Power Rankings: Trade gives Heat boost
Updated: October 29, 2007, 10:02 AM ET
By
Marc Stein | ESPN.com
Week: Team:
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But Pat Riley responded impressively to Miami's increasing desperation by swinging a trade to ease fears that the banged-up, calcifying champions of 2006 might not even make the playoffs in 2008, importing Ricky Davis and Mark Blount from Minnesota and shipping out the out-of-favor Antoine Walker to lift the Heat seven spots.
You can track the Heat and the defending champs from San Antonio at No. 1 and everyone else from here on a weekly basis, with our rankings now scheduled to appear every Monday through the regular season. Click here to comment on the Opening Night edition.
Editor's note: The Record category shows the team's 2006-07 regular-season record. The Last Week category shows the team's ranking in Marc Stein's Training Camp Edition of the Power Rankings.
| 2007-08 Power Rankings: Preseason | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |  | -- Last Week: 1 | Is the committee (of one) somewhat alarmed that we came to the same conclusion as Simmons about the best case you can muster against the Spurs repeating is that they've never done it? Not in the slightest. | |
| 2 |  | 1 Last Week: 3 | How did they move up a spot already? Marion's September trade demand was quickly overshadowed by Grant Hill's promising start in orange and yet another impressive comeback from a knee surgery by Amare. | |
| 3 |  | 1 Last Week: 2 | Every vet free agent or buyout recipient (like Juwan Howard) has interest in joining the Celts because they have an opening or two in their rotation. So you watch: Boston's bench won't look so bad by season's end. | |
| 4 |  | 2 Last Week: 6 | We even got a call from a colleague in San Antonio insisting that our pre-camp ranking of No. 6 was too low for the Mavs, in spite of Dallas' playoff unravelings in each of the last two springs. So we bumped them up a bit. | |
| 5 |  | 1 Last Week: 4 | The Rockets' official team marketing slogan this season: 'It's Time.' After 10 seasons without winning a playoff series -- for Houston as a franchise and T-Mac individually -- I'd say it's a unanimous sentiment. | |
| 6 |  | 1 Last Week: 5 | Boston is just getting started with an all-new team, Chicago is still growing up, Miami is aging and Cleveland is not exactly getting deeper around LeBron James. So here's our advice, Pistons: Capitalize while you can. | |
| 7 |  | 1 Last Week: 8 | The Cinderella feel of Utah's playoff run didn't quite make it to training camp, but there's still plenty of talent here to offset any turbulence. Even in the face of expectations that some fear are too high now. | |
| 8 |  | 2 Last Week: 10 | Think Deng will feel extra pressure if Kobe doesn't wind up in the Windy City? Good news: Kobe chatter shouldn't distract Chicago's kids as much as you'd expect; they've been playing through trade rumors for years. | |
| 9 |  | -- Last Week: 9 | Can Golden State play at last spring's high level for an entire season? Can't wait to evaluate the Dubyas' counter claim that they'd have been seeded higher than eighth if they were healthy for the entire season. | |
| 10 |  | 3 Last Week: 7 | The committee likes this Bucher line, so we're stealing it: Cleveland will miss that red-carpet bracket path it had to the Finals even more than Varejao or Pavlovic, since you figure one (or both) will re-sign eventually. | |
| 11 |  | 2 Last Week: 13 | No one should get carried away with the Magic's 6-1 record in the preseason, especially given Rashard's ankle trouble. But I have a nagging feeling 'Shard and SVG will help Dwight win their division in Year 1. | |
| 12 |  | 1 Last Week: 11 | Allen Iverson says his Nuggets are capable of winning 60 games. I can't go that high, but the only record that really matters is significantly sprucing up their 3-12 playoff mark in the George Karl era. | |
| 13 |  | 7 Last Week: 20 | Wade and Shaq can still be a playoff factor if they're ever healthy again at the same time. But Miami has to get to the playoffs first and that looked dicey until Riles manufactured last week's clutch trade boost. | |
