Chad Ford
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ESPN Senior Writer Senior NBA Writer for ESPN.com
ESPN Insider NBA Draft Analyst since 2002
Writes ESPN's NBA Draft Top 100 and Lottery Mock Draft
Kevin Pelton
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ESPN Senior Writer Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
Sep 22, 2015, 11:05 AM ET So you're wondering how we put the Future Power Rankings together? Here's how we did it.
FUTURE POWER RATING PLAYERS (worth 58.3% of score): Current players and their potential for the future, factoring in expected departuresMANAGEMENT (worth 16.7% of score): Quality and stability of front office, ownership, coachingMONEY (worth 8.3% of score): Projected salary-cap situation; ability and willingness to exceed cap and pay luxury taxMARKET (worth 8.3% of score): Appeal to future acquisitions based on team quality, franchise reputation, city's desirability as a destination, market size, taxes, business and entertainment opportunities, arena quality, fansDRAFT (worth 8.3% of score): Future draft picks; draft positioning
To rank the 30 teams, we asked ESPN Insider analysts Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton to rate each team in each category.
To determine the Future Power Rating, we rated each team in five categories. Here's how they did it and how the teams ranked in each individual category.
We determined that the most important category is a team's current roster and the future potential of those players -- that category accounts for 50 percent of each team's overall Future Power Rating.
At the same time, we looked at many other factors, such as management, ownership, coaching, a team's spending habits, its cap situation, the reputation of the city and the franchise, and what kind of draft picks we expect the team to have in the future.
Players (50 percent) Players Team Rating Rank 2014 rating Cleveland 97.5 1 95 Golden State 95 2 80 San Antonio 82.5 3 77 L.A. Clippers 77.5 4 84 Oklahoma City 71 5 90 Houston 69.5 6 72 Utah 64 7 42 New Orleans 63 8 67 Chicago 61 9 75 Washington 60 10 57 Milwaukee 59 11 30 Minnesota 56.5 12 42 Miami 52.5 13 57 Indiana 49 14 43 Detroit 46 15 46 Memphis 45 16 57 Orlando 45 16 24 Toronto 44 18 50 Phoenix 41 19 41 Denver 40.5 20 45 Atlanta 40 21 43 Charlotte 40 21 52 Sacramento 37.5 23 23 Boston 35 24 11 Dallas 35 24 53 Portland 31 26 62 New York 27 27 24 Philadelphia 25 28 24 L.A. Lakers 22.5 29 8 Brooklyn 11.5 30 28 Current players and potential for the future
Management (16.7 percent) Management Team Rating Rank 2014 rating San Antonio 99.5 1 100 Golden State 96 2 72 Boston 85 3 58 Miami 81.5 4 83 Chicago 72.5 5 69 Dallas 72.5 5 76 Utah 70 7 51 Houston 65 8 69 Oklahoma City 60 9 79 Memphis 56.5 10 46 Toronto 54.5 11 61 Portland 54 12 61 Atlanta 52.5 13 49 Indiana 50 14 63 Cleveland 47.5 15 54 Philadelphia 47.5 15 45 L.A. Clippers 47 17 65 Milwaukee 45.5 18 32 New Orleans 42.5 19 33 Detroit 37.5 20 39 Washington 35 21 34 Orlando 35 21 36 Phoenix 35 21 52 L.A. Lakers 30 24 22 Denver 27.5 25 31 Charlotte 25 26 48 Minnesota 20 27 12 New York 17.5 28 24 Brooklyn 17.5 28 26 Sacramento 5.5 30 9 Quality and stability of front office, ownership, coaching
Money (16.7 percent) Money Team Rating Rank 2014 rating Philadelphia 99.5 1 86 L.A. Lakers 95 2 87 Portland 90 3 64 Boston 72.5 4 62 Dallas 70 5 83 Charlotte 70 5 47 Atlanta 65 7 65 Brooklyn 62.5 8 9 Memphis 60 9 48 Washington 60 9 42 Miami 55 11 63 Utah 55 11 38 Indiana 55 11 45 Chicago 52.5 14 26 Milwaukee 52.5 14 54 Toronto 50 16 60 New Orleans 50 16 39 Phoenix 50 16 64 Minnesota 50 16 42 New York 47.5 20 62 Denver 45 21 32 Sacramento 45 21 54 Houston 42.5 23 48 Detroit 40 24 60 Oklahoma City 37.5 25 28 Orlando 35 26 60 Golden State 30 27 27 San Antonio 20 28 51 L.A. Clippers 15 29 22 Cleveland 12.5 30 33 Projected salary-cap situation
Market (8.3 percent) Market Team Rating Rank 2014 rating L.A. Lakers 90 1 90 New York 87.5 2 85 Miami 85 3 84 L.A. Clippers 84 4 84 Brooklyn 79 5 79 Cleveland 73 6 59 Golden State 72.5 7 69 Chicago 68 8 71 Houston 68 8 69 Dallas 62.5 10 68 Phoenix 59 11 63 Washington 57.5 12 58 Orlando 55 13 57 Boston 52.5 14 57 San Antonio 47.5 15 53 Denver 42.5 16 44 Portland 41.5 17 51 Philadelphia 39.5 18 41 Charlotte 38.5 19 34 Atlanta 37 20 39 New Orleans 36.5 21 34 Indiana 35 22 32 Toronto 34.5 23 37 Oklahoma City 32.5 24 39 Memphis 30 25 32 Detroit 22.5 26 13 Milwaukee 20 27 9 Utah 18 28 19 Minnesota 17.5 29 12 Sacramento 15 30 18 Appeal to future acquisitions
Draft (8.3 percent) Draft Team Rating Rank 14 rating Philadelphia 97.5 1 92 Boston 91.5 2 91 Denver 90 3 65 Toronto 75 4 58 Minnesota 75 4 60 Orlando 72.5 6 82 Phoenix 65 7 76 Portland 60 8 35 Milwaukee 55 9 75 Detroit 52.5 10 51 Chicago 51.5 11 52 Charlotte 50 12 59 Atlanta 50 12 64 Indiana 50 12 44 Washington 47.5 15 45 Utah 47.5 15 78 Dallas 45 17 53 New Orleans 45 17 29 L.A. Lakers 42.5 19 40 New York 40 20 43 Sacramento 37.5 21 45 Memphis 32.5 22 30 Miami 30 23 30 Houston 30 23 47 San Antonio 30 23 36 L.A. Clippers 27.5 26 11 Oklahoma City 25.5 27 35 Golden State 22.5 28 20 Cleveland 17 29 46 Brooklyn 12.5 30 7 Future draft picks; draft positioning
ESPN Senior Writer
ESPN Senior Writer