never like to see KG and Pierce toiling away for nothing, and certainly AK-47 and Shaun Livingston are automatic pluses for whatever team they're on. But ultimately, the sooner this team is disposed of, the better off the playoffs will be. 

14. Charlotte Bobcats (Last Year: N/A) Like the Hawks and the Nets, there's no real chance of doing much damage here, though at least with the Bobcats, there's a sense of New Blood to it--players like Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who have never made the playoffs before and could theoretically do some exciting crap once there. But there's probably a rule somewhere about never letting an Al Jefferson-led team rank any higher than 14 in these things--sorry, Big Al, it's cool that you've been on a tear lately, but you're just not That Dude when it comes to bandwagoning--and as impressive as Steve Clifford's team has been with their overachieving this season, they're still kind of a slog to actually watch and root for. Nobody's going to want to play them in the first round, but nobody's going to really want to watch them, either. 

By the way, not to drudge up ancient playoff history, but this stat continues to blow my mind: You know how free throws Al Jefferson took in the Jazz's four game sweep at the hands of the Spurs in 2012, when Jefferson was Utah's best scorer and de facto leader? Four. Two fouls drawn over the course of four games, one shot per. Big Al's never exactly been James Harden when it comes to getting to the line, but c'mon--even a 1.5-feet-in-the-grave Josh Howard manage to take five trips to the charity stripe in that series. And he only hit one of the four! Yikes. Good luck with that this April, Bobcats fans. 

13. San Antonio Spurs (Last Year: 3) The first team on this list with an actual chance of going far in the playoffs this year...but it's not feeling like all that great a chance, is it? Despite being second in the West standings for most of the year, this is already starting to feel like kind of a lost year for San Antonio--injuries have piled up to the point of needing to dig up Shannon Brown and Othyus Jeffers, Tim Duncan's jump shot is really starting to show its age, and Kawhi Leonard hasn't taken the Great Leap Forward everyone expected (and the Spurs needed) him to this year, partly because he's been the biggest injury victim of all. They haven't had more than one or two really good victories against a fellow contender, and though they're still beating up on the teams they should be beating up on, it doesn't feel like they'll be able to hang with most of the West's elite this postseason. 

Then again, this is the Spurs, and we probably could have had some variation of this discussion at some point in each of their last four or five playoff runs--the last two of which have been to at least the Conference Finals, with a real chance of winning at all. Can't rule out the possibility of them righting the ship between now and April 19th, but for now, they're the lowest of the West teams in these rankings. 

12. Dallas Mavericks (Last Year: N/A) Boy, I'd like to rank the Mavs higher than this. They're super-fun to watch, Dirk is Dirk, and I'd like to believe they could at least use their collective veteran savy to put a scare into one of the West's elite this postseason. But fact of the matter is, this is a second-tier team--they're a combined 3-8 against the Thunder, Spurs, Clips, Rockets and Blazers--and there are just too many first-tier teams in the West this year to hang your hat on a team that just isn't likely to be with us for very long. Hopefully we'll get at least one game where Dirk goes off for 38 on 13-17 shooting or something, and going possession-for-possession with Durant or Duncan or Griffin, but even though I'll be rooting for them regardless, I just can't advise going all-in on them. 

11. Chicago Bulls (Last Year: 11) As with the Mavs, I love, love, love this Bulls team regardless--I can't believe there's another team in the league that would show the heart and resilience they have for two straight years, given all the soul-crushing disadvantages they've been put at from where they were at the start of the 2012 postseason--but I just can't advocate you jumping on their bandwagon for a third-straight post-Derrick Rose run, which seems destined to end (at best) with another second-round beatdown at the hands of the Pacers or Heat. True, the same could be said for any of the other five East playoff teams, but at least a couple of them have the whiff of ascendance to them, where after three playoff runs without their leader, you have to wonder if the Derrick Rose Bulls are just kinda doomed in this regard. 

10. Washington Wizards (Last Year: 16) It'll be nice to welcome John Wall and Bradley Beal to the land of the postseason, and the Wizards play a mostly exciting brand of basketball with lots of fast breaks and three-pointers and tight defensive rotations, but I can't imagine there's an East team out there right now that's saying "oh crap, I hope we don't have to play Washington in the first round." Observe the "definitive Wizards flow chart," as offered by SB Nation team writer Mike Prada:

Unfortunately, you mostly play good teams in the playoffs, and though the Wizards have found a little more success against such teams in recent days, it seems unlikely they're gonna be in it for the long haul. Some definitely bandwagoning potential down the road, but they're still a year or two (and maybe a piece or two) away from serious contention in this regard.

