Week 7
Welcome to Console Corners’ NBA2k League Power Rankings. This week’s Power Rankings are based on both Team’s play in Week 7 of the Regular Season as well as their play in the Tip-Off Tournament which happened the week before. You can check out all of the action Live Tuesday-Friday 7 PM EDT on Youtube, Twitch, and the ESPN Watch App.
1. Raptors Uprising GC
Yes, of course the Raptors are still your number one team in the Power Rankings and rightfully so. The Team is still undefeated in the regular season after Week 7 at 10-0 now. They also only lost one game in the Tip-Off Tournament and won the entire event. Kenny is leading the MVP race for the Season and at this point there doesn’t look like anyone can stop this team now. They tied two records with their win in Week 7. 10-0 ties the best regular season win and with the Tournament wins involved they tie the record for consecutive wins at 14. I would say it’s most likely they shatter both these records in their next matches as well.
2. Wizards District Gaming
Okay so the team didn’t make it out of groups in the tournament but they still bounced back in week 7 with a win and besides they were in a group which gathered the name of “Death Group” so we really cannot blame them. JBM continues to outshine the rest of the PGs in the draft class and with a top 2 Center in Dayfri helping him out this team still looks poised for a title run currently.
3. Kings Guard Gaming
The Kings made it to the Finals of the Tip-Off Tournament and people will say they had the easy side of the bracket but I always tend to throw that excuse out of the window in any tournament. Teams are where they are for a reason and when you are as hot as the Kings on the continued path of improvement and are able to beat another similar team in the Jazz you deserve to be where you are. Bash has been rock solid at PG, Crush is probably the best wing defender in the League currently and continues to lock down everyone he is in front of, except Kenny obviously and Shotz at Center has been great which leads me to believe he is the most underrated player in the League this year.
4. Jazz Gaming
Speaking of teams who are hot on the improvement trail the Jazz are right up there with the Kings and looking to be in the title hunt as well. Most critics said during the draft the Jazz took many Slashers but nonetheless it seems to be working in their favor. The team rallys behind Ria and Splashy who continue to improve and put up big numbers. The Jazz are always the 4th Quarter team to look out for, win or lose they put on a show near end of game and always find a way to keep themselves in it until the final buzzer. The team will be even more dangerous once of of the other 3 players find a way to be as consistant as Ria and Splashy.
5. Mavs Gaming
Alright so the Mavs didn’t so hot in the Tip-Off and they were struggling before that as well but in Week 7 they simply went back to the original game plan and it worked to no surprise. Feed Pete inside, Keep Sherm in a scoring mentality and when the defense applies to much pressure give it to Dimez. The double ball handler doesn’t work if people know it is coming and if you force it. Instead they just play “meta” and when the opponent starts to lock up Sherm it means Dimez is open and the pick and roll can operate just the same.
6. Warriors Gaming Squad
Oh how the mighty continue to fall. They lose for the first time and it seems to keep heading in the same direction. Tip-Off was not very pleasant for the Warriors and while no one can really contain CB13 as successfully as they hope they have found ways to avoid this and lock up the other 4 players on the team. They didn’t do so hot in the Tournament and when Week 7 came around they lost to the Magic. You cannot lose to a team who still haven’t figured out how to win consistently.
7. Hornets Venom GT
Where is Type? That is the biggest question I am asking myself when I see the Hornets in Week 7. They put Zae at Center and bring in Gliz at PF against the Jazz and of course they lose this matchup but they continue to keep the same lineup going into their Pacers match up. They happened to walk away with a victory that time but then again it is the Pacers. Type is arguably the Teams best Player and asset but if Snubby can do what he did vs the Pacers on a nightly basis and against better teams they will be okay, especially if Zae at Center plays as well as he did. He may enjoy playing the Dark Horse Scoring PF more but he played a heck of a good Center that series.
