2022-23 Vendetta NBA Power Rankings: November

2022-23 Vendetta NBA Power Rankings: November

We are officially three weeks into the 2022-23 NBA Season, so let’s do our November edition of the NBA Power Rankings! Check out our October preseason rankings here!

(Note: Tiebreakers go to team with better record!)

30. Houston Rockets (2-9)

• Last Ranking: 28
• (Matt 30, Jackson 30, Anthony 30, Jack 30)
• Average: 27.4

Yes, I’m aware Houston beat Orlando on Monday, but they still clock in as the last-ranked team in our November Power Rankings at 2-9 with the NBA’s third-worst point differential. Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. have all been very inefficient — one of the biggest reasons why they’re a bottom-six offense, despite a rugged schedule to start. Though their biggest bright spot early in the season is the play of Alperen Sengun, who’s averaged 17.8 points, 9.8 boards on 57.6 percent shooting and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line over his last six games.

29. Orlando Magic (2-9)

• Last Ranking: 25
• (Matt 28, Jackson 28, Anthony 28, Jack 29)
• Average: 28.3

Hop on the Bol Bol and Paolo Banchero bandwagon before it’s too late! Both have impressed thus far. Bol’s garnered a bigger role than anyone’s expected through 11 games and Banchero’s like far-and-away the NBA’s best rookie through three weeks — that’s not a slight on the class, but praise for how smooth Banchero’s looked. If Orlando puts it together, I don’t hate their odds at sneaking into a play in. I’m not sure how feasible that is; if and when they breakout is too be determined — anything can happen, it’s still early — but the NBA is stacked. At least they’re in the ballpark for one of the most enjoyable young teams, though. For now, they’re the penultimate squad in our power rankings.

28. Detroit Pistons (3-8)

• Last Ranking: 23
• (Matt 29, Jackson 27, Anthony 29, Jack 28)
• Average: 28.3

The Pistons’ three wins have come against the Magic (opening night), the reeling Warriors and the Thunder (Monday). They’ve lost by five to the Hawks and by two to the Bucks, but have suffered 20-plus point losses in six of its other seven defeats. The defense and defensive rebounding have been detrimental; they’re still in the bottom-third of the NBA in true-shooting percentage and 3-point percentage and have one of the NBA’s worst offenses. Cade Cunningham has taken a step and Jaden Ivey has looked like a promising pick, but will need help — especially from its other creators — if this team has any chance at competing for a play-in.

27. Charlotte Hornets (3-8)

• Last Ranking: 22
• (Matt 23, Jackson 26, Anthony 27, Jack 27)
• Average: 25.8

The Hornets have been a dismal offensive team over their last five games, though the resurgence of Dennis Smith Jr. has been exciting after he was nearly out of the league. He’s averaging 9.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 28.7 minutes, shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. With the sporadic presence of Terry Rozier combined with the absence of LaMelo Ball, Smith’s filled in well. But Charlotte hasn’t much production outside of him, Kelly Oubre, PJ Washington and Gordan Hayward, who’s also been in-and-out of the lineup.

26. Los Angeles Lakers (2-8)

• Last Ranking: 18
• (Matt 27, Jackson 29, Anthony 24, Jack 25)
• Average: 26.3

Wow, the Lakers are BAD. Credit to Darvin Ham though, he is trying to win games. Russell Westbrook has looked good off the bench but we will see if teams adjust. It’s just not a good sign if you are winning games by a single possession and losing by double digits. Still, time to turn things around, but the hole is only getting deeper. — Jackson Law

25. Washington Wizards (5-6)

• Last Ranking: 24
• (Matt 17, Jackson 24, Anthony 25, Jack 24)
• Average: 22.5

Having a bottom-six offense and a bottom-six defense is less than ideal for the Wizards, who were looked at as a possible fringe play-in team heading into the season, with a tough homestand coming up. Now, Bradley Beal is in the health-and-safety protocols (yet again), and their offense undergoes a considerable drop-off when he’s not on the floor. I do like how productive both Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis have been to start the season, however.

24. Sacramento Kings (3-6)

• Last Ranking: 20
• (Matt 25, Jackson 25, Anthony 22, Jack 23)
• Average: 23.8

The Kings are 3-6 to start the season, but there have been good signs and some recurring negative habits that the team can’t seem to shake. The Kings’ defense does look improved but they are still struggling with limiting points in the paint and second-chance points. Domantas Sabonis has looked bad and Harrison Barnes has looked worse. On the bright side, the Kings have had a tough schedule all the while playing solid close games. De’Aaron Fox has been playing at an All-Star level, averaging 26.5 points, 4.8 assists, and 5.4 rebounds on beautiful 55/37/86 shooting splits. Finally, the additions of Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk have been great, and rookie Keegan Murray looks very promising but at the end of the day, Sacramento needs to win games. — Anthony Miranda

