NBA Quarter Pole Power Poll (Part II)

Damian Lillard has the Portland Trail Blazers playing like title contenders.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

In case you missed Part I yesterday, you can find it here. In it, we covered teams ranked No. 30 through No. 17. In Part II, we hit the best 16 teams in the league right now.

Western Wanderers

16. Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers are 10-11 despite seeing just 135 completely ineffectual minutes from Steve Nash and largely substandard play from Pau Gasol. That's a [expletive deleted] miracle.

They have five players shooting 39% or better from three, and they're launching them like it's going out of style. Their entire offense is predicated around whipping the ball around the perimeter until someone is open for three. If that doesn't work, Nick Young careens into the lane and misses a 360 reverse layup. There's absolutely no reason this offense should work, and yet they win games. Now that Kobe's back, this might be a playoff team.

15. Memphis Grizzlies

The offense is still not very good, which is to be expected. It's just too hard to manufacture space when you don't have reliable shooters. That spacing will become even more strained with Quincy Pondexter possibly out for the season with a stress fracture in his foot.

The concern going forward, however, is how bad the defense has been. They rank just 22nd in defensive efficiency, and it's not like it's because Marc Gasol is out with injury - in the 447 minutes he's played, Memphis has a Defensive Rating of 103.8. Without him (571 minutes), it's 104.2. One major problem has been their three-point defense - after finishing 2nd in Opponents 3-PT% last season, that ranking has plummeted to 23rd this year.

The Way-Too-Long NBA Preview (Part II)

Chris Paul is ready to lead the Clippers to Los Angeles relevance.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

I began the end of the SuiteSports 2013-2014 NBA Preview yesterday with Part I of the Way-Too-Long Preview. This is Part II, the final installment.

Because the season starts today.

All the previous publishings can be found on the sidebar on the right-hand side, or you can just plow ahead with the 15 teams I didn't cover yesterday. Again, there is no secret code to be unlocked to derive meaning from the order. I pulled them out of a hat and then made sure my Finals pick was at the end. That's it. Now read it.

Because it's basketball season.

Los Angeles Lakers
2013 Record: 45-37
Over/Under Wins: 36.5
Odds to Win Championship: 40/1

Scouting Report: The Lakers’ odds to win the championship are hysterically funny. Compared to, say, the Pistons, their over/under line for wins is actually four lower (Pistons are at 40.5), but their odds to win the title are significantly lower (Detroit is at 75/1). This basically means that people are still betting on the Lakers to win the title in greater numbers than those betting on Detroit or other teams projected in that win range, like New Orleans (39.5; 100/1) or Atlanta (39.5; 150/1). Lakers fans, man. Gotta love ‘em.

I Like This Team - A Glass-Half-Full NBA Preview (Part I)

Kyrie Irving and John Wall are both poised to turn their franchises around.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Last week, we ran through all 30 teams and took the most pessimistic angle possible. We did this because we are a sports blog, and thus contractually obligated by the laws of the internet to be snarky and sarcastic.

However, like Fox News, SuiteSports is fair and balanced. If we spend nearly 5000 words saying the worst thing about every NBA team, it's only right that we spend the same amount saying nice things about every NBA team. Hopefully, reading this series makes you think of Jon Gruden's penchant for saying how much he likes "this guy." For now, I am Jon Gruden, and the 30 NBA teams are the scrappy, unheralded, or otherwise non-traditional players that Gruden gushes over during Monday Night Football broadcasts.

Orlando Magic

They used the No. 2 overall pick on a promising young player with seemingly unlimited upside. He’ll be playing out of position, but that actually might not be such a bad thing – he’ll take his lumps at point guard long before Orlando is expecting to be a playoff contender, so by the time they are expecting to be, he’ll have all the wrinkles ironed out.

Moe Harkless and Tobias Harris are each skilled forwards who have plenty of time to figure out how they complement each other. Nikola Vucevic is a 22-year old double-double machine. They don’t have the central star that can tie everything together yet, but it seems like they have several pieces that can assemble together easily if they ever do get the superstar they’re looking for.

Best-Case Scenario: Victor Oladipo is a revelation at point guard - he picks up on the intricacies of the position overnight and uses his athleticism to cover up his weaknesses. Harkless and Harris effortlessly float back and forth between the two forward spots, and Arron Afflalo returns to his 2009 form on defense, giving them a legitimate perimeter stopper. Nikola Vucevic holds down the paint and Orlando is in the mix for the 8th playoff spot all the way into April.

Your NBA Team Sucks - A Glass-Half-Empty Season Preivew (Part I)

Hey. Charlotte Bobcats. You Suck.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

Welcome to the first edition of "Your NBA Team Sucks." Deadspin has done an NFL version, but we've gone ahead and borrowed the idea for the NBA. We aren't going as in-depth as Deadspin does with their NFL series - ours is broken into three parts, outlining 10 teams each. And, in the interest of fairness and positivity, we're going to follow it up with another three-part series "Your NBA Team Is Awesome" once this is finished.

The list runs in reverse order of last year's standings, so Part I will cover Orlando through Portland, Part II will cover Philadelphia through Golden State, and Part III will cover Brooklyn through Miami. Let's get started.

Orlando Magic

They won 20 games last year, the fewest in the league. They got the No. 2 pick in the draft and used it on Victor Oladipo, a shooting guard with limited ball handling and passing skills. Naturally, he’s going to start at point guard.