2014-2015 Raptors Power Rankings

[Mediumcore]

Hollinger Ranking November 17th, 2014
Last Ranking (Nov. 16th): 4th
Today's Ranking: 4th

Yesterday's Conference Ranking: 1st
Today's Conference Ranking: 1st

Top 5
Warriors
Mavs
Blazers
Raptors
Rockets

Mavs and Blazers swap position.

As much as it's nice to be ranked so high, and it's a great indicator of where this franchise stands as far as statistics are involved, it just goes to show why stats shouldn't the only consideration given when building a team.

[Bendit]

Hollinger still doing this stuff? I thought he was now an employee (vp of something) of the Grizzies. He must have a patent on the calcs./methodology....but I was thinking conflict o.i. murmur possibilities.

[Other Scott]

Raps now 8th on Stein's rankings.

I think that's more realistic too.

I saw 8th and thought, "that seems awfully low" but it's hard to argue with any of the teams ahead of us except Chicago, and guess what, Chicago just came in and crushed us.

Schumann (NBA.com)
8. Toronto (8-2)
Pace: 96.6 (11), OffRtg: 109.0 (5), DefRtg: 100.5 (8), NetRtg: +8.4 (5)
The Raptors weren't ready for primetime, losing to the Bulls in a rare TNT appearance. But their depth continues to show its value, with their reserves holding the team's best on-court numbers for the second straight season. Both James Johnson and Lou Williams have fit in well and the bench basically won Tuesday's game against the Magic.
This week: vs. MEM, vs. MIL, @ CLE

[Other Scott]

The CBS.com power rankings (ie the ones with the entertaining blurbs) have the Raptors at 5 as well, though the blurb doesn't make that much sense, as Toronto probably has a better resume than Chicago. And they haven't been pretty to watch:

5. Toronto
Toronto is the opposite of Chicago. They look terrible on paper, with only one win against a team above .500. But you watch them and believe they have the weapons to make opponents pay. It's hard to tell if they have the same magic as last season, but this may be a better team. His numbers are bad, but I've been impressed with the play of Jonas Valanciunas.

[ball4life]

You shut your mouth when you're talking to me. Americans paying attention to us and stuff matters alright! Outsiders opinions and judgements are how I get by! Media is dumb and stuff. But we need its approval.


Did I justify it well enough?

Here are some more American media approval,

Not sure if you watched the Basketball hour by Bill Simm Jalen and Lowe on ESPN and they talked about how Raps have a real possibility of making it to the NBA Finals. Jalen did not want to rule against it when Simmons proposed it and they went on to talk a lil bit more about the team. It seems Bill Simmons really loving Kyle Lowry, he mentioned him as possibly being in the MVP race and how he watched the Celtics Vs Raps game and hasn't seen any PG other than CP3 dominate a game like that. Pretty cool stuff.

Now, only if i take notes like this during my lecture I'd probably do better in my courses. I just randomly realized that.

[Chr1s1anL]

Here are some more American media approval,

Not sure if you watched the Basketball hour by Bill Simm Jalen and Lowe on ESPN and they talked about how Raps have a real possibility of making it to the NBA Finals. Jalen did not want to rule against it when Simmons proposed it and they went on to talk a lil bit more about the team. It seems Bill Simmons really loving Kyle Lowry, he mentioned him as possibly being in the MVP race and how he watched the Celtics Vs Raps game and hasn't seen any PG other than CP3 dominate a game like that. Pretty cool stuff.

Now, only if i take notes like this during my lecture I'd probably do better in my courses. I just randomly realized that.

I watched the whole thing. The way they made it seem is that Raps are a piece away. That's why I've been advocating going all in for Marc Gasol this summer.

[Joey]

Hollinger still doing this stuff? I thought he was now an employee (vp of something) of the Grizzies. He must have a patent on the calcs./methodology....but I was thinking conflict o.i. murmur possibilities.

I think they just call it Hollinger's because its still his Algorithm that generates the rankings.

[ezz_bee]

Hollinger Ranking November 20th, 2014
Last Ranking (Nov. 17th): 4th
Today's Ranking: 3rd

Yesterday's Conference Ranking: 1st
Today's Conference Ranking: 1st

Top 5
Warriors
Mavs
Raptors
Blazers
Pelicans

Rockets fall out of the top 5 for the first time this season, Pelicans in the top 5 for the first time this season. Raps and Warriors only team to stay in the top 5 season the season tipped off.

[ezz_bee]

Hollinger still doing this stuff? I thought he was now an employee (vp of something) of the Grizzies. He must have a patent on the calcs./methodology....but I was thinking conflict o.i. murmur possibilities.

