NBA Power Ranking Lists: How Pundits Rank Houston Rockets Week 5

A full month of games are in the books with week 5 of the 2015-16 season in the books and with that the new NBA Power Ranking lists are out.

In Week 5 the Houston Rockets lost their opening match to their inter division rivals Memphis Grizzlies and then registered two critical wins giving the Clutch City fan base a false sense of hope.

The fact the Rockets beat the win-less Philadelphia 76ers by 2 points and a Carmelo less New York Knicks team with the assistance of a couple of questionable fouls and non calls should have been the fore warning that there are still real issues for the Rockets.

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Here’s the updated NBA Power Ranking Lists of how the pundits rank the Houston Rockets for week five:

John Schuhmann of nba.com ranks the Rockets 28th, dropping them 2 spots over their previous week. Full week 5 list. Schuhmann points out Bickerstaff’s biggest move so far has been the absence of Ty Lawson on the floor.

Matt Moore of CBS recognizes the Rockets wins aren’t all their cracked up to be: Complete list.

Marc Stein ESPN from the beginning Stein seems to have (even without directly stating so) felt a turn around for the Rockets is coming. This week he politely moves them up 2 spots. Full List.  Again no list for John Hollinger, however the site still says “coming in November”, let’s give him one more week and then I’ll stop mentioning it (and watch that’s when they’ll appear!)

Jeff Sagarin USA Today has the oddest and most complicated ranking method. Last week when the Rockets were win-less he ranked them 21st and this week with 2 wins  – – he ranks them 21st??? Full list.

USA Today apparently has given up on the Rockets 18 games in. Here’s the complete list

And finally we turn to Jeremy Woo’s Sports Illustrated list for the week who reiterates the point I made in a column this weekend (Over Utilization of James Harden Costing Rockets Wins)  which is James Harden having to score 50 against the worst team in the league or over 40 for the Rockets to win isn’t a winning formula!

That wraps up the National Media NBA Power Ranking Lists for Week 5 of the season. My list will be up later this week. What are your thoughts on how the pundits ranked the Rockets? Let us know in the comments section below.

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