Power Rankings 3/8: Mid-Year Reports

We are 16/33 games through the Hoops League’s fourth regular season, so it’s time to hand out some midyear report cards. In this edition, we rank and grade each team based on their expectations vs. their performance. I’m Cyclops Inc., and these are the power rankings.

1. Chicago Blues (15-1)

A+. How could it be anything else? The Charms were the team most talked about for their off-season success, but as of now, it would seem that the Blues had the better, albeit less noticed, off-season as of now. Scottie Thompson has not been prolific, but he’s been a solid addition to the starting lineup; Kwanzy Iceberg has been a huge upgrade over Sergio Fric, and Rajah Rose has to be the 6MOY frontrunner. But by far the biggest reason for the Blues’ dominance and subsequent A+ rating is Walter Yensid. Yensid has played beyond anything we have ever seen before in his age-31 season, averaging 24.3 PPG, 5.7 APG and 2.4 SPG on 62.2% FG, 54.5% 3PFG, all career highs. His numbers are simply ridiculous, and he is running away with what would be his third (!!!) MVP award at the moment. The Blues could not have dreamed up a better first half of the season, and they earn the A+ and more.

2. Los Angeles Stars (13-3)

A-. This would be higher if they had a bit more separation from the Cosmos for first in the West, but things have gone about as well as Los Angeles could have hoped for thus far. Carl Joseph has enjoyed a career year in scoring (15.3 PPG), passing (6.3 APG), and stealing (1.8 SPG); Anthony Flores is in the conversation for 6MOTY again; Jacob French and Sebastien Trident are threatening the Chicago duo for league’s best defensive backcourt; anyone else? Oh, yeah, and Polan Stronk just gets better every year, now averaging 20.8 PPG on 52.6% from the field and 46.8% from three. The Stars must have entered the season expecting to go to the finals given their current roster composition, and with this start, they seem on pace to meet their goal.

3. Houston Cosmos (12-4)

B+. With everything else going on around the league, the Cosmos have been something of a forgotten team, it seems, but they are plugging on just like usual, quietly winning at a consistent rate. Alex Sinclair is on track for another all-defensive season (maybe he will finally get that DPOY this season), while Jose Mendes is near averaging a double-double. The big stories, though, are about the frontcourt: Cacio Way has looked right at home in Houston, shooting better than he has his entire career and playing noticeably better defense, and Maxwell Goodson has picked up right where he left off from last season before the injury, and may legitimately be in the MVP conversation. The B+ is affected to some extent by the regression of Joseph Canny, who has shown his age while dropping in FG%, 3PFG%, and the Cosmos have suffered as a result of it. But while still just one game out of first in the West, with multiple likely All-Stars and a possible MVP candidate, they are still in contention for that elusive title.

4. Miami Tides (12-4)

B. The Tides, at 12-4, are enjoying their best season ever by a mile, but that was relatively expected. Unfortunately, what was also expected was that Anthony Bridges would be carrying an outsize burden with the team, and he has, with the worst example of it coming in the Tides’ 71-68 loss to Miami, where Bridges scored 51 (!!!) points in a losing effort. Eddie Dale and Hanamichi Sakuragi were good acquisitions, and they do move them closer to title contention, but the Tides still have issues to iron out. How long till Sage Jackson sits in favor of the younger Bridges? Do they look for a PG upgrade at the deadline? There have been reasons for optimism (Lamarr Chambers has been great, the supporting cast wins games without Bridges, etc.), but they need to fix some things before they are really going to be considered contenders.

5. Boston Charms (11-5)

B-. Probably the hardest team to grade in the field, Boston really deserves an incomplete, considering we saw just 13 games of theirs at full strength. But the 13 games they played together were far lower than a B-. They started 0-3, and even though they then rattled off 9 consecutive wins, they did not look themselves for the most part. They’ve won largely because of their defense, and that trend has not entirely let up without Shoffner on the squad. Just Jaos has been awful by his standards, and Aaron Fiedelak has hardly been prolific offensively. Now without Shoffner and Hickman, perhaps the two will step up, but right now the Charms are winning because of Cedric Hardwicke and Pippy. So why a B- for a team that was expected to be historically good? Well, the keyword in all of that is “winning”. Despite everything, the Charms are still mostly winning games, a testament to the incredible depth they have. They’re not out of striking distance of Chicago quite yet, and they can certainly catch Miami with a bit of luck. Given the talent on the roster, even without Shoffner, they ought to at least do that.

6. San Francisco Quakes (9-7)

C+. The Quakes are a tepid success story, in that they have a winning record and look like a pretty safe bet to make the playoffs. Yet something just feels off about San Francisco, and this doesn’t seem to be ‘their year’ by a long shot. Yes, Darryl Stevenson and Darth Jor-El are bona fide stars in addition to Samuel James, and yes, the bench has been much better this season, but the Quakes are sputtering overall. Jack Mack’s abrupt retirement hurt, as did James’ injury. Marcus Nobles will stop the bleeding some, and again, the Quakes look like a pretty safe bet to make the playoffs, as they ought to with their roster composition. But this season has felt oddly familiar: 4-1 start, 5-6 since; Jor El is putting up 11.8/7.9/1.1 steal, 2.9 blocks, but he consistently looks overmatched by older, better centers; Car Lo is a great defender (1.3 SPG, 2.1 BPG) but an offensive liability (38.5% FG), and Samuel James (20.5 PPG) just has too much of the burden to carry. Only Darryl Stevenson (12.9 PPG, 55.9% FG, 46.4% FG) is enjoying a career season across the board, and as a result, not enough is different about SF this year to really make them title contenders.

