We’re back with another installment of HoopsHype’s Power Rankings!

Today, I want to discuss each team’s goal for the rest of the season. Let’s assume that every playoff-bound team wants to get and stay healthy (or not, if they’re tanking); that’s not worth mentioning. I want to focus on real basketball.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers

Integrate De’Andre Hunter

Like most people, I assumed Cleveland traded for Hunter to make him the fifth starter in between their All-Star guards and defensive-minded big men. Instead, he’s maintained his sixth-man role off the bench when the Cavs are healthy.

It’s worked out just fine, and he’s actually playing slightly more minutes than starter Max Strus, although I wonder if this rotation maintains during the playoffs. Hunter has been lights-out from deep (60 percent from three since he came over!) but is still learning where to be on both ends. It’s up to Cleveland to try out as many different plausible lineup combinations as possible – smart coaches know that the playoffs are about flexibility and optionality, not sticking to one thing that works in the regular season.

2. Oklahoma City Thunder

Make the two-big lineup work

Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are too good for them to exclusively alternate minutes at center, but early returns on the pairing are mixed – the Thunder have outscored opponents by only +9.8 points per 100 possessions with those two sharing.

That doesn’t sound bad, right? But the problem, surprisingly, has come on the defensive end, where they’ve been a below-median unit. There’s been some terrible shooting luck, but more concerning is that this team loses its defensive identity – they never force turnovers with the two bigs on the floor.

We’re talking about tiny sample sizes here. Holmgren was still ramping up after returning from injury, and then he sprained his ankle in a game in which coach Mark Daigneault benched Isaiah Hartenstein to stagger more minutes between the two. But this pairing will be a big part of the playoffs, and the Thunder need to figure out how to make it work defensively.

3. Boston Celtics

Flip the defensive switch when it counts

Boston hasn’t had quite the same defensive intensity this season as last. Although they have the league’s sixth-best defensive rating, they’re just 12th against Top 10 opponents – they haven’t risen to the occasion.

The Celtics are confident they can flick on the switch when they need to, and recent injuries to Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis have hampered their capabilities. But it would be nice to see them test the lights before the party starts.

4. Los Angeles Lakers

Figure out the half-court offense

Although the Lakers have performed well as a team since bringing in Luka Doncic, the LeBron James/Doncic pairing still has room to grow. The Lakers’ statistical profile since the trade is surprising, as they’ve unexpectedly thrived on the defensive end. Fancy hit-aheads have electrified their transition game:

But the half-court offense, which ought to become a clear strength, has been merely decent. Coach JJ Redick has a quarter of the season left to figure out which sets and personnel can unlock his two chess grandmasters.

5. Denver Nuggets

Beat a good team

The Nuggets are near the top of the West. Everything must be great, right?

…Right?

Unfortunately, the Nuggets are sort of Knicks West (more on them shortly). They are only 6-13 against other Top 10 teams. That’s the worst of any would-be contender.

We saw what the Lakers did to them on national television, but in the playoffs, every team will aggressively help off of Aaron Gordon, Russell Westbrook, and Christian Braun while treating Jokic like a punching bag. Nobody’s better at picking defenses apart than the reigning MVP, which is particularly evident against average or worse teams. But the Nuggets have a lot of nits for the best squads to pick at on both sides.

Far be it from me to doubt the reigning MVP, but I’ll feel better about the Nuggets’ playoff chances if they play well in the upcoming nasty doubleheader in Oklahoma City.

6. New York Knicks

Beat a good team, part II

While I’ve thought since the summer that the Knicks’ best chance at contention would come next year, it’s still discouraging to see just how helpless they’ve looked against the cream of the league – 0-7 against Cleveland, Oklahoma City, and Boston doesn’t instill confidence in this team advancing past the second round.

But Mitchell Robinson is back, baby! And if he can get up to speed, the Knicks do play three more games against their Eastern Conference superiors in a nine-day span in early April. Knicks fans need at least one win for their mental health.

7. Detroit Pistons

Get the four-seed

Is this ranking a little high, particularly compared to some teams with better records? Maybe, but the Pistons are accelerating while their competition has been struggling. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Pistons are in the thick of a very intriguing divisional race for the fourth seed.

Milwaukee, Indiana, and Detroit are in their own tier in the East, well behind New York for the third seed but far ahead of the Miami/Orlando duo battling for seventh. Only one game separates four from six.

The three teams also despise each other, which should make for some great playoff theater between whichever two squads end up seeded fourth and fifth. Mmm… playoff-grade beef! Delicious.

For Detroit, which has finished 13th or worse in the conference for the last five seasons, earning homecourt advantage would be nothing short of a miracle. They’re 9-1 in their last 10 games and playing like a team ready to win a series.

