2019-20 NBA Power Rankings: Week 13

01/18/2020

Here at the ICT Zone, our power rankings are based on a very simple philosophy. "To be the man you gotta beat the man", if a lower ranked team beats a higher ranked team, then the two teams automatically swap spots regardless of results from prior weeks. Welcome to week 13 of the the NBA season.

Luka Doncic has single-handedly transformed the Dallas Mavericks into a legitimate threat out west. He's currently putting up numbers that just aren't seen by an NBA player, let alone someone who's only 20 years-old. If Dallas wants a real chance at making noise in the playoffs, however, Kristaps Porzingis is going to have to up his level of play. Shooting 40% from the field is unacceptable for any player, especially a big man. Porzingis has a bit of an excuse as he's coming off an injury that saw him miss all of last season and a significant portion of the season before that. That being said, the rest of the NBA doesn't care about another team's excuses, so the sooner Porzingis can get back to his old self, the more dangerous his team can become.

The New York Knicks just can't seem to field competitive teams, despite making an effort to sign quality players this past offseason. New York's most important piece of the future, RJ Barrett, has cooled off considerably after starting off the season hot. Luckily, a player's career is not determined solely based their rookie season, and I expect Barrett to become an all-star caliber player later on in his career. Other than that, only Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson have really stood out as players to keep long-term. Shocking as it may seem, perhaps picking up 4 power forwards during free agency was not the recipe for making a balanced, competitive roster. At least the Knicks can take solace in the fact that they will likely have a top-3 pick in this year's draft.

Teams that have been first: Sacramento Kings (1x), Houston Rockets (2x), Memphis Grizzlies (1x), Boston Celtics (1x), Oklahoma City Thunder (1x), Philadelphia 76ers (1x), Dallas Mavericks (1x)

Teams that have been last: Memphis Grizzlies (2x), Golden State Warriors (2x), Minnesota Timberwolves (2x), Sacramento Kings (1x), Los Angeles Clippers (1x)