The first half of 2020-21 is almost complete and 10 weeks of play are in the books. The OKC Thunder has impressed analysts and fans alike via their play. Although the club was projected to be the ‘easy win’ in the West they’ve overachieved and shocked many opponents.
As such instead of consistently ranking 30th the Thunder have frequently entered the middle tier of National site power ratings.
Because the season has thrown ample curveballs due to the truncated offseason and ongoing issues with the pandemic Intentions waited to start our typical weekly power rankings until there was a body of work to comment on.
Seeding OKC Thunder and peers in week 10 of NBA power rankings
Entering week 11 of play 24 teams including the OKC Thunder will play two games, the Wolves are the lone team who’ll play a single match while the Pacers, Spurs, Pelicans, Nuggets, and Blazers will play three times.
However, postponements may occur as the Raptors who were one of four teams unaffected by COVID-19 to this point in the season have been hit hard. The Raptors – Bulls match on Sunday was postponed because the team couldn’t dress the required eight players. It could also lead to the postponement of games versus the Pistons and Celtics this week.
National sites vary in how they rank the teams with some giving more credence to the week in question while others look more at the overall ability of the clubs.
In terms of Intentions seeding, primary credence in the power rankings go to the body of work, however, weekly performance is also considered. In the case of teams who are close, greater value is placed on defensive ability. Likewise, teams with identical records in the week are ranked based on the harder opponents.
With that, let’s dive into Intentions week 10 power rankings…