NBA Week 4 Power Rankings: Cavs stumble, Jazz soar

There is no need to get into any of the Brooklyn Nets’ drama here, but they are 4-1 since Kyrie Irving was suspended and haven’t allowed 100 points in six straight games. Some of that is opponent shooting luck, some of that is a soft schedule, but this team does appear to have regained something that they had previously lost. Kevin Durant is putting together another MVP-worthy campaign and appears locked-in on defense, something that is necessary for this team to rebuild its contender status.

The record looks really good, but looking under the hood the Denver Nuggets are a bit less impressive. Nikola Jokic is playing great, not transcendent, and Jamal Murray is clearly knocking off some rust. Still, their offense is humming along at a top-10 level; it’s the defense, where they invested their resources this summer, that is still a bottom-tier group. That’s the problem they have to solve to make noise in the postseason.

Zach LaVine is on a maintenance plan for a knee injury he can’t shake, Lonzo Ball is nowhere near returning, and yet…the Chicago Bulls are hanging around. They are absolutely throttling opponents on defense with a combination of ball-hawk guards and pogo-stick athletes coming in off the bench. DeMar DeRozan heroics can only carry them so far, but it’s been enough to keep that at .500 against a very tough schedule.

Trae Young and DeJounte Murray have weathered the growing pains of fitting together thus far, but it’s certainly not a seamless fit. Their center rotation looks great, with Onyeka Okongwu flashing on both ends but Clint Capela holding onto his spot with excellent play. Rookie AJ Griffin has had a couple of big games already. Unfortunately, Bogdan Bogdanovic is still nowhere to be seen, and De’Andre Hunter has been really bad to start the year. The Hawks aren’t quite as good as this record, but their problems are probably fixable.

Joel Embiid was clearly not fully healthy nor in shape to start the season, but he is starting to put things together for the 76ers. Add in Tyrese Maxey putting together some blistering performances and this looks like a team that can survive with James Harden out for an extended period. The defense is great once again and they have a lot of bench pieces to mix-and-match on different nights. This team looks recovered from the slow start and should push for a top-4 seed in the East by the time it’s all said and done.