NBA Power Rankings: Preseason Edition

Oct 24, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) shares a laugh with head coach Gregg Popovich during the second half at AT

3. San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs were one Tim Duncan field goal from yet another NBA Championship and turning this summer on its head. Instead, Duncan’s shot rattled out and the Heat would go on to clinch back-to-back titles.

The Spurs took some time off, took a few deep breaths and appear ready to contend again. They extended Tiago Splitter and added another high basketball IQ guy in Marco Belinelli to bolster an impressive bench. They did lose Gary Neal, part of that Neal-Green three-point explosion they used in the playoffs and they narrowly missed out on Andrei Kirilenko, a signing that would have cemented them as the best team in the Western Conference. As it stands, the Spurs will feature near or at the top of the Conference standings and will be in the picture to play into June for a second straight season.

4. Oklahoma City Thunder

Despite going 4-3 in the preseason, the Thunder look good. Kevin Durant will run LeBron James close for MVP. Russell Westbrook will be back very soon and Serge Ibaka stays the perfect third wheel.

The real talking point in their preseason was the play of young guards Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson. Jackson played out of his mind in Westbrook’s absence last season and Lamb has shown flashes of greatness all preseason. Thunder management will be hoping one or both can make the leap to established threat so they can hide that they’ve gone from having James Harden to having nobody (via Kevin Martin). They had the top offense in the league last season and the fourth-best defense, giving them the best point differential of any team in the association. Look for that to continue.