8. Gen.G Tigers
I’m sold on Gen.G being the Dark Horse of the League for title contention. The team continues to impress each night with their improvement. Although they took a loss in Week 7 to the JAzz they beat a up and coming Grizz team and were the only team to win a game against the Raptors in the Tip-Off. They also went 4-0 in groups but also got a little lucky schedule wise being in the same group as the Rap’s but not having to play them. Killey and Deadeye have both stepped up and earlier this Season I noted someone would need to for Kaii to be relieved of a lot of the pressure. Tigers can and will continue to impress most likely.
9. Grizz Gaming
Vandi is scoring on the same level as other top PGs in the League now as well as Goofy doing things we have seen him do before like in his Season 1 Championship run with the Knicks. These two are carrying the team but this year’s game is a 5 man effort. When the Grizz get the help they need from the other 3 role players they tend to play like a top team but when they don’t get that production it looks like a struggle fest for Goofy and Vandi. If Double A can play like he has in the past then the team will get better and better. I counted the Grizz out very early in the Season but I am here to tell you to not make the same mistake as me.
10. Blazer5 Gaming
Blazer5 Gaming is really good, and we know this. However, this season it just isn’t showing after about Week 4. They have been struggling but the team seems to look better most recently as if they were finding improvment. The biggest problem I think there is with this team is the fact that they are in the most stacked conference. The west is stacked and that might turn out to be the downfall of the most winning est team in 2k League history.
11. Nets GC
The Nets got destroyed in the Tip-Off and to make matters worst they have another action being taken by the League Offices afterwards. Randomz closed the game in a rage quit fashion when they were getting blown out by the Pistons. To be fair I wouldn’t enjoy losing badly to a team like the Pistons after seeing their Remote Play for the first 6 weeks as well. However, the Nets are still pretty good as a whole, we also didn’t see them play in Week 7 so here is hoping they have everything sorted out when they play the Cavs in Week 8, although they won’t have Randomz due to the suspension.
12. T-Wolves Gaming
The T-Wolves were struggling and now they are sort of figuring things out. The Tip-Off was the normal struggling they seemed to be experiencing during the later half of the 6 weeks but in Week 7 they changed up the lineup and it seemed to work the first series against a lower ranked Lakers but when matched with a better opponent in the Kings the Jmoney PG and Bear SF combo didn’t seem to pan out as expected. Maybe they just need more time to sort out the chemistry of the moves but only time will tell if Bear needs to move back to the PG role for the T-Wolves to step up again.
13. Pistons GT
Week 6 Power Rankings I had the Pistons as the worse team in the League and then a fire was lit under them it seems. They made it out of groups in the Tip-Off into the elimination bracket portion. Now some will say they had the easiest group to make it out of but I am not going to take away from Demon and the Pistons improvements. Everyone in the League is there for a reason and Demon has become a Demon compared to himself just a few weeks before. Ramo has also been looking like prime Ramo once again and was one of the major reasons they made it out of groups first. Charger has been starting to step up on the defensive end as well. I personally am looking to see how much more the Pistons can improve and if they can find a way into the wildcard spot more often.
14. Knicks Gaming
Duck has been slacking in the ball movement as well as the rest of the team. The Knicks were looking good going into the Tip-Off but since the start of the tournament they have fallen behind. Duck still produces on the scoring end but it seems most recently no one can play defense. They are still among the top teams in ball security but they don’t produce any turnovers which causes problems. This essentially means they have to play the half court game on offense all game and never really have any openings for transition buckets. Duck needs to find someone on the team that can score offensively to relieve himself kind of like how Gen.G were before they started playing as successfully as he has now.
15. Pacers Gaming
The Pacers best player is the one they got in the draft this year in BOHIO. Unfortunately he was taken out of the lineup and the Pacers found no success without him either. The team needs to find an identity it seems. They have tried running different styles of play and did find minor success when playing off meta and to their own strengths. Now, however, they seem to be in search of a new style once again and trying to find a way to successfully playing the same way everyone is at the top. The problem is without BOHIO they won’t find success but at the same time he doesn’t fit their lineup and that isn’t his problem, as the Pacers are essentially restricting him from being one of the top coveted players he was when heading into the draft.
