SB Nation's Tom Ziller released his new NBA power rankings today, and it's not exactly a vote of confidence in either the Golden State Warriors or Sacrameno Kings. Not to say that either of them deserved one, their records and recent play have them where they belong, but I like to think that there is always a silver lining to every dark cloud.
The Warriors (27-35) actually moved up a spot from 22nd to 21st, taking the spot from the Charlotte Bobcats and are still ahead of some teams with talent like the Los Angeles Clippers and New Jersey Nets. Majority owner Joe Lacob's recent comments about bloggers have put him under the microscope a bit more around the Bay Area, and it has showed untrue fans such as myself that no matter what owners say (or back pedal their way out of) that NBA teams are now and always will be a business first and a sports team second. Along with their recent struggles on the road (1-4 against teams like Indiana, Minnesota, & Philadelphia) I'm a bit surprised that they actually moved up at all. In regard to the playoffs, these rankings have 11 Western Conference teams currently ahead of them, including the Houston Rockets,Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns. They would have to leap frog these teams and somehow hope for a Memphis Grizzlies collapse; but don't hold your breath as Memphis has recorded back-to-back wins against serious title contenders in the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. But, the Warriors moved up on the list, and aren't at the very bottom, so I'll take that as a victory (I guess).
As for the Sacramento Kings (15-46), it's more of a story of what's happening off the court than it is on the court. Currently sitting in second-to-last place in the Western Conference and 26th on Ziller's power rankings (down from 25th) it's pretty safe to say the season is already over for the Kings. But the looming exodus of the team to Anaheim has invigorated the fan base to unprecedented levels, but unfortunately for them the Maloof brothers really don't seem to care. They'd rather move to a city with a terrible 15 year old stadium in the Honda Center, and a fan base already saturated by the Lakers and Clippers, while leaving a devoted fan base with only one professional sports team with none and a disingenuous "thanks for the memories." The only good thing I can think of in this entirely messed up situation is the fact that Kings fans will get a treat in every remaining home game at Arco/Power Balance Pavilion, and the players will play their hearts out as their swan-song to their followers. I hate to see this happen to the city of Sacramento, but unfortunately it's seems to be inevitable.
Both of these teams have some die-hard fans. It doesn't really matter where they rank, the people will love them anyway. The talented players on the Warriors and Kings will keep the people entertained and full of hope, even if there record says they're hopeless. Of course fans want their teams to be winners, we all do; but even when they're not the fans pay for tickets, watch on television, tune in on the radio, and read stuff like this.