Adding to the drama, Detroit ends their season with two games against Milwaukee. Those matches might well determine who gets home-court advantage at the expense of their immediate playoff foe. What fun!

8. Houston Rockets

Finalize their lineups

Injuries to a few key players, most notably Jabari Smith Jr. and Fred VanVleet, opened up new roles and opportunities for Amen Thompson. You never like to see a player like Smith lose his starting role due to injury, but that’s essentially what happened.

“For now, Amen will start, and Jabari will come off the bench,” Udoka told reporters. “We still have some back-to-backs and time to figure out permanently... but when we’re whole, that’s what it will look like.”

Thompson made sense over Smith when he was also doing more playmaking, but he’ll presumably retreat to a lesser offensive role with FVV’s return, which may minimize his positive impact. Early returns aren’t great, as the Rockets were defeated by a Kings team that lost Domantas Sabonis in the opening minutes in VanVleet’s first game back.

It will take time for the starters to gel and for the new-look bench to settle in. Having too many good players is a nice problem to have, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

9. Memphis Grizzlies

Get Ja going

Memphis has flirted with the two-seed for much of the year despite another bevy of injuries. However, the team’s success has hidden the struggles of Ja Morant, who is posting some of the worst scoring, efficiency, and turnover numbers of his career.

To a slight extent, the book may be out on Morant. An example: defenders are anticipating his left cut/low gather combo.

The Grizzlies’ depth and democratic approach to offense can carry them through the regular season. But the playoffs are about stars, and Morant hasn’t consistently hit the heights we know he can reach, both literally and metaphorically. If Memphis matches up with, say, Golden State in the first round, they’ll need the old Morant back to emerge victorious.

10. Milwaukee Bucks

Train up Kyle Kuzma

Kyle Kuzma’s trade has produced mixed results so far. On the one hand, Kuzma played a part in the Bucks treading water without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and his defensive intensity and rebounding effort have notably increased. On the other hand, Kuzma has still been a low-efficiency chucker on offense taking some, uh, unconventional shot attempts:

The Bucks can’t change a leopard’s spots overnight, and you don’t want to take away a player’s aggression too much, anyway. But shaping the best version of Kuzma involves pruning away the rotten branches. They have six weeks to do so.

11. Indiana Pacers

Find ways to get Haliburton into the paint

Haliburton hasn’t looked the same physically while battling hamstring and back injuries, and it’s shown. His drives are way down, his percentage of shots at the rim are way down, and his assists are way down (partially because he can’t create defense-bending advantages with his off-the-dribble game).

Haliburton has looked a little more explosive of late, but you can’t expect him to rediscover last year’s burst. Instead, the team may need to manufacture more ways to get him the ball moving downhill.

While the Pacers’ defensive issues lately have garnered more headlines, I am most worried about their primary engine’s inability to get into gear.

12. Golden State Warriors

Figure out the Jimmy Butler/Jonathan Kuminga/Draymond Green trio

Saturday night’s Jimmy Butler-less loss to a terrible Philadelphia team reminded us of just how precarious the Warriors’ situation is.

With Butler, the team has been on a roll. His play reminds me of an old joke. Where does the five-ton elephant sit? Anywhere it wants:

Butler’s brutality has been an incredible complement to Curry’s fluid shotmaking. But adding another iffy shooter in Kuminga to the successful Butler/Green frontcourt could be one wayward weapon too many.

The team needs Kuminga’s athleticism and aggression to reach its ceiling. But it also needs Butler’s rim pressure and Green’s defense. Even with Steph Curry and rookie center Quinten Post (hitting 42 percent of his triples!), spacing will be tighter than a blood-pressure cuff. The Warriors don’t have much margin for error, either, as they are in the thick of a vicious five-team battle for the West’s six-seed.

13. Los Angeles Clippers

Focus on the turnovers

The Clippers' offense isn’t good and doesn’t have the firepower to be better than average. But even those lofty heights are unclimbable if the team keeps cutting its legs out from under it with egregious turnovers.

The Clippers' 15.9 percent turnover rate is the fifth-worst in the league, and while it’s been a smidge better than that without Kevin Porter around treating the ball like a live grenade, it’s still far too high. Harden, of course, is the biggest culprit. His aging body can’t quite enact what his mind envisions.

I shudder to think what Los Angeles assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy would’ve said on the broadcast after watching utterly avoidable errors like this one:

14. Dallas Mavericks

Hang on

Sometimes, the obvious answer is the best one. The Mavericks need to hold on for dear life down the stretch as they try to survive an avalanche of injuries to everyone on the roster.

They won’t get 20/11 performances from Moses Brown every night, but scrounging up some semi-competent big man performances will be key as the team battles for playoff positioning.