16. Cavs Legion GC
Cavs were a bottom of the barrel team but for some reason the former SF turned PG Strainer really stepped up in the Tip-Off. The team went nuts beating some top talent to make it out of groups. They of course lost to the Tigers and it almost seemed like they would have made it out of that alive as well. Strainer needs to keep playing the way he was that week as well as for Larry and Godof2k to step up as well. Then maybe the Cavs can get some more wins in their pockets. They didn’t play week 7 but they will be playing against a handicapped Nets coming up in week 8. The winning mentality needs to restart there.
17. Magic Gaming
The Magic would have moved down in the rankings due to their play in the Tip-Off but they somehow found a way to beat the Warriors in Week 7. I credit this mostly to 3 things. One being Reizey just isn’t the type to lay down when the season looks done for, and the Magic’s season looks pretty much done for. Second is the fact that DT wasn’t playing, so now we know the problem. DT was on Mama’s twitter show saying he is coming back in the lineup but we shouldn’t think of that as truth because he could be blowing smoke for all we know. The third thing is the Warriors have been falling short of success recently and that’s something they need to work on. The Magic however, are still a long way from fixing their problems and getting this win against the Warriors was a step forward in the right direction.
18. Heat Check Gaming
The Heat have done exactly what we expected in the Tip-Off and Week 7 of play. They lost in groups of the tournament. Then they lose to the Jazz in Week 7 and then they won vs the 76ers in Week 7 afterwards. Shotz and Glenn been playing great on offense for this team but no one else has been able to step up alongside them and all 5 of the players in the lineup would even play defense. The biggest problem with the team is they cannot get any turnovers and they can’t stop anyone. It may seem like they played defense well enough to get a win but then again it’s the 76ers who have been atrocious all season so far.
19. Hawks Talon GC
The Hawks continue to fall from grace as they went from a contender to a middle of the pack to a bottom of the barrel team. Their last few games the entire team seems to be off their game and they continue to give up lousy turnovers that cost them early and they never seem to recover from it late in games. Even when this teams sticks around closely they somehow find a way to let things get out of hands.
20. Lakers Gaming
Lakers did find a win against a Pacers team that is falling apart but then they lost to a T-Wolves team who made a lineup change with Bear moving to SF. Maybe they didn’t prepare themselves for Bear to be off of PG or maybe they just fell apart from the small moment they found a way to win. The team is still terrible but they aren’t the worse, even when the entire offense is something out of 2019 where everything relies on the PG.
21. Bucks Gaming
Bucks didn’t play in Week 7 and they of course did pretty well in the Tip-Off but it isn’t enough to excuse them from how bad they have been playing beforehand. They either look hot or they look frozen and I never know which team it’s going to be. They did show up in the Tip-Off when it counted but I won’t know if they will be able to do it again during another tournament nor during the regular season. For all I know they could give us the performance they gave us the one week on ESPN2 and called for the twitter community to be upset.
22. 76ers GC
So the 76ers finally got into the win column but it still isn’t enough for them considering they are terrible nonetheless. They immediately follow up the victory losing to the Heat. Now I just gave Pistons some praise and moved them up a ton of spots in the rankings so how does beating them but losing to the Heat keep the 76ers all the way down here still? Easy, 76ers are still in the same position, maybe they had a better match up with the Pistons compared to literally everyone else they have played or maybe they had a good day and Pistons had a really bad day. Only time will tell if the 76ers have finally found solutions to their problems.
23. Celtics Crossover Gaming
They are the final team in the League to not have a single win. When will they figure things out? When will they get a win? When will they return to the grace? No one really knows but one thing is certain, Mel is back and hopefully this stops others from putting up 100 points on them and instead gives them more chances to score on transition with the ability to gather better turnovers and stop having to play from behind in the half court game and losing control of games super early on. They need to figure out how to come out the gate on fire in 1st and 3rd quarters otherwise they will continue to be the only team without a win.
Blu is a senior content writer for ConsoleCorner.Co. To keep up with all things esports, check out the website or follow Console Pro News on Twitter.