7. Portland Roses (7-9)

C+. We knew the Roses would take a step back after losing Koality Game, Mikey Williams and Chibba, but their having a winning record was hoped for, if not expected. Jamon Alexander has continued to put in Herculean efforts, averaging 27.4 PPG, but his defense has regressed a bit, as has Portland’s overall. Jordan Frazier has stepped up on both ends of the floor, and he may be an All Star, but it is still not quite enough to win them many games, nor is Justin Taylor’s improved efforts on both sides of the ball as well. The big issue has been, as expected, the bench—Brook Reid is not cutting it as a backup, Jerry Platinum doesn’t do enough on either end, Timmy Cannon is a good defender and not much else, and Zane Cruz, selected to be a hired gun, has been awful (38.1% FG, 31.0% 3PFG). One shining bright spot for Portland, however, has been Vun Brunson, whose shooting has greatly improved this season, showing that his playoff run last year was not a fluke. Brunson’s 7.2/1.2/13.5/0.5 slash line with 48.6% from the field, 28.6% from deep represents a huge improvement, and he may well win MIP this year. Portland is not too far off from where they need to be, but they need to pick it up to get there.

8. New York Empire (5-11)

B. At the beginning of the season, it looked like NY was sure to have a failing grade. They started 0-8, and though they hung close with some teams, they always seemed to find a way to lose. Xavier Sevenade was struggling, Jesus James looked overmatched as a starter, the rookies were all raw and the team was generally lacking in leadership. Since then, however, they’ve gone 5-3, and have wound up with a 2-game lead on St. Louis for the final playoff spot in the East, and thus their season has been pretty successful up to now. Aaron Ford is probably in second for ROTY at this point, and he’s clearly their PG of the future. Dan Glisack has also proven himself very effective in just a bit of playing time. Jesus James has absolutely picked up his act, and is now averaging 12 PPG on 57% from the field with 5.1 RPG and 1.5 BPG to boot. Xavier Sevenade has finally adapted to his role as primary scorer for the team, and is now putting up 14.7 PPG on a moderately efficient 49.9% FG, 46.6% 3PFG. Perhaps the most important improvement has come from Guy Chug, who is a frontrunner for MIP, averaging 12.8 PPG on 47.6% from deep. NY has started winning games it ought to, and occasionally winning games it ought not to. In the weak East, that should be enough to get them back to the playoffs—but can they make any noise there?

9. San Diego Surf (5-11)

C. Another extremely hard team to grade, the Surf have looked good in some areas and bad in others. They have positioned themselves well for the future by acquiring former ROTY Timothy Garcia Jr., and Randall Ta’s value is high enough that they should be able to sell the center for modest return. Francisco Gerbi was also a solid acquisition. With all that said, the Surf were still supposed to be in the playoff conversation, even without Shoffner, and as of now, they don’t look like they will be. The biggest disappointment has to be Joey Bas, who has not improved his numbers much outside of FG%. Bas will likely leave in the off-season; do they deal him as well? It’s not too much of an overstatement to say the next four games before the ASG break will determine the direction of the franchise for the next few years. If they prove they can stay in the race, perhaps they hold on to Bas and make a run at the fourth seed. If not…prepare for heads to roll.

10. St. Louis Archers (3-13)

C+. The Archers have been awful, but we expected them to be, of course. The C+ comes because they are in almost every game as of late—including Game 10, all six of their losses since then have been by 10 points or less. Of course, they need to start winning some of those games if they want to be competitive. There have been great bright spots for St. Louis—Jason Garcia is the MIP frontrunner with 15.5 PPG on 53.8% FG, 52.8% from 3 plus 2.1 RPG and 4.6 APG, and he is probably an All-Star; Westbrook Darius and his 17.4 PPG are probably running away with ROTY and may earn an All-Star nod as well; Pierre Brodeur struggled to start the season, but has picked it up recently; and Ricky Jiggs has looked great in limited instances. The Archers are not out of striking distance for the playoffs, but they need to win games like the one they lost to the Empire 56-53 at home. Regardless, the Archers’ long rebuild is clearly progressing, and they finally seem to have some real stars on the squad—and with them, hope.

11. Vancouver Summit (2-14)

D. As expected, Vancouver has been horrendous, but even this is somewhat disappointing, as they have not really shown many signs of life, unlike teams like New York and St. Louis. Jamie Spencer is shooting worse than last year, and looks lost in the Summit’s awful offense. Clement Hamel is having a career year, but it has not meant much, and while Tyrone Jackson has been good, he cannot be the best player on a good team, or even a mediocre one. Dizzy Michaels has improved, but he is wildly inconsistent and inefficient (39% FG), and Rusty Parent has improved noticeably, but barely touches the ball. The lone true bright spot is Melo Hayes, who has looked like a steal at #13, and ought to get more playing time. Otherwise, Vancouver looks miles away from even being mediocre, and are destined to be a doormat for the remainder of the season, and perhaps beyond.

12. Atlanta Activists (2-14)

F. Before the season, it was thought that Atlanta would be a team on the ascent, building off of the success they had in the latter half of last season. That simply has not happened. True, Felipe Santos has been a revelation in Atlanta and true, Zach Vega looks every part of an All-Star at present, but the bench is truly awful, the team plays next to no defense, and they don’t have the outside scoring to compete with anyone save NY for some reason (2-0 against NY, 0-14 against everyone else). They do compete with the good teams sometimes, but they never seem to win, and just seem to lack confidence and inspiration as a team. Adobo Flakes has not improved much from last season, and Jon Rahm’s career continues along its rocky trajectory. One wonders where the franchise goes from here, but unless a miracle happens, they seem destined to finish in the East’s cellar, a far cry from their surprising third-place finish last season.