23. Indiana Pacers (5-5)

• Last Ranking: 26
• (Matt 19, Jackson 23, Anthony 23, Jack 26)
• Average: 22.8

The Pacers are a respectable 5-5 after the first month of their season. Franchise player Tyrese Haliburton has been stellar, averaging 21.7 points, 9.7 assists, and 5.0 rebounds. Shooting guard Buddy Hield is averaging 18.6 points while shooting 42% on three-pointers. Indiana has gotten solid production from big man Jalen Smith and guard Chris Duarte. Rookie Bennedict Mathurin also appears to be a real scoring threat after four games of posting over 20 points, including a 32-point outing against the Nets. It’s too early to tell if this Pacers team wants to be a lottery team or a possible play-in team. The Pacers’ schedule gets a lot easier in November so by the end of the month it will be clearer where they stand. — Miranda

22. Oklahoma City Thunder (4-6)

• Last Ranking: 28
• (Matt 22, Jackson 20, Anthony 21, Jack 21)
• Average: 21

You might be able to count a handful of teams who play harder than the Thunder. That’s the trademark under head coach Mark Daigneault, and that’s happening again this season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is putting up MVP type numbers — averaging 30.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.4 blocks on 56.8 percent true shooting. Poku has been a formidable rotation piece while it’s been an on-and-off ride for Luguentz Dort, Josh Giddey and Tre Mann. The Thunder are certainly capable of catching any team on a bad night (i.e. Mavericks, Clippers), even though their roster may not look all that enticing — which is a credit to Daigneault, if anything.

21. Brooklyn Nets (4-7)

• Last Ranking: 10
• (Matt 24, Jackson 17, Anthony 20, Jack 22)
• Average: 20.8

The Brooklyn Nets have been disappointing this season, to say the least. Kevin Durant has been phenomenal, Kyrie Irving has been a distraction and Ben Simmons has been “meh”, so things seem normal. The Nets need Seth Curry and Joe Harris, who both are recovering from injuries, to get back into the groove of things. They need more help from their bench players and they need Simmons to step his game up. Durant, Irving and Nic Claxton have been the only bright spots for this Nets team so far this season. However, as long as Durant keeps averaging 32 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.1 assists then he will keep Brooklyn in games. — Miranda

Nets Suspend Kyrie Irving For At Least 5 Games

20. New York Knicks (5-5)

• Last Ranking: 19
• (Matt 15, Jackson 22, Anthony 26, Jack 20)
• Average: 

The Knicks started the campaign by winning three of their first four, albeit against Detroit, Orlando and Charlotte. Since? They’ve lost four of their last six, but picked up a 13-point win over Minnesota on the road Monday. They’re not playing their best basketball right now, but at least Tom Thibodeau is attempting to fix any lineup miscues much faster than he did over his first two seasons in New York?

19. San Antonio Spurs (5-6)

• Last Ranking: 30
• (Matt 26, Jackson 21, Anthony 15, Jack 13)
• Average: 18.8

San Antonio’s up 11 spots in the power rankings, but we were slightly concerned to Chickster’s team’s #Wemby chances after its 5-2 start. The Spurs’ hot start has since died down, as we all expected. They have lost four straight games by a combined 81 points, including a 43-point loss to Toronto and a 25-loss to Denver. But when both have been active, the Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell experiences have been #fun so far, which is a good start for the future!

18. Golden State Warriors (4-7)

• Last Ranking: 1
• (Matt 21, Jackson 15, Anthony 19, Jack 17)
• Average: 18.0

The Warriors looked destined to repeat as champions on opening night but it has gone downhill since their first game. Golden State is an ugly 3-7, though it’s not the end of the world since they are still an incredibly talented team. Stephen Curry is playing at an MVP level averaging 31 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 6.8 assists, leading the Warriors in all three categories. However, they have major issues such as finding the right bench rotation and figuring out how to play better defense. Also, they are a miserable 0-6 on the road to start the year. The defending champs needs to figure out something soon and they do have time to right the ship. — Miranda

17. Miami Heat (4-7)

• Last Ranking: 9
• (Matt 20, Jackson 18, Anthony 17, Jack 14)
• Average: 17.3

The Heat are fortunate for the starts (and drama) of Brooklyn and Golden State, or else their slow start would be one of the bigger talking points leaguewide. Despite returning a majority of their team, they have struggled to find connectivity offensively, too often going into untimely droughts that stalls their output. They also are getting manhandled in transition, which is un-Miami Heat like. Bam Adebayo still looks like one of the best defenders in the sport, Jimmy Butler has played according to plan so far and Kyle Lowry has been more consistently good, but the team collectively will have to tighten the screws if they want to shake off the poor start.