| 14 |  | 2 Last Week: 12 | Bosh is one of the committee's favorites -- surely not a shocker since we're talking about a lefty franchise player -- but I'm afraid we're officially panicky about his knee, knowing that our Raps have a slim margin for error. | |
| 15 | New Jersey 41-41 | 1 Last Week: 14 | Good enough to climb back into the East's elite? Hard question to answer when we don't even know if the Nets -- with Krstic and Jefferson on the comeback trail and Kidd missing camp time -- will be healthy enough. | |
| 16 | New Orleans 39-43 | -- Last Week: 16 | Remember when they were rookies and D-Will watched CP3 get all the good pub? Entering Year 3, I can't wait to see Paul's response and what that means for the Hornets, because last season was Deron's turn. | |
| 17 |  | 2 Last Week: 15 | Our pal Sam Smith of the Chicago Trib lists the Wiz as a dark-horse threat in the Kobe Sweepstakes with an Arenas-for-Kobe offer. Is it too soon to wonder if the nation's capital is big enough for No. 24 and the president? | |
| 18 |  | 1 Last Week: 17 | At least a dozen teams have legit hope of securing an East playoff spot. How they hold up health-wise and up front with Bogut, Yi and Villanueva will determine whether the Bucks finish closer to No. 8 or No. 12. | |
| 19 |  | 2 Last Week: 21 | So what's it like sharing divisional space with the Texas trio? It's like this: Memphis might have a promising new look . . . but might also have a better shot making the playoffs than avoiding last place in the Southwest. | |
| 20 |  | 1 Last Week: 19 | The sad reality, after all the chaos of the summer and October, is that this team is in for a real drop if Kobe leaves and a ride of countless bumps and ceaseless speculation just to grab a playoff spot if he stays. | |
| 21 |  | 3 Last Week: 24 | Even if we ignore all the off-court sideshows, plenty of on-court uncertainty remains. Chemistry, leadership and defense are all in question, as well as the compatibility of Curry, Randolph and fan-favorite D-Lee. | |
| 22 |  | 4 Last Week: 26 | No misprint: Atlanta is your preseason champion after going 7-1 in exhibition play. What does that mean in real life? Losing has become such a habit here that, sorry, we are still required to advise extreme caution.. | |
| 23 |  | 6 Last Week: 29 | The Pacers, last season's worst-shooting team, made minimal personnel changes and hired a coach who has always relied heavily on shooters. So we'll need to see more than a 6-2 preseason for a lasting jump. | |
| 24 |  | 4 Last Week: 28 | Losing Elton in the summer theoretically ended the season before it started, which is why the Clips were so low in the camp edition. But there could actually be a handful of West teams in worse shape roster-wise. | |
| 25 | Charlotte 33-49 | 7 Last Week: 18 | Our growing reservations about the Bobs are only partly tied to the double blow of losing May and Morrison. Even with those guys healthy and its offseason upgrades, Charlotte lacks size and experience. | |
| 26 |  | 3 Last Week: 23 | Even with Aldridge and Roy playing through early injury scares, we can't shake this recent Sam Bowie quote about curses: 'I've never been one to believe in things of that nature . . . [but Oden's injury] might convert me.' | |
| 27 | Seattle 31-51 | 5 Last Week: 22 | We repeat: Forget wins and losses. This season? You need only keep track of two things when it comes to the Sonics: Durant's health/status in the rookie of the year race and where the team plans to play next season. | |
| 28 |  | 1 Last Week: 27 | You can make the case, in Philly's first full season AAI (After Allen Iverson), that this is the only team in the East with zero hope of reaching the playoffs. Even if Larry Brown ends up taking this job back from Mo Cheeks. | |
| 29 |  | 4 Last Week: 25 | Artest is suspended for the first seven games. Bibby is out for up to 10 weeks after thumb surgery. Theus? The only relief for the rookie coach is that he needn't worry now about living up to high expectations. | |
| 30 |  | -- Last Week: 30 | Jefferson had a nice preseason, but let's be real. If the first Wolves team without KG since 1994-95 would have stayed in Turkey for another month or two, would anyone back in Minneapolis have minded? | |
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