Week 8 NBA Power Rankings
Week 8 Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- Win’s Up Doc (7-0) [-]
2- Wait ‘ Til Next Year (5-2) [-]
3- DTC Porkchop Express (5-2) [-]
Tier 2
4- Ornery Otters (3-4) [+2]
5- Sporty Strauss (4-3) [+3]
6- The Pullies (5-2) [-2]
7- The BamOs (3-4) [-2]
8- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (4-3) [-1]
Tier 3
9- $traight Cash Homie (2-5) [+2]
10- Las Cabras (2-5) [-1]
11- Cooper Troopers (1-6) [-1]
12- Shepherd Goods Choppers (1-6) [-]
(Tier 1) The wheat has officially been separated from the chaff. The three Tiers are more or less final this season. Whilst teams might move up and down throughout their tiers, it is unlikely that anybody moves up and down these tiers for months.
In Tier 1, Win’s Up Doc is the best team in any sport so far in the League of Leagues, and it’s a remarkable rise. Wait ‘Til Next Year withstood a daring charge from the Ornery Otters this week, before fending him off in the last few days. And DTC Porkchop Express has the easiest schedule over the next two months that one could ever see. But there’s no BYE in sight for Craig, who has to be content with his highest potential seed being 4 unless Win’s Up Doc starts to slip.
(Tier 2) This Tier is full of competitive teams who should beat the #Abomidable4 (Tier 3) almost every time that they play. Sporty Strauss got one of the biggest wins so far this season by defeating The Pullies without much play from his star, Giannis, but right now, Strauss can’t feel particularly happy given that he has the lowest odds to make the playoffs in football as any team in contention. Strauss’ bad losing streak in football is putting his whole season in jeopardy.
The Pullies took that L, and are all the way down at 8th in basketball points. So The Pullies, despite their record, are firmly in the middle of all of these teams in Tier 2.
The Ornery Otters move up a spot despite losing. They are 5th in points with a solid, improving roster headlined by young players with massive potential. It’s a team that nobody wants to draw on any given week, even though it disappointed over the second half of Week 7.
Right now, The BamO’s look like a team who will just miss out on the playoffs unless The Pullies take a nosedive. While fourth in points, Sam just isn’t stringing wins together. It’s a big week followed by a disappointment, and now one of his Big4 players is hurt. Bam Adebayo’s injury necessitates a move from Sam, who is in win-now mode more than any other team.
Last (and probably least) is the forgotten MN Moose Knuckles. They are the median line of points this season, barely higher than The Pullies. They are perfectly average, and the record shows. But with no real motivation to win this year and incentive to lose, but maybe not get the last-place penalty, Chris Hall is doomed to mediocrity in the NBA portion of the League of Leagues.
(Tier 3) If the wheat has been separated from the chaff, then the #Abominable4 are chafing their legs trying their darndest to compete. Two teams actually won this week, in fact, because they all played each other.
$traight Cash Homie had the most impressive win of the group, and they are they only team with untapped potential. Jack COULD get some players back from injury, but it will still likely be too little too late. But there’s a glimmer of hope.
There’s also a glimmer for Las Cabras, but only because of the schedule. Las Cabras played the Shepherd Goods Choppers, who put up a score so low that it might end up being unrivaled in the history of the League of Leagues. Las Cabras would have lost to ANY OTHER team, and have to be thanking their lucky Choppers that they got an easy draw. Maybe Las Cabras can put themselves in contention for a Consolation BYE, and that would help them in season-long play immensely.
And then there’s the forgettable Cooper Troopers who are just that – remarkably forgettable.
Week 7 High Score
Win’s Up Doc (Oat)
1486 points
Notes: Dominant. Terrifying. Awe-inspiring. Wonderful. There are no shortage of adjectives that describe the most dominant team to date in League of Leagues history. In football, two teams went undefeated for awhile, but it was nothing like this run. Win’s Up Doc is the favorite to win NBA with a bullet.
Week 7 Low Score (AKA the JordJack Award)
Shepherd Goods Choppers (Jordan)
652 points
Notes: There might never be a lower-scoring output in a 50-play week in League of Leagues history. Normally, only getting to 37 plays in a week would be cause for significant consternation, but there was no chance for Jordan to compete this week. The injuries have mounted too severely. The players in his lineup were as sad as Strauss’ playoff hopes in football. Jordan is toast.
Week 7 MVP
Jae’Sean Tate
$traight Cash Homie (Jack)
160 points
Notes: A surprise MVP comes at the perfect time. Opposite Jack, the Cooper Troopers team didn’t perform terrible this week, and Jack really had to earn this one. He earned it mostly off the back of Jae’Sean Tate. If this is a player that can score near this point total regularly, Jack might be able to slowly drag himself back into playoff positioning.
Week 7 LVP(s)
Mikal Bridges
Ornery Otters (Korey)
63 points
Notes: This is a sad player to put as an LVP, because he had a tremendous game against Golden State early in the week. It was one of the greatest low-scoring games of the NBA season, and his defense was spectacular. But fantasy basketball isn’t real-life basketball (not without a +/- stat), and Mikal Bridges scoring .5 points per minute played this week was a death knell for the Ornery Otters. A good week would have put him in contention, though not quite over the top. But a bad FANTASY week from a productive player like this is why the Ornery Otters are ranked higher than teams with a win or two more than he has.
Week 8 Matchups
Win’s Up Doc (1) vs $traight Cash Homie (9)
Wait ’Til Next Year (2) vs The BamOs (7)
DTC Porkchop Express (3) vs The Pullies (6)
Ornery Otters (4) vs Las Cabras (10)
Sporty Strauss (5) vs MN Moose Knuckles (8)
Cooper Troopers (11) vs Shepherd Goods Choppers (12)
Week 8 MATCHUP of the WEEK
MN Moose Knuckles [4-3] (8th) vs Sporty Strauss [4-3] (5th)
Another week of Sporty Strauss in a huge matchup – there’s a pattern here. This week, he draws the MN Moose Knuckles, where a matchup like this between teams with the same record could very well determine who makes the playoffs. Neither of these teams are great, and neither are push-overs, meaning this could be a close, close matchup.
But looks like a mini COVID+injury outbreak is hitting the Moose Knuckles, however, so Strauss might be getting some injury breaks for two straight weeks with his opponents. Most notably, check out these MN Moose Knuckles Point Guards:
PG1 – Gabe Vincent vs Derrick White
PG2 – Armoni Brooks vs Mike Conley
SG1 – Bradley Beal vs Dillon Brooks
SG2 – Pat Connaughton vs Eric Bledsoe
SF3 – RJ Barrett vs Gordon Hayward
SF4 – Otto Porter, Jr. vs Brandon Ingram
PF1 – Julius Randle vs Giannis Antetokounmpo
PF2 – Richaun Holmes vs Draymond Green
C1 – Rudy Gobert vs Deandre Ayton
C1 – Wendell Carter vs Pascal Siakam
FLEX1 – Bobby Portis vs Reggie Jackson
FLEX2 – Jared Vanderbilt vs Franz Wagner
FLEX3 – Devin Vassell (DTD) vs Chris Duarte
Sporty Strauss: Advantage at 10/13 positions
MN Moose Knuckles: Advantage at 3/13 positions
INJURIES:
Sporty Strauss: Giannis Antetekounmpo, Khem Birch, Nic Batum, Ben Simmons, Vic Oladipo
MN Moose Knuckles: Devin Booker, Terry Rozier, Devin Vassell, Jalen Suggs, Nassir Little, Markelle Fultz