Power Rankings 5/31: The Home Stretch

Only five games remain in the Hoops League's inaugural season, and while three of four playoff spots are all but certain, the fourth remains undecided as the regular season winds to a close. I'm Cyclops Inc., and these are the Hoops League Power Rankings.

Teams are ranked on a basis of recent performance and cumulative season performance, as well as overall talent level. If you feel it imperative to excoriate me for my rankings, feel free to do it in discord.

1-- Portland Roses (17-6)

Streak: W1 |Last 5 Games: 2-3 |Remaining Games: @SF, vs HOU, @MIA, @BOS, vs CHI

It's tempting to ding the Roses for their admittedly uncharacteristic struggles in the past week, but it's evident that these are simply owing to fatigue, and they still beat a very good (and relatively hot) Empires team in New York on Friday, a game in which the supporting cast, led by Thomas Shoffner's 19 points, shined brighter than the stars. Even with the presumptive MVP Jamon Alexander and All-Star Koality Game clearly tired, the Roses are one of the better teams in the league, and stamina will reset at the beginning of the playoffs anyways. Roses fans just have to hope Alexander and Game snap their cold spells when they have more energy, but in all likelihood, they will.

2-- Chicago Blues (18-5)

Streak: W1| Last 5 Games: 4-1| Remaining Games: vs NY, @SF, @HOU, vs MIA, @POR

True, the Blues won 4 of their 5 games this week, but those wins-- against a largely hapless Houston squad, a crippled Roses team, Miami and LA-- were hardly challenging for large stretches of time, and their loss, a surprising home defeat to their Eastern rival, the Charms, was concerning. True, Walter Yensid will be returning for the first round, which should give them the leg up on the Charms that they need, but it's still concerning to see them lose on their home floor to Boston. Nevertheless, they will be fine; they likely have the #1 spot in the East locked up, and may get the #1 overall seed thanks to the banged-up Roses. It's all about the playoffs at this point.

3-- Boston Charms (15-8)

Streak: L1| Last 5: 3-2| Remaining Games: @LA, vs MIA, @NY, vs POR, @SF

To see the Charms play relatively well against some of the league's best (and even beat the Blues!) without arguably the league's best player in Anthony Bridges was very encouraging. Maxwell Goodson, in particular, has done his damnedest to make people regret leaving him off their All-Star ballot. As optimistic as road victories over the Roses and Blues may make Charms fans, however, they also coughed up games to the Empire and Cosmos, which is certainly less than ideal. With Bridges reportedly out through the first round, they will have to hope that the Charms play more like the team that hammered Portland and upended the Blues as opposed to the one that lost at home to New York.

4-- Los Angeles Stars (9-14)

Streak: L1| Last 5: 2-3| Remaining Games: vs BOS, @NY, vs SF, @HOU, @MIA

Small sample size, true, but the Stars look like big winners of the Stronk-Canny swap. Polan Stronk has played like an All-Star at times, particularly in the Stars' stunning victory over the Roses, in which he dropped 26 points and hit an incredible and iconic 3 point dagger to seal the game in their favor. The growing pains are still evident, as seen by losses to the Quakes and Cosmos, and they are far away from contention, as the Blues reminded them, but they are arguably better with Stronk than they were with Canny, and the young talent (Driver and Calandra in particular) has looked better with Stronk on the floor. Furthermore, with games remaining against San Francisco and Houston plus a two game lead, they control their own playoff destiny. No matter how you frame it, there's lots of reason for optimism in LA.

5-- New York (11-12)

Streak: L1| Last 5: 4-1| Remaining Games: @CHI, vs LA, vs BOS, @SF, vs HOU

New York's season is nothing if not chock full of missed opportunities. Coming out of the All-Star break at 7-11, they rattled off four straight wins, with Cedric Hardwicke looking like an MVP and Carl Joseph looking like an All-Star. Yet, on Friday, with the chance to close the gap between them and Boston to 3 games, key mistakes buried them in a close affair against Portland on their home court. The Empire has been a completely different team since the break, as the talent seems to finally have figured out how to mesh together, and they had some really great performances this past week, but it is almost surely too little, too late. Perhaps next year, with a couple of additions, they could contend, but this year is unfortunately a lost cause.

6-- Houston Cosmos (7-16)

Streak: W2| Last 5: 3-2| Remaining Games: vs MIA, @POR, vs CHI, vs LA, @NY

Well, well, well. What to say of the Cosmos. I already analyzed their deal with the Stars (you can read that elsewhere on the site), and so far it has worked out exactly as expected-- not! The Cosmos, however, have performed relatively within expectations, and instead of being a team that simply can't keep up offensively or shoot at all, as they were before, they are now a team that simply can't keep up offensively or shoot at all when Joseph Canny struggles. They go as he goes, and when he plays really well, as he did against Boston in particular, they will be a tough out. Can he be consistent for them in this final stretch, and then the playoffs? He will have to be if they want to go anywhere. They largely control their own destiny with one of the league's easiest remaining schedules, but they will need consistency from Canny and continued strong support (shout out to Piotr Vesely!) around him if they want to make the playoffs.

7-- San Francisco Quakes (7-16)

Streak: L4| Last 5: 1-4| Remaining Games: vs POR, @CHI, @LA, vs NY, vs BOS

So disparate are the two conferences that the Quakes, inarguably the league's worst all-around team, still have a chance to make the playoffs, while the only team below them (Miami) has won one more game yet has been eliminated for 3 full games. Slim though San Francisco's hopes may be, they are on life support, with the Week 26 matchup in LA looming large. If the Quakes somehow scrap together a playoff run, they may have a chance to keep Samuel James and Percy Snow, who have both made it clear that they want out-- and with good reason, as in 4 of the 5 games this past week, they scored the majority of the Quakes' points. That, however seems unlikely, and one wonders if it would not be better for the Quakes to simply tank the remainder of the season in an attempt to acquire the first overall pick. If they wanted to make the playoffs, they should have traded for help at the deadline, and the failure to do so by management means that they must commit to a full rebuild; the sooner, the better.

8-- Miami Tides (8-15)

Streak: W1| Last 5: 1-4| Remaining Games: @HOU, @BOS, vs POR, @CHI, vs LA

Things are bleak in Miami, who finally snapped a seemingly endless losing streak on Friday against the dilapidated Quakes. In that game, Tristen Ewer scored 16 points on 8/11 shooting, Kasey Cunningham recorded a double-double, and the Tides looked a lot like the team many thought they would be before the season. Such performances have been few and in between for the Tides, who have been arguably the league's most disappointing team, and with their remaining schedule ranking among the hardest in the league and the playoffs mathematically out of reach, it would be best to admit defeat and tank for the #1 pick. Rumors continue to swirl regarding Anthony Bridges, Walter Yensid and/or Just Jaos looking to take their talents to South Beach this coming summer, and if any of those were to be paired with a top pick, the Tides could be a force for years to come, and they could convince disgruntled star Eddie Dale (who requested a trade or release this past week) to remain on the squad. Until the offseason, however, the Tides remain mired in a lost season, but there may be hope on the horizon.