Stupid Power Rankings (Week 3 of the 2019-20 NBA Season)

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People LOVE Power Rankings in their sports. Of course, we have one of our own but it’s not your usual rankings where we put them from best to worst team during the week. Every Monday, we look at 10 things in the NBA (well, not just the NBA) and rank them in order how much we liked each thing. Don’t agree with them? You can always make your OWN Power Rankings.

These are the rankings for Week 3 of 25 in the regular season. Let’s get into it.

(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)

1) Trae Young Returns and Starts Dancing

It’s good to have Trae back. And look at him make the Spurs look foolish by dancing around like no one is watching.

(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)

2) Bojan Bogdanovic is in Utah For These Shots

There’s hardly anything better on the basketball court than sinking the game-winning shot. This is Bojan’s “Welcome to Utah” moment. This is why he got the big bucks.

3) Gas Leak in Raptors Studio Show

In the meantime, the Raptors studio team had a fantastic time after somebody passed gas in the studio (Raptors analyst Leo Rautins was supposedly guilty). I just love it when TV personalities just break down on live TV.

I’m so mature.

4) Robin Lopez Still Hates Mascots

Robin Lopez got tricked by terrifying mascot Chuck the Condor into signing a “friendship agreement.” When the reveal was done, Robin made sure not to let him get away.

I love this forever rivalry between Robin and the mascots.

4A) The Black Cat Is On The Field!

A black cat interrupted a game in the National Football League. Amazing.

Of course, Kevin Harlan called this part of the game.

(I will never forget Harlan’s all-time amazing call of a streaker three years ago.)

5) Flagrant Fouls for Foot Under the Shooter

This is LONG overdue.

It’s just bad technique and extremely clumsy for these great athletes to put a foot under the shooter. NOTHING good comes out of this; only bad feelings and potential injuries. Hopefully, we see less (and NO) cases about this in the NBA.

Zaza Pachulia pretty much killed the San Antonio Spurs because of this.

(PHOTO CREDIT: David Liam Kyle/Getty Images.)

6) Celtics Are Scorching But…

Boston Celtics are off to a 7-1 start. But can they sustain this kind of good basketball? Because Gordon Hayward fractured his hand against the Spurs. As of this writing, we don’t know how long he’ll be out but an extended period could be bad for these guys.

After all, they don’t have the depth that they used to. But we’ll see how they play for the next few games before we sound the alarm on these dudes.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Chiu/AP.)

7) D’Angelo Russell’s Roll

Russell is having quite a stretch. Since he returned from an ankle injury, he’s averaged 37.3 points per contest in the last three. That includes a 52-point detonation against the Wolves.

The bad news is that the Warriors are 0-3 in that stretch. That’s no fault of his own; we know why the Dubs are like this at the moment.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Gallardo/AP.)

8) Load Management Talk

Everyone has an opinion on load management. I’m quite tired of it and I feel there are so many people being hypocritical about it (and I’m talking about it right now so who’s the REAL hypocrite here?).

These are probably the same people who want a shorter season for the NBA. So when someone decides that they probably need rest BECAUSE he’s super fatigued and hurt, why are those people mad? Hey, don’t YOU want to take a day off because YOU’RE hurting somewhere?

And of course, some fans will say, “Well, LeBron James would NEVER do what Kawhi is doing.” The same LeBron who has taken breaks before, which would be categorized under… load management. Michael Jordan said that players get paid to play 82 games. Yes, he did do that in 9 of his 14.2 seasons. But the NBA is so different now. It’s way more taxing now and players are stronger and faster. And there is so much data about how players get so fatigued in playing so many minutes.

The only ones that really lose out here are the fans. But I think even a lot of them can be understanding when it comes to missing out on some stars play. Yeah, some of them want to see the Currys, LeBrons, and the Kawhis. But they also want to watch and experience the league.

Also, Kawhi is clearly hurt and people (even the ones COVERING the game) HAVE to know the situation. There’s a lot of information out there. Let’s not be ignorant about this.

(VIDEO CREDIT: ESPN.)

9) The Knicks Kind of Suck At This Thing

The front office (President Steve Mills and General Manager Scott Perry) took over the postgame presser after their team lost to the Cavaliers by 21. The Knicks are 2-8 so far this season. The team has not made the playoffs since 2013. They traded away their franchise player Kristaps Porzingis (yeah, yeah, I know) last season. They did get R.J. Barrett in the draft but mostly struck out on free agency. Since Jeff Van Gundy left in 2001, they’ve only had one coach that has lasted three seasons (Mike D’Antoni). Now current coach David Fizdale might have a hot seat.

I really don’t know where they go from here other than to get better within. But man, oh, man, the Knicks fans have been waiting forever. Forever-ever. Forever-EVER.

(PHOTO CREDIT: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.)

10) These Drug-Related Suspensions

Diuretics. Growth hormones. Gummies. We have seen THREE huge suspensions in the league in a matter of a month. And we’re not even including Wilson Chandler‘s own 25-game suspension that happened last summer.

I kind of wonder if this is a trend we should worry about. I guess we’ll see in the next few months if more players get suspended. ESPECIALLY if it’s superstars that get caught doing this.

(Of course, they can easily turn a blind eye on these superstars. I don’t really mean to imply anything but there are people that think there is more than meets the eye here.)

Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.

TNLP on FaceBook.

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