Cavs News: Power Rankings, draft contributors, centers to sign

Every set of NBA Power Rankings is a little different, with some rankings looking at the body of work for the entire season and others giving more weight to current play. Despite that divergence of philosophy, they can be a useful at-a-glance survey of the league and where teams slot in.

Monday is classically the day of the NBA Power Rankings, and sure enough, four mainstream websites published their Power Rankings yesterday. That gives us a large look into the process involved and which teams have risen or fallen. How did the Cleveland Cavaliers fare?

John Schuhmann’s rankings over on NBA.com are the cream of the crop, with John sprinkling in fascinating facts and metrics to bring the rankings to the next level. He placed the Cavaliers at fifth.

Zach Harper of The Athletic slots in the Cavs slightly lower on his list, instead highlighting the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings. Cleveland still pops up in sixth place for Harper. CBS, which emphasizes recent play the most, has the Cavs at fifth. Finally, USA Today slots the Cavaliers in at just eighth, pushing the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks above them as well.

The Cavaliers have the best net rating in the league, but their overall lack of experience and the track record of some of the other contenders should result in teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics rising above them. Fourth or fifth seems right for Cleveland. Pushing them down to eighth is “shiny new toy” syndrome, as the Cavs have played well both lately and all season.

More Cavs news

The NCAA Tournament kicks off this Thursday, which will put a number of NBA Draft prospects front and center. On the website yesterday Dan Gilisnky highlights two players the Cavaliers could draft in June; both are upper-classmen who could be ready to step in immediately to help the Cavs next season.

Also on the website, Gage Morgan looked at three backup centers that will be available in free agency this summer. Who could be a good fit to shore up the depth behind Jarrett Allen in the frontcourt?

NBA news

The expected refuses to happen in the NBA each night. The Boston Celtics were massive favorites against the lowly Houston Rockets and yet lost 111-109, with a group effort overcoming 43 points from Jaylen Brown. The Atlanta Hawks didn’t look much like a team fighting for a playoff berth as they were demolished by the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in Atlanta.

The late games were a bit more predictable, as the Golden State Warriors won at home over the Pheonix Suns, with Klay Thompson scoring 33 points in the first half to build an insurmountable lead. The Milwaukee Bucks pulled out the win in Sacramento behind 46 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Coming up: The Cavaliers play the Hornets again tonight at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.