16. Minnesota Timberwolves (5-6)

• Last Ranking: 14
• (Matt 14, Jackson 16, Anthony 18, Jack 18)
• Average: 

This is about where I figured the Wolves would be to start the year. Anthony Edwards might not outright say it, but Rudy Gobert is clogging the lane and Edwards has no avenue to attack. The 3-ball hasn’t been there for Minnesota either. Just not seeing the ceiling being bigger than a play-in, but then again, still very early. — Law

15. Philadelphia 76ers (5-6)

• Last Ranking: 5
• (Matt 18, Jackson 19, Anthony 13, Jack 15)
• Average: 16.3

The 76ers’ season started about as poorly as it could have. Two losses to the Celtics and Bucks paired with a bad loss the Spurs had the 76ers at 0-3 to start the year. They followed that with wins against Indiana, Toronto and Chicago to get back to 3-4. Joel Embiid, who has been struggling during the first week, seems to be finally finding his groove, but the loss of James Harden for the time being is truly going to put the depth of this team to the test — which was was the biggest issue for this team last year, so it’ll be interesting to see if guys can step up. — Jack Sabin

14. Los Angeles Clippers (6-5)

• Last Ranking: 4
• (Matt 16, Jackson 13, Anthony 14, Jack 19)
• Average: 15.5

Paul George has been one of the more impactful players across the NBA and has occassionally kept the Clippers in games singlehandedly. But they’ve dipped in this month’s power rankings because offense and defense have been hard to come by for the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard, with inconsistent play from Norman Powell and Reggie Jackson, among others. They have a bulk of their upcoming schedule at home, so let’s see how this plays out by the month’s end.

13. Chicago Bulls (6-6)

• Last Ranking: 17
• (Matt 13, Jackson 14, Anthony 16, Jack 16)
• Average: 14.8

Here’s a fascinating tid-bit about Chicago’s 12-game start. Only two of their six losses have been by more than five points, while only two of their six wins have come by single digits. In essence, despite absences from Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine, the Bulls have practically been competitive in nearly every game they’ve played in this season, for the most part. DeMar DeRozan picked up right where he left off after last year, Ayo Dosunmu has stepped up as a starter and we’re getting the first real taste of Patrick Williams, who hasn’t been bad!

12. New Orleans Pelicans (5-5)

• Last Ranking: 16
• (Matt 12, Jackson 10, Anthony 12, Jack 11)
• Average: 11.3

I told Jackson this on the latest Court is in Session episode (please check that out here) when we went over October’s Power Rankings, but I might’ve been too low on the Pelicans? I still think I’m underrating them here, but they’ve been a little more shaky since we recorded that episode a week-and-a-half ago, playing six games (five on road) in a 10-day span and going 2-4. Nevertheless, they’re finally fully healthy with Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Zion Williamson, Herb Jones and Jonas Valunciunas. If it can remain that way for an extended period of time, it will be force to reckon with in the Western Conference. 

11. Toronto Raptors (6-5)

• Last Ranking: 12
• (Matt 11, Jackson 12, Anthony 6, Jack 9)
• Average: 9.5

Toronto’s halfcourt offense has still waxed and waned throughout the first few weeks, but still have a top-10 offense. O.G. Anunoby might be the frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year if the season ended today; Pascal Siakam is playing at an All-NBA level; Scottie Barnes looks like a more sound playmaker while Gary Trent Jr. and Fred VanVleet have both fashioned good offense, too. After a slow start from the bench, we’ve seen more and more from their depth of late — don’t sleep on rookie Christian Koloko!

10. Atlanta Hawks (7-3)

• Last Ranking: 16
• (Matt 8, Jackson 8, Anthony 10, Jack 12)
• Average: 9.5

You can already feel Dejounte Murray’s presence in Atlanta. The Hawks are 9.9 points better per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor versus 19.6 points worse when he’s off. When he and Trae Young are both on the floor, the Hawks are a plus-11 per 100 possessions. While I was skeptical about Murray’s offensive fit alongside Young — since both have primarily been on-ball guards throughout their respective careers — Murray has turned out to be the perfect running mate alongside Atlanta’s two-time All-Star.

9. Denver Nuggets (7-3)

• Last Ranking: 6
• (Matt 9, Jackson 7, Anthony 11, Jack 8)
• Average: 8.8

Well to no one’s surprise, the Nuggets are a very good basketball team when Nikola Jokic is on the floor. Who would have guessed it? The only issue is that when Jokic is not on the floor, this team gets quite bad. When Jokic isn’t playing, they are scoring 24.9 less points per 100 possessions than when he’s on the floor. The return of Michael Porter Jr. has been helpful of late, allowing Jokic to not bear as much of the burden as usual. Jamal Murray is also still getting into the swing of things and once he’s back to himself this Nuggets offense should get a whole lot more dangerous. — Sabin

8. Portland Trail Blazers (7-3)

• Last Ranking: 21
• (Matt 10, Jackson 9, Anthony 8, Jack 6)
• Average: 

The Trail Blazers have been one of the best young stories of the season. I was bullish on their wing rotation heading into the year…and I might be even more bullish now. Jerami Grant has fit in seamlessly next to Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons. Shaedon Sharpe hasn’t tried to do too much, except when he wants to seemingly leap over everyone else, which he’s tried to do a lot (for good reason!). Josh Hart is the perfect glue guy along the aforementioned duo and Justise Winslow (#JustiseBetter™) has provided good rotation minutes (just stay healthy!). They surged up our power rankings because of their play.

