Friendly Bounce Power Rankings: Stephen Curry and the Warriors sit on top

Power rankings are a fun project. Every place that covers NBA basketball has some, and every published set of rankings fosters plenty of discussion. With that in mind we here at The Friendly Bounce decided to get involved with our own set of power rankings, but as with all things here we did it with our own little twist. So welcome to the first weekly Friendly Bounce Power Rankings where we as a staff vote and rank the league in order of fun, taking into account injuries, hot and cold streaks, off-the-court fun and anything else that deals with entertainment.

The top of this list should have been expected. The Golden State Warriors are a blast to watch on the court, have Draymond Green and his mother making them fun off it and every game they play matters as they march towards the Bulls 72-10 mark. But the Knicks in the top 10 and the Bucks in the bottom five? The early season has surprised us so much.

1. Golden State Warriors: It is hard to see anyone really knocking the Warriors off this spot going forward. Not as long as they keep having insane sequences involving no-look passes and Stephen Curry staring at the other team’s bench before his shot goes in the basket.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder: Russell Westbrook‘s fashion choices and thunderous dunks help the Thunder fall into the second spot.

3. New York Knicks- Kristaps Porzingis doing just about everything and the Knicks suddenly being good and playing a ton of close games means they are a must watch most nights.

4. San Antonio Spurs- Boris Diaw earns this spot himself. The ball movement and Kawhi Leonard are just icing on the cake.

5. Los Angeles Clippers- DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul were made for each other. Even without Blake Griffin that is a ton of fun.

6. Cleveland Cavaliers J.R. Smith is on a ridiculous hot streak. If anything this is far too low.

7. Dallas Mavericks- Zaza Pachulia and Dirk Nowitzki is the NBA’s best friendship.

8. Atlanta Hawks- Al Horford and ball movement have the Hawks surprisingly high.

9. Sacramento Kings- You never quite know what you will get from DeMarcus Cousins or Rajon Rondo which makes the Kings a significant wildcard.

10. Portland TrailBlazers- When they aren’t on the inactive list, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum can get hot and make the Blazers must watch in the span of three minutes.

11. Toronto Raptors- DeMarre Carroll‘s injury hurts but if DeMar DeRozan keeps posterizing people weekly, the Raptors should jump up this list in a hurry.

12. Miami Heat- Chris Bosh helps the Heat land in the top half of the league despite their inability to make shots.

13. Orlando Magic- #FREEMARIOHEZONJA!

14. Minnesota Timberwolves- This feels really low but getting blown out often and not being able to shoot will make watching a team harder than it should be.

15. Los Angeles Lakers- Considering where they were at the start of the year this is a great improvement. If Kobe Bryant can keep looking younger and D’Angelo Russell can keep getting better they get more and more fun.

16. Boston Celtics- They grind out games and play Evan Turner a lot which hurts them. But watching Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart torment guards is pretty fun.

17. Indiana Pacers- Way more fun than they used to be, but your fun ceiling is limited when  Jordan Hill is playing 22 minutes per night.

18. Washington Wizards- This ranking is this high purely because of John Wall. The rest of the Wizards are brutal to watch.

19. Charlotte Hornets- Lots of fun when they are making an insane amount of threes. Not as much when they aren’t. They aren’t right now.

20. Detroit Pistons- Most Pistons games have been blowouts one way or the other recently. That isn’t that fun.

21. Denver Nuggets- Beat up but Kenneth Faried‘s energy is fun and Jusuf Nurkic is finally back.

22. Houston Rockets- The Rockets don’t seem to care that often so why should we?

23. Utah Jazz- Injuries have robbed this team of so much. Rudy Gobert returning should help, especially if it lets him get back to being great on Twitter.

24. New Orleans Pelicans- Turns out trying to run with Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca and relying on Norris Cole isn’t a recipe for being fun to watch.

25. Chicago Bulls- I know they made a coaching change this summer but this continues to feel like the same old boring Bulls team.

26. Memphis Grizzlies- Bully ball isn’t bad when you are winning and matter in the grand scheme of things. At 21-18 with the feeling that the Grizzlies are done as contenders it is just boring.

27. Milwaukee Bucks- Sure Giannis Antetokounmpo is fun. But the lack of shooting outside of Khris Middleton and bench players means that too often the Bucks offense is really tough to watch as players crash into each other.

28. Philadelphia 76ers- Ish Smith has changed plenty in Philly and could help them fly up the rankings by being in more games and playing faster.

29. Phoenix Suns- They don’t care. Neither should we.

30. Brooklyn Nets- The Nets should get used to this spot. It is hard to see them climbing out of it this season.