NBA Cup Power Rankings: How the remaining 8 teams stack up in the quarterfinals and beyond

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Welcome back to the Internet’s most accurate power rankings, where in this biweekly installment we will sort the NBA Cup’s eight-team field of quarterfinalists into so perfect an order it cannot be questioned.

Gone from this list are the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. In their place are the surging New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks, the upstart Atlanta Hawks and the injury-ravaged Orlando Magic — maybe the only teams capable of keeping Cleveland and Boston from meeting in the Eastern Conference finals.

If the East contingent does not inspire our hopes that the NBA Cup’s single-elimination stage can salvage a confusing start to the tournament, get a load of the West, where the conference’s four best teams may have advanced to the quarterfinals (though the Memphis Grizzlies will not get to make their statement).

Just how much deeper is the West than the East? Let these power rankings be our guide.

8. Orlando Magic

The Magic may have been the East’s best NBA Cup bet if they had either Franz Wagner or Paolo Banchero. They are outscoring opponents by 9.6 points per 100 meaningful possessions when Wagner is on the floor without Banchero, and they are outscoring opponents by 5.6 points per 100 meaningful possessions when Banchero is on without Wagner, per Cleaning the Glass.

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And Orlando might have challenged the West’s winner if it were fully healthy. The Magic are rich with the type of talent teams accumulate when they are in and around the draft lottery year after year, and they have the two players they need to lead them. Both Wagner and Banchero have flashed All-NBA ability ​​in stints at the helm of a rising contender. It is about harnessing it now.

But both tore right obliques, and Orlando has performed like an 18-win team without the pair. The team we see in this tournament will (hopefully) not be the one Orlando unleashes in April.

7. Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks are still the Hawks, capable of playing as poorly as they play well. They still have Trae Young and all the strengths and weaknesses that come with employing him at the top of the roster….

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-cup-power-rankings-how-the-remaining-8-teams-stack-up-in-the-quarterfinals-and-beyond-162847346.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-10 16:28:00

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