NBA Week 6 Power Rankings: Cavs stabilize, Lakers show life

The Houston Rockets have been feisty over the past two weeks, 2-3 with two of those losses by single digits. Usman Garuba has fully entered the rotation and is proving to be a destroyer on defense, while Jalen Green is stacking 30-point games. Their defense outside of a few players is abysmal, but the young guys (other than Jabari Smith Jr., unfortunately) continue to excite.

After ranking last two weeks ago, the Pistons climb a single spot on account of a couple of solid wins, all without Cade Cunningham. Beating the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz in their home arenas, on back-to-back nights, was an impressive feat. Bojan Bogdanovic is leading the offense, and Kevin Knox II looked like a real NBA player scoring 21 against the Utah Jazz. Still, there is no timetable for Cunningham’s return and they could reclaim the bottom spot two weeks from now. They are clearly the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

The question of how far to drop the San Antonio Spurs is a fair one. They have lost eight-straight games to fall to 6-14 after a 5-2 start, and they are now at the bottom of the barrel in most team metrics. They are easily the worst defense in the league and their meager depth to start the year continues to be eroded by injuries. At full strength, this team has a reasonable core of players, but it’s no surprise the Spurs are leaning into the tank and avoiding “full strength” as much as possible. Tre Jones continues to look good.

The Charlotte Hornets have had a season in three acts. First, they started out 3-3 and logged some good wins against good teams. Then came act II, where they went 1-11 as their offense absolutely cratered. LaMelo Ball returned just to get injured again, and the same happened to Gordon Hayward. Act III is in progress, with two big wins over winning teams. Does that mean the start of something new, or were the wins just an intermission for a team likely to embrace the tank soon enough?

The Orlando Magic were the most injured team in the league in each of the last two seasons, and they are out in front once again. Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, Cole Anthony and Gary Harris have all not played or barely played this season. Paolo Banchero missed seven games and just returned on Black Friday. This team is playing some crazy lineups and are clearly a year away, but there are a number of really solid young players here and they will be a tough out all season.