by Derek Flack

Created on: April 25, 2008

NBA Power Rankings are a tool that has become a sensation on internet sports sites. From heavy hitters like ESPN.com to NBA.com to lesser known sites like RealGM.com and Inside Hoops.com, there are numerous basketball websites that feature their own Power Rankings. Power Rankings are quite simple though. All that a Power Ranking is used for is to determine who the best teams in the NBA are from top to bottom, from the best team overall to the team at the bottom of the cellar at number 30.

Power Rankings are really for the casual NBA fan who doesn't know a lot about all 30 NBA teams. A quick glance at a Power Ranking will tell you what teams are doing well and what teams have their vacations plans made because they won't be participating in the playoffs.

Most Power Rankings are very similar up top. Usually the best 3 or 4 teams are ranked the same on most Power Rankings because it is usually clear like plastic who the best teams are. Once you get into the middle of the rankings though things can get clouded like an April rain storm. This is where you see the difference in the many rankings; each writer has their own opinion on teams in the league so the teams that have identical records might be ranked differently on every basketball website.

Some Power Rankings are very detailed and give reasons for every team why they are ranked the way they are, like ESPN.com and NBA.com. The power rankings on these websites feature journalists who watch a multitude of games and have access to experts that used to play in the NBA, giving them a different perspective on why some teams may be struggling while others are thriving.

Other Websites, like RealGM.com, simply list the teams 1-30 with their given record and might jot down a sentence or 2 about some of the teams. These Websites typically don't have the kind of resources available like ESPN does, so they don't get experts opinions, they just form their own and rank the teams based on their own ideas.

Power Rankings are great way to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the NBA. It will tell you what teams are hot and rolling into the playoffs and who has their eye on the NBA draft. It is fun to read the rankings from different sites to see how they vary. In the end, though, the reader still has their own opinion and can rank the teams themselves.

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