Alright, now that there's been 4 sims we have a little better idea what we're dealing with (not to mention we actually have all 26 teams included (yay!).
The Wiz have the best record in the league, but due to an extremely home-heavy schedule, they're only 3rd in our rankings, and honestly, no offense to Mr. Nice Guy* but that's probably a rung or two high.
All in all, not a lot of surprises in the rankings, and they're pretty close to aligning with the actual won-loss records, but they are pretty well divided into tiers:
Tier 1:
Bulls and Heat - Pretty clearly the class of the league so far. Each team with 7 losses, a double digit point differential, an average opponent strength, and an even home/road split.
Tier 2:
Wizards, Lakers, Pistons, Clippers, Nuggets, Magic, Spurs
These next 7 teams are all pretty close to eachother in both the standings and the power ranks. All have some weakness to point to (whether home/road split, strength of schedule, or point differential) for why they're in this tier as opposed to higher, but have banked enough wins to avoid the next tier.
Tier 3:
Pels, 76ers, Bucks
Just not quite good enough so far to be included above, but they're a clear step better than the next group (those teams that are pretty close to .500)
Tier 4:
T-Wolves, Mavs, Blazers, Pacers, Thunder, Nets
These 6 teams are all around, or just below .500. This group includes the Blazers and Pacers with worse records, but a road heavy schedule (Blazers) or very difficult slate (Pacers) combined with an even point differential.
Tier 5:
Everyone else. Anyone in this tier has very little to point to in the numbers to defend being higher.
*Only a reference to the H&F podcast, xist really is a nice guy
6 Rings. That's it. That's the tweet.