9. Memphis Grizzlies (Last Year: 9) They're ranked in the bottom half because they might not even get in at all--the Grizz are still a couple games out, without anyone in the top eight looking like they're feeling like budging right quick--but if they do get in, look out. At full health, this is actually a much better Grizzlies team than the one that went to the conference finals last year--they have an actual backup point guard and backup center now, they have a starting wing who can actually shoot, they even have whatever the hell James Johnson is. If they can get Marc Gasol and Mike Conley right at the same time, this team actually has about as high a potential in the West as anyone besides OKC--and you can bet that OKC wouldn't want to see them in the first or second, nor would the Clippers given their recent history. 

Still, a couple too many "if"s to consider here for the moment, so stay cool on this for now. But if a couple teams ahead of them start looking like they might be dropping out of the race, you can probably still catch the bandwagon before it's too late. Nothing out of Memphis moves all that fast anyway. 

8. Houston Rockets (Last Year: 5) Technically, the Rockets should be a super-exciting team--they run a lot, they shoot a ton of threes, they have Jeremy Lin and Handsome Chandler Parsons, etc.--and it's always fun to catch a team on the upswing, who's already jumped a playoff level and might still have another to climb. But how hard can you really root for a team built around Dwight Howard and James Harden? In my case, the answer is "not very"--nothing explicitly against either, but between the hack-a-Howard and James Harden whipping his head back every time he cannonballs down the lane, it's a lot of ill-gotten free throws for one team. (And while I guess it's good to have Dwight back as a relevant playoff character for the first time since 2011, there's probably gonna be some jokey interviews or pre-filmed bits with him that aren't going to be nearly as funny as he wants them to be, and it'll be awkward watching the announcers and his Rocket teammates politely chuckle their way through them.)

Bottom line: If you have a high tolerance for Howard and Harden's respective personal styles on and off the court, get crazy with the Houston cheese whiz. If not, better opt for one of the seven teams higher on this list. 

7. Portland Trailblazers (Last Year: N/A) 
6. Phoenix Suns (Last Year: N/A)

One of these teams will probably end up being the most exciting team of the first round of the playoffs, and one will probably fade away quietly and have their fans muttering about waiting until next year. If I had to take a guess about which is which, I'd say the Blazers are probably more likely to bow out in five or six--they've already started slipping a little more than I'd be comfortable with as a Portland fan and their offensive-minded style seems pretty combustible for the postseason--while the still-overachieving Suns could at least push a superior team to seven and get everyone in the NBA in their corner for next year. Of course, the latter point is contingent on the Suns making it at all, which with recurring injuries to Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe's return still disconcertingly uncertain is hardly a guaranteed bet, but they've made it this far, and I'm betting/praying they'll get over that extra hurdle into postseason contention. 

By the way, a note on Portland: Do you realize they haven't won a postseason series since 2000, when they lost to the Lakers in Game 7 (the famous fourth-quarter collapse game with the Kobe-Shaq alley-oop) of the Western Conference Finals? Since then, they're a resounding 0-6 in the first round. I mean, at some point it gets into "curse" territory, right? I like Portland and will probably be rooting for them in this year's first round, but history is most decidedly not on their side here. 

5. Golden State Warriors (Last Year: 10)

As the team that ended up as the go-to bandwagon team of last postseason--I might've whiffed on that one just a bit in my column last year, as evidenced by the #10 ranking referenced above--they should probably fall no lower than five here. But it's hard not to feel like the mojo isn't quite with the Warriors this year--they're starting to turn things around the past week or so, but there's still that sensation of the team not being quite as good as they should be, with one of the league's best (and best-compensated) starting fives and now a bench that they've invested heavily in behind them. If they win in the first-round but bow out in a hard-fought second round series again, will that be as exciting as it was last year, or will it feel somewhat unsatisfying given the heightened expectations? Hard to say. 

Still, they do have Stephen Curry, and he's yet to really have that one game this year that's captured the nation's attention and reminded us that when at his hottest, this guy is very possibly the most exciting player in the entire league, maybe in all of sports. Because of that alone--not to mention Klay, 'Dre, Bogie, etc.--the top-five ranking is still more than fair. The Warriors are on the PBR hot seat, though, if such a thing is possible. 