Right now, the Mavericks are 10th, losers of four of their last five. They’re only 1.5 games out of the sixth seed, however, due to the insane Tokyo traffic jam in the middle of the West. They’re not really at risk of falling out of the play-in entirely, but getting up to at least eighth and giving yourself a shot of escaping the play-in is a must.

15. Minnesota Timberwolves

Find some crunchtime solutions

The Timberwolves have the sixth-worst clutch net rating in the league, nestled between teams striving for lottery odds. That won’t cut it in the playoffs when games get tighter. The end-game defense is decent; the offense is execrable.

Anthony Edwards’ decision-making has repeatedly come under question, but he hasn’t had a lot of room to operate in, either. Coach Chris Finch had better figure something out soon, as the Wolves seem destined for the play-in unless they can take advantage of a soft upcoming schedule.

16. Sacramento Kings

Survive without Sabonis

The Kings are one of those five teams battling for the sixth seed in the West, but to make a push, they’ll have to do something they haven’t had to do in a long while – survive without Sabonis.

The big man had only missed six total games over the last three seasons (including this one), but he suffered a non-contact hamstring injury right at the beginning of Saturday night’s match against Houston.

Thankfully, California’s capitol added Jonas Valanciunas at the trade deadline, and the big man proved pivotal in a crucial win against the Rockets. It’s unclear how long the durable Lithuanian will be out, but Valanciunas’ ability to hold up in the middle is key to Sacramento’s playoff hopes.

17. Orlando Magic

Maintain eighth

A quarter of the season remains, but there is a sense of inevitability at the bottom of the East playoff race. Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta are currently separated by 1.5 games in the standings for the seven-seed. All three teams are spiraling due to injuries and trades.

If the Magic can simply play .500 ball the rest of the season, they seem likely to maintain their grip on the eighth seed, but that might be a lot to ask. News that Jalen Suggs will miss most or all of the season’s remainder extinguished whatever faint hope Orlando fans had of making a run – the team is just 9-18 without him this year.

Not pulling the trigger on a deadline deal made sense, given the limited players available and the Magic’s trajectory, and I don’t want to look too far ahead for a team still playing meaningful basketball. But moves have to be made this offseason to provide some marksmanship to a historically horrendous shooting team. Look at what happened to the Pistons after they added Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., Simone Fontecchio, and Tobias Harris. Those aren’t sexy names, but they’re functional shooters (and more than that in Beasley’s case).

Do something, Orlando!

18. Phoenix Suns

Start planning for the future

Things are grim in Phoenix. Devin Booker is mad. Kevin Durant is mad. Coach Mike Budenholzer may be pressing all the wrong buttons, and Bradley Beal refused to accept a trade.

Right now, it’s hard to see the Suns making the play-in tourney (they’re 3.5 back of 10th), much less the playoffs. The team will have to ask some very, very difficult questions in the next few months because there’s no way they can subject fans to this again. Expect big moves this summer involving Durant and perhaps even Booker.

19. Miami Heat

Make the playoffs at any cost

The Heat cannot afford to miss the playoffs. Right now, they owe lottery-protected picks to OKC this year and Charlotte in 2027. If the Heat miss the playoffs this season, they’ll have to give up an unprotected first to OKC in 2026, which likely forces them to send an unprotected pick to Charlotte in 2028 (since teams can’t go consecutive years without a first-round pick).

In other words, Miami may have to give up two unprotected firsts if they miss the playoffs this season. That’s no bueno for a team that is one injury to Tyler Herro or Bam Adebayo away from falling to the bottom of the standings next season.

20. Atlanta Hawks

Keep feeding Risacher

After a brutal start to the season, Zaccharie Risacher has found his shot. He shot 37 percent from deep in eight January games before torching the nets on 44 percent of his triples in 12 February matches.

Risacher has feel for the game and the physical tools to be an excellent defender. If he can develop a workable three-pointer, he’ll be the exact player every good team wants.

21. Portland Trail Blazers

Give Clingan more minutes

The Trail Blazers have been too good this year to tank, but that’s just fine for a team with plenty of young talent already. My big concern was that 2024 first-round selection Donovan Clingan had not been getting enough minutes, splitting time at center with Robert Williams and Deandre Ayton.

However, with both those players injured, Clingan has seen a recent uptick in run. While the results have been mixed (Clingan’s already an elite defender, but the offensive side has a way to go), the Trail Blazers should maximize this window to get Clingan major minutes. If he fouls out of a few games, so be it. Learn on the job.

22. San Antonio Spurs

Start Stephon Castle

Without Victor Wembanyama and with no play-in hopes in sight, the Spurs must begin prepping for next season. That starts with benching Chris Paul and starting Rookie of the Year favorite Stephon Castle.

