MMT Power Rankings: Weeks 3 & 4
It’s been the roughest and least predictable fortnight in the 4 years I’ve been playing fantasy basketball. As a result, this edition of the power rankings comes with a huge caveat; much of the difference between teams performance has come down to who had the least games postponed. I’ll be putting the number of games a team had over the last two weeks in their top line to give you an idea of how impacted each team was.
Star Performer
We’re sticking with the total value formula provided by Basketball Monster to judge this weeks star performer. This time round the title belongs to Nikola Jokic who is averaging a triple double on the season, an unprecedented feat from a center, and basically gives you everything except blocks (dude, you’re 7ft, just waive your arms around in the air a bit).
Power Rankings
8. Post Up Dreams (Down 3), 55 Games
Post draft, there were whispers around the league that Post Up Dreams might be the team to beat this season, with one anonymous GM telling me “I don’t know who can beat him in 5 categories, it’s broken”. Fast forward to now and it hasn’t quite gone to plan so far, in part due to factors outside of their control (honourably went through with the trade for an injured Ja Morant, Sixers got hit hard by Covid and injuries). Week 5 brings with it a fascinating matchup against the antithesis of their team, in guard heavy I tHinkie Knows Best, with both GM’s hungry for a good performance, and better health, to lift them of the bottom of our rankings.
Key Player: Joel Embiid (10th, Keeper)
Strongest Categories: FG%, Blocks, Rebounds
7. I tHinkie Knows Best (Down 1), 52 Games
Managing a mere 52 games over two weeks could be a record low that may never be broken, and has made the rookie GM’s start to the season a difficult one. If they’d have had as many games as other teams around the league they wouldn’t be sat this low, but even an on fire Damian Lillard can only get you so far. Looking through the numbers highlights that in a normal week this team has got 4 strong categories along with a couple of coin tosses. If they could strengthen one of those, they could become a tough team to beat.
Key Player: Damian Lillard (3rd, Keeper)
Strongest Categories: FT%, Steals, Assists
6. Mount Zion (Up 1), 62 Games
A moderate improvement on last time round, though having 10 games more than the team directly below you does help in that regard. Getting Towns and Tatum back in the starting lineup will be transformational for this team, as it would for any, and in my opinion they have the team that is underdelivering on it’s potential the most, but are still sat at .500 and all of their contests have finished 5–4 so we could well see a dramatic change over the next two to four weeks. They have a really tight matchup against Russlin’ Up W’s in week 5 in which three categories are projected to be within the margin of error.
Key Player: Domantas Sabonis (35th, Pick 43)
Strongest Categories: Rebounds, Blocks, FG% (though not sure what happened in week 4)
5. Views from The 6 (Up 3), 66 Games
A big bounce back from the team that was rock bottom last time round. Their key player could have been any of 3 or 4 different players, with Grant, LaVine, Rozier and Middleton all well outplaying their draft positions over the past two weeks. If only they’d kept . They will however need to maintain this upward trajectory to close the gap on the playoff teams, as their start left them so far behind. They have a potentially tough matchup in week 5 against Plain White TJ’s, though at present they are projecteed to take a W there.
Key Player: Jerami Grant (14th, Pick 94)
Strongest Categories: 3PTM, Blocks, Points
4. Take That for Data (Down 3), 55 Games
Myles Turner is a cheat code. Playing 808’s this week, loser takes out the bins.
Key Player: Nikola Jokic (1st, Keeper)
Strongest Categories: Blocks (and usually 3PTM, Assists)
3. Russlin Up W’s (No Change), 63 Games
Oh how we laughed when he chose Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a keeper. We may have been wrong. We slept on Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon. We may have been wrong. We said Kawhi wouldn’t play back to backs. We may have been wrong. This team is looking pretty good. Picking keepers next year might be tricky.
Key Player: Malcolm Brogdon (7th, Pick 69)
Strongest Categories: Steals, FT%, Assists
2. Plain White T.J’s (No Change), 58 Games
Gordon Hayward is certainly enjoying life in Charlotte so far and post injury Kevin Durant looks suspicously like pre injury Kevin Durant, and thanks to them plus a smattering of other good performances, they hold onto the number 2 spot this time round, though if Week 3 hadn’t been so poor due to abscenses, it might have been 1st.
Key Player: Gordon Hayward (12th, Pick 66)
Strongest Categories: Steals, Points, FG%
1. 808’s & Fastbreaks (Up 3), 66 Games
For a good chunk of this season, results may well be decided by whoever is impacted least by Covid. It would be a unfair to attribute 808’s rankings jump purely to that but it certainly helped. Though so did Vucevic being the 2nd best Balkan big man in the league over weeks 3 and 4, and CJ McCollom continuing to be incredible until he cruely went down with an ankle injury. Will they hold onto this spot next time round, or will we be treated to yet another new name at the top when we reconvene post week 6?
Key Player: Nikola Vucevic (2nd, 29th Pick)
Strongest Categories: 3PTM, Assists, Rebounds
