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Mark Stein's initial Power Ranking of the year:


West             East
GSW
                     Milwaukee
                     Boston
Denver
LAC
Phoenix
                     Philly
Memphis
                     Cleveland
                     Miami
Minnesota
New Orleans
Dallas 

So, he puts Dallas 8th in West/13th overall.  First, I'll be surprised if the top four he's listed all finish top four.  Something always happens to someone.  Second, I think the next four are fairly malleable.  It could be any order among those four and it wouldn't shock me.

It's possible that I'm underrating the great Jokic, but I don't really get Denver being so high. I don't think MPJ will ever be healthy enough for long enough to be a difference maker, especially since he still has so much to learn and has been unable to improve (it's not just about being available at his current level). Plus, I think Murray is basically a less reliable Brunson. I'd actually take Brunson over him, I think. Jokic is obviously one of the best in the world, but overall I'm just not as impressed as some. 

I also have a feeling there will always be something going wrong in New Orleans. They just don't seem destined to figure it out to me. As high as I have been on the Clippers, you could say the same about them. 

Really curious to see if Chris Paul has anything left during this regular season. If he does, and the series end was just a temporary running out of gas, PHX will probably have another great season. If he's done, so are they, period. Booker will look much more normal, suddenly, I think. 

The Mavs really might be one player away from being dangerous, which is why I've been so blue about the Brunson thing. I literally think Brunson, specifically, would put them in the conversation for home court in round 1. If they could just pick up some reasonable replacement...Clarkson, Conley, Walker, etc, I'd feel so much better.