NBA Power Rankings: Consistency issues affects scribes week 3 ranks

OKC Thunder power rank by scribe:

NBA.com – John Schuhmann

The NBA stats master John Schuhmann holds the OKC Thunder steady at 12th.

"Sunday’s loss in Portland dropped the Thunder to 0-4 within the Western Conference and 0-4 in games that were within five points in the last five minutes, having allowed their opponents to shoot 58 percent in the clutch. Russell Westbrook’s scoring drop isn’t solely about him sacrificing shots for Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. His free throw rate is also down from 43 to 33 attempts per 100 shots from the field, and after missing three important ones in the final minute on Sunday, he’s shooting just 58 percent from the line. This week’s schedule should provide them with their first conference win or two (or three or four)."

ESPN – Panel

The ESPN panel continues to show love for the Rockets (shocker). In the third week of the season the panel maintained the OKC Thunder at 11th.

ESPN’s panel:

The panel (listed below) hold OKC steady at 11th on their list.

ESPN:  Kevin Arnovitz | Amin Elhassan |Ramona Shelburne

The Undefeated: Marc J. Spears | FiveThirtyEight: Chris Herring

"An MVP and an All-Star teammate haven’t altered Carmelo Anthony‘s style of play. His numbers this season versus last season are nearly identical. Prior to his early exit because of a flagrant foul 2 on Sunday, he had a usage percentage of 28 percent and was averaging 21.3 points while taking 18.0 shots per game. Last season, he had a usage percentage of 29 percent and averaged 22.4 points per game on 18.8 field goal attempts per game. — Jose De Leon"

FanSided weighs in:

Writer Chris Manning of FanSided offers his power rankings for the week regaling the OKC Thunder to the middle of the pack with a 17th ranking.

"The Thunder, despite a 4-5 record, are doing alright. As of Monday, they have the league’s third-best net rating to go along with the league’s third-best defense. What’s the issue, perhaps unexpectedly to a degree, is the team’s offense. Having lineups with a negative like Andre Roberson hurts, but they should have the overall talent to be better than they’ve been. The offense has cost them too, particularly late in close losses to the Wolves (twice) and the Trail Blazers. Finding some sort of balance on offense that makes that side of the ball should send this team up the rankings in a hurry."

Sports Illustrated – The Crossover:

At first glance SI’s The Crossover scribe Kenny Ducey power ranking confused me. Some teams were penalized for losses, teams didn’t move up for beating teams ranked above them and others fell despite performing well. On second glance Ducey’s rankings resonated a bit more. Suffice to say that is precisely why fans love these lists. Plus it wouldn’t be the first time a pundit foresaw the potential impending explosion or demise of a squad on the precipice.

As for the OKC Thunder Ducey drops them from fifth to tenth, but other great teams fell even lower. Before Thunder Nation get up in arms I suggest reading the list once and then five minutes later reading the list again.  Plus remember the SI writer noted in previous rankings his list is based on where he believes the teams will end up – not how they are currently performing.

"The breakout is most definitely coming, they’ve had too many close losses and bad breaks in the last few weeks. For now, though, this is a 4–5 team struggling to keep pace with other powers in the West. They’ll figure it out. By the way, Ray Felton scored 15 on 7-of-11 shooting against Portland. Just saying."

CBS Sports:

This week Chris Barnewell scorches OKC dropping them all the way down to 21st. Fret not Thunder Nation the CBS scribe’s power ranking penalized other teams similarly. Notably he points out how difficult the rankings have been to deliver this season given how teams are under or over performing.

"Oklahoma City is beating teams they should be better than. That’s good! Anybody else they lose to — including every Western Conference opponent so far. That’s bad! A lot of this still feels like a star team trying to get used to each other."

This week the OKC Thunder play four games facing two lottery bound squads (Kings/Mavericks) and two potential playoffs seeds (Clippers/Nuggets). By the time this posts, one of those games will be in the bank (spoiler alert the 1-8 Kings beat OKC!). Therefore the OKC Thunder remain winless against the West, but have three more opportunities to get the monkey off their backs.

Each week this season TI will share where the pundits rank the OKC Thunder and offer our insight on the trends from the previous week.