If sitting Paul is a no-go for some reason, perhaps the team should encourage De’Aaron Fox to get the finger surgery he needs sooner than later. The team will be too good to tank next season, and they should be laser-focused on developing Castle and losing games for one last midlevel lottery selection.

23. New Orleans Pelicans

Keep Zion motivated

Something that’s been lost in the Pelicans’ absolutely dreadful season: Zion Williamson has been pretty decent on the defensive end!

Williamson came into the season looking as fit as he ever has, but injuries destroyed whatever hopes the Pels had of making noise. The team needs to keep Zion’s newfound grittiness intact for next season, when the Pelicans hope to make a healthier run at the playoffs.

24. Chicago Bulls

Bring out the abacus for Josh Giddey

The Bulls seem determined to earn the 10-seed and lose in the play-in, which is whatever. Despite the malaise around the team, they are still surprisingly enjoyable to watch on a nightly basis (Chicago faithful may not share that opinion).

The real question concerns their long-maned point-forward, Josh Giddey. After trading Alex Caruso for Giddey’s services in the offseason, it was widely assumed the Bulls would automatically overpay the young Australian. But to their credit, they have made him play for his contract.

Giddey started the season poorly, but he’s improved both his shooting and his defensive effort as the year has gone on:

It’s up to the Bulls’ front office to decide how real this stretch is and how much that’s worth.

25. Brooklyn Nets

Bench Jordi Fernandez

The Nets have been too good for their own good. The team that came into the season expressly hoping to tank is currently battling with the 76ers to have the sixth-best lottery odds. It’s certainly not the front office’s fault; this roster is as untalented as exists in the league right now.

I blame Jordi Fernandez for being awesome. Normally, tanking teams will bench their stars with mysterious injuries if they’re trying to lose. I’m unsure how you can tell the head coach to be worse.

Nets fans hope that the team’s current four-game losing streak means it has finally gotten the memo, but we’ll see. They’ll probably rip off three wins in a row with Ziaire Williams averaging 20 points per game.

26. Philadelphia 76ers

Keep their pick

Philadelphia currently has the seventh-best lottery odds; they owe their pick to Oklahoma City if they don’t get a Top 6 selection.

Teams like the Hornets, Wizards, Pelicans, and Jazz have already plumbed depths that Philly couldn’t reach with a submarine, but the 76ers will battle with Brooklyn for the sixth spot. That might not be enough; there’s a pretty good chance that a team above them can jump into one of the first few picks, bumping Philadelphia down and out.

But this season is over, and the team should focus on getting its stars healthy for next year. If that happens to land the Sixers a top slot in a hyped draft class? All the better.

27. Toronto Raptors

Play the full team for, like, a minute

Brandon Ingram’s continued absence from an ankle sprain has been worrying, although it’s possible the Raptors are just tanking being cautious with their new addition. They’ve already stated that Ingram is not close to a return, putting his season in doubt.

But the Raptors have struggled to get all their important pieces on the court together since last year’s trade for Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to play with Scottie Barnes. Toronto still has no idea what it has. Is it too much to ask for just one peek at what the team is supposed to look like before the season ends?

28. Utah Jazz

Stop the charitable acts

The Jazz dream of ping-pong balls every night, but that doesn’t mean they can ignore pressing issues on the court today. I’d love to see coach Will Hardy start instilling more ball discipline into his guys – the Jazz turn it over more than any team in the league.

Here’s a crazy stat: six of the team’s top seven rotation players by total minutes played have a turnover rate below the 30th percentile. Rookie point guard Isaiah Collier gives it away on over a fifth of his possessions!

When winning isn’t the goal, some carelessness with the ball is inevitable. The Jazz can’t let bad habits calcify.

29. Charlotte Hornets

Highlight Mark Williams – carefully

Trading Mark Williams to the Lakers would have been a brilliant move –  until LA rescinded their agreement after they viewed his physical (or got chilly feet, depending on the source).

Regardless, Charlotte clearly is willing to deal the big man. They need to walk a thin line between highlighting him to build his trade value and keeping him healthy.

If the Hornets can find a taker for the big man – several teams may need centers in the offseason – they shouldn’t think twice.

30. Washington Wizards

Keep on keepin’ on

The Wizards wanted to be the worst team in the league, and they’ve done so in the best way. They are starting four players with a combined one year of NBA experience, and it’s resulted in plenty of on-ball learning, oodles of losses, and just enough fun flashes to keep fans dreaming of the future:

Rough though it’s been at times, including two separate 16-game losing streaks, the Wizards’ season has gone according to plan.

I you want more from Mike Shearer, you can find him analyzing and joking about a variety of NBA topics at Basketball Poetry. See you there!

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: NBA Power Rankings: Lakers figuring out half-court offense with Luka Doncic and the goal for the rest of teams