I think they just call it Hollinger's because its still his Algorithm that generates the rankings.

Hollinger is in the front office of the Grizzles. He created the algorithm for ESPN when he was still working for them. Since it's automated it can continue to run even though he's no longer there.


EDIT: I'm guessing ESPN continued to keep the name out of a combination of previous name recognition and the preference of Hollinger himself, although I could see it changed to "ESPN's Automated Power Rankings" or something else in the future unless Hollinger has a legal stipulation to keep his name associated with it.

[Other Scott]

Hollinger's has the Raptors up to number 2 for the first time this year, behind only Dallas.

They passed Golden State due to the lacklustre showing they had against a bad OKC team.

[Jclaw]

ESPN ratings (Stein) have the Raps at #3 behind GSW and Memphis. Main comment was that it was very close between them and the Raps for number 1.

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings/_/year/2015/week/4

[octothorp]

The nba.com power-rankings this week singled out the Raptors for having the easiest schedule in the league thus far. Neither Hollinger nor Sagarin see it as the easiest schedule, though both see it as an easy-ish schedule.

But here's the problem with all of this 'schedule is going to change' stuff: the Raptors are the best team in the weakest division in the weakest conference. If the East and the Atlantic remains this awful all season long, you'd fully expect the Raptors to have the easiest schedule in the league at the end of the season.

This site has a basic strength of played and remaining games in the league (very simple calculation based current winning percentage of teams they've played). And as you'd expect, the Raptors have the easiest overall schedule, as well as the easiest remaining schedule.

http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/easternsosag.html
http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/westernsosag.html

There's going to be tough stretches of the season, and easy stretches of the season. There's that Christmas road-trip, as well as a 9-of-11 stretch on the road just after the allstar break. But the stretch between those two major roadtrips is another super-soft schedule. Then after that 9-of-11 on the road stretch, a middling schedule for a while before a road-heavy end to the season.

So, I guess my point to just get used to the 'easy schedule' stuff, because it's not going to change. Even after we go on our roadtrips and play some of the western powerhouses in their own barns, the guys who just look at the numbers are always going to be saying, 'yeah, but their overall strength of schedule...'.

[Joey]

The nba.com power-rankings this week singled out the Raptors for having the easiest schedule in the league thus far. Neither Hollinger nor Sagarin see it as the easiest schedule, though both see it as an easy-ish schedule.

But here's the problem with all of this 'schedule is going to change' stuff: the Raptors are the best team in the weakest division in the weakest conference. If the East and the Atlantic remains this awful all season long, you'd fully expect the Raptors to have the easiest schedule in the league at the end of the season.

This site has a basic strength of played and remaining games in the league (very simple calculation based current winning percentage of teams they've played). And as you'd expect, the Raptors have the easiest overall schedule, as well as the easiest remaining schedule.

http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/easternsosag.html
http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/westernsosag.html

There's going to be tough stretches of the season, and easy stretches of the season. There's that Christmas road-trip, as well as a 9-of-11 stretch on the road just after the allstar break. But the stretch between those two major roadtrips is another super-soft schedule. Then after that 9-of-11 on the road stretch, a middling schedule for a while before a road-heavy end to the season.

So, I guess my point to just get used to the 'easy schedule' stuff, because it's not going to change. Even after we go on our roadtrips and play some of the western powerhouses in their own barns, the guys who just look at the numbers are always going to be saying, 'yeah, but their overall strength of schedule...'.

This is actually the exact point I was trying to make earlier.. if we're #1, and every team has a lesser winning percentage, does that not make every game "easy", according to however they might calculate it?

Miami and Indiana both had the "Easiest" schedules last year according the Power Rankings in the East, which just proves my point.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

One positive is that the Raptors have done what good teams do - win games against weaker/wounded opposition that they should win. That's been a problem for the Raptors in the past, in that they've tended to play up/down to their opponent. That in itself is refreshing to see, even if there have been asterisks or question marks associated with some of the games; a win's a win.

[Nilanka]

One positive is that the Raptors have done what good teams do - win games against weaker/wounded opposition that they should win. That's been a problem for the Raptors in the past, in that they've tended to play up/down to their opponent. That in itself is refreshing to see, even if there have been asterisks or question marks associated with some of the games; a win's a win.

In years past, we avoided using the 2004 Detroit Pistons model when discussing how to build a successful team. That is, a team without any "elite" individual players, but a roster who collectively performed at an elite level. We wrote that team off as an anomaly that couldn't be replicated.

But with each win, the comparison becomes more valid.