Battle For New York: NY Basketball Power Rankings

Dwight Howard, Deron Williams

NY Power Rankings, 10-6:

 
10) JR Smith: JR Smith won a game this week against the Bobcats in which he shot 5-15 from the floor (including 1-9 from 3) leading up to the buzzer beater; the night before that he scored four points on 1-11 shooting and the night before that he dropped 20. That’s just the frustrating nature of the uber-talented Freehold, New Jersey native. Perhaps Smith will develop a modicum of consistency now that he no longer tweets pics of ladies’ posteriors or now that he has cutback on his after-hours activities. (But probably not.)

9) Gerald Wallace: In the first meeting at Barclays, Crash’s value was evident. He played solid defense on Carmelo, and although he didn’t stop the five time all-star, Wallace tired him enough that Melo faded at the end. Wallace has had a few three-point barrages against Orlando and Oklahoma City, but his performance has been inconsistent when healthy enough to play. A guy nicknamed “Crash” however, will have value that won’t show up in the box score.

8) Joe Johnson: Joe Johnson has been nothing short of a disappointment this year and if this ranking seems too high, that just proves it. Before we get too harsh on the six-time All-Star, let’s remember that Johnson still ranks third on the Nets in scoring and came up big in important wins over the Clippers, Celtics, and Blazers. And since we live in a what have you done for me lately world, Johnson had a 32-point game against the Warriors last time out. If Joe keeps stroking the nylon this way, hopefully we’ll see less and less of his evil twin, Mo Johnson. (Unfortunate: Mo came back with a vengeance against the Bucks.)

7) Jason Kidd: The 39-year-old former Net has been rejuvenated in his role as a point guard turned two guard, and when healthy has provided the Knicks with 25 plus minutes a night. The leader of the AARP Knicks has played excellent on both ends of the floor, including a top 20 simple rating of +7.7, tremendous team defense and an un-Kidd like 49.2% from beyond the arc. His questionable head bandage drops him a spot.

6) Andray Blatche: What’s that, you say? Blatche at number 6?! Yeah, that’s right, Blatche at #6! I’m not going to wax poetic about how surprising he has been or try to come up with clever nicknames, all that’s been done plenty before. I will tell you, however, that agent Zero Hero creates a nightmare matchup for backup centers, sports a gaudy 24.2 PER, and has done an admirable job filling in for Brook Lopez this past week.
 
Check the rankings: 20-16 | 15-11 | 10-6 | 5-3 | 2-1