4. Toronto Raptors (Last Year: N/A)

This is probably a little high for the Raptors, considering their potential for making it beyond the second round is not great. Still, it's been great fun to catch on their bandwagon this season--and unlike most of us at The Score, I'm not a naturalized Raps fan by any means--because it came so out of nowhere and feels so fresh and exciting. It's been so long since there was any real reason to get excited about professional hoops north of the border, and to see this team take the collective next step, not through any outright tanking or big-budget free-agent acquisitions, but just by the team finding its identity and improving from within, is an all-too-rare thing in the NBA. And who knows what this team is going to be like next year, when Kyle Lowry's contract is up and maybe the East isn't so lousy across-the-board lousy? If you don't get with 'em now, the chance might not still be there next playoffs.

Really, what I'd like is to see a Raps/Wizards first-round series. Wall and Beal vs. Lowry and DeRozan, Valanciunas vs. Gortat, Amir vs. Nene, Vasquez vs. the Professor...just great, great player matchups all the way across the board. They played a couple weeks ago and even though Toronto ended up winning in a near blow-out, it was an intense, hard-fought meeting that felt like a playoff matchup in the works. They play again tonight, and you can bet it'll be a much better game than either of the TNT matchups. Six or seven games of that would be just the ticket, before the winner lines up for eventual slaughter against the Pacers or Heat. (Though I think the Raps could at least give Indy a series, and watching Lance and Lowry go at it for four-plus games would alone be worth the price of admission.) 

3. Los Angeles Clippers (Last Year: 8). I'm pretty surprised at myself for ranking the Clip Show this high, considering I haven't really gotten into the Clippers since the Chris Paul trade three summers ago. I complain about this in every PBR column, but never liked seeing the Baron/Gordon/Griffin Clipper core broken up, and watching the Clips fall under the thumb of CP3 just hasn't been as exciting for me, with Blake and DeAndre Jordan never quite taking the leap I wanted them to as players. But this year...maybe it's Doc Rivers, maybe it's the six weeks that they played without Paul, or maybe it's just maturity finally catching up with them, but they've both gone to that next level this season--especially Blake, who's been the second-most exciting player in the league since the New Year--and the results have been spellbinding. 

Now, I'm willing to not only take the Clippers seriously not only as a potential Finals contender, but as a bandwagon front-runner as well. If they ended up facing the Grizzlies in the first or second round, I'd still root for the Grizzlies for old times' sake, but otherwise, the Clips are likely to finally have my backing this postseason. 

2. Indiana Pacers (Last Year: 6). As a Sixers fan, it's hard for me to approach the Pacers rationally now that they have Evan Turner on their team. I watched their game against the Lakers on Tuesday and it was probably more suspenseful and nerve-racking for me than any he's played on the Sixers since they were in the second round of the playoffs against Boston. He certain frustrated the hell out of me when he was in Philly, especially towards the end of this season (and last season, and the season before that...ends of seasons were never particularly kind towards Evan Turner), but after almost four years, I'm still so cripplingly invested in him emotionally that I'll be living and dying with his playoff success even when his Sixers years are long in the rearview. 

Anyway, objectively speaking, the Pacers should probably be close to this high anyway, since they're a crucial part of the most anticipated (well, one of the two most-anticipated) matchusp of the postseason--the Heat-Pacers Eastern Conference Finals. It happened last year and it was obviously fantastic, and this year the playing field between the two appears to have been even further leveled--and the competition for both teams making it that far being all but removed--seemingly paving the way for an absolute classic ECF. And when they get there, you don't want to be rooting for the Heat, do you? Well, not unless...

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (Last Year: 4) ...you're even more invested in a Miami vs. OKC finals. It certainly seems like that's where things are headed, and though the NBA rarely seems to work out exactly how people want it to--though it was sporting of the league to give us those two Lakers-Celtics finals at the turn of the decade--it's certainly what the average NBA fan would like to see in the playoffs' ultimate series. And as exciting as Blake Griffin has been since the new year, he's still a distant #2 to Kevin Durant, who has done what I thought it would take at least another half-decade for an NBA player to be able to do again--actually putting LeBron in his shadow, however temporarily. 

All we really want as NBA fans is to have what MJ and the '90s Bulls never truly had--a legitimate peer and equal. To do that, Durant and the Thunder need to get to the finals again, and they need to win. It seems far more possible this season than it ever has before, and it's what 90% of playoff viewers will be rooting to happen this June, so that we can finally have our own version of Bird and Magic, or Russell and Wilt. It's been a while, and there's an entire generation of NBA fans since that doesn't know what that even feels like. It's time again now, and it seems like only KD and OKC can get us there. (Unless Paul George and Indiana do first, but...well, we'll see. Like most of you I'm sure, I can't wait to find out.)