7. Memphis Grizzlies (7-4)

• Last Ranking: 7
• (Matt 7, Jackson 6, Anthony 9, Jack 10)
• Average: 8.0

Not much has changed for me for the Grizzlies. Two of their losses came against a surprisingly good Jazz team where Memphis was short-handed, and the loss against the Mavs was their third game in four nights. Despite all this, they are still third in the West. Lot of upside, especially when this young core is fully healthy. — Law

6. Utah Jazz (9-3)

• Last Ranking: 29
• (Matt 6, Jackson 11, Anthony 5, Jack 4)
• Average: 6.5

I can speak for everyone at Vendetta when we say that we now collectively believe that the Jazz will go 16-0 in the playoffs and make, if not win the NBA Finals. O.K., I might be (only partially) kidding, but the Jazz have played a beautiful brand of team-oriented basketball so far, which is why they’re 9-3 and just outside the top-5 in our power rankings. They’re a top-3 offense and a top-10 defense. Utah completely dismantled its core and amassed a group that’s playing greater than the sum of its parts so far, and we’re all rooting for them? Well, at least I am, for the most part. Keep an eye on Lauri Markkanen, who leads the team in scoring, as a potential sell-high trade chip, too. 

5. Dallas Mavericks (6-3)

• Last Ranking: 11
• (Matt 5, Jackson 5, Anthony 7, Jack 7)
• Average: 6.0

Other than Spencer Dinwiddie allegedly getting cursed-out by a ref, the Mavs have had a good start to the season and have been one of the best teams in the West! Luka Doncic is playing at an MVP level and they’ve had one of the most productive benches across the NBA, led by Christian Wood and Maxi Kleber, who’s had a down year offensively due to his inefficient play (but is still making an impact on the other end). Though their second-ranked offense is mostly because of Doncic, who’s averaging 36-8-8-2-1 through nine games. That’s nuts, even for his preposterous standards.

Spencer Dinwiddie claims Tony Brothers used profane language towards him after tech

4. Boston Celtics (7-3)

• Last Ranking: 3
• (Matt 4, Jackson 4, Anthony 4, Jack 5)
• Average: 4.3

The Celtics started the season hot at 3-0. However, they were relying heavily on their offense and that elite level defense that led them to the Finals last year has still yet to be seen. This lack of defense, especially in the paint, was their downfall in losses to Chicago and Cleveland. The absence of Robert Williams is clearly hurting this team defensively, but if the Celtics’ offense can continue to play at this level, I don’t believe they have too much to worry about. Interim head coach Joe Mazzulla will find his footing and this defense will be back to its high end level in no time. — Sabin

3. Phoenix Suns (7-3)

• Last Ranking: 8
• (Matt 3, Jackson 3, Anthony 3, Jack 3)
• Average: 3

As long as Phoenix isn’t facing Portland, who have accounted for two of their three losses, they should be fine. For the most part, the Suns have looked like their previous versions, winning all but two of their games by double digits — the ones they won by single digits were to the Mavericks on opening night (by two) and against the Wolves (by nine). Cameron Johnson’s meniscus tear will be tough to stomach, but expect Torrey Craig, Dario Saric and Josh Okogie/Landry Shamet to see added rotation minutes alongside Ayton, Paul and Booker.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers (8-2)

• Last Ranking: 13
• (Matt 2, Jackson 2, Anthony 2, Jack 2)
• Average: 2

I knew the Cavs were gonna be good, and I knew they would be better when they traded for Donovan Mitchell, but I will be completely honest and say I was not expecting them to be THIS good. Cavs are hot and look like they can make some real noise out East. This Cleveland team is going to be fun all season. — Law

1. Milwaukee Bucks (9-1)

• Last Ranking: 2
• (Matt 1, Jackson 1, Anthony 1, Jack 1)
• Average: 1

Milwaukee tops off our November NBA Power Rankings list. Its streak of nine-straight wins to open the season came to an end Monday at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, but the Bucks still look like the most dangerous team in the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo would likely be the MVP if the season ended today. Milwaukee’s complementary players surrounding The Greek Freak are playing sound two-way basketball and…they’re still without their second-best player in Khris Middleton. You’ve been warned, NBA. This team is #dangerous.

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Stay tuned to our December NBA Power Rankings!

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