The Jump Ball NBA Power Rankings will come out the first Tuesday of every month during the regular season!

With Preseason just underway and having not seen a lot of these teams yet not too many changes. There were big moves like the Melo trade and the Wade signing.

1.	Golden State Warriors	Warriors should pick up right where they left off last season, biggest news is Klay Thompson saying he’s willing to take a pay cut to stay with the Dubs, guess the question is how big of a pay cut.
2.	Houston Rockets	The Rockets might have dodge a bullet by not trading for Melo. This roster fits pretty well together and I’m not sure D’Antoni really could’ve handled round two with Melo.
3.	Oklahoma City Thunder	Everyone in OKC let a collectively sigh of relief when Westbrook signed the extension, so at least one corner piece is locked up. Now with the Melo trade down, it’s up to Billy Donovan to make it all work, could take a while.
4.	Cleveland Cavaliers	Good news IT may be back by Christmas would is plenty of time to get in the flow with his teammates. Bad news, the signing of Dwayne Wade just continues to shrink the court for the Cavs. Not saying he won’t help but he certainly doesn’t add spacing.
5.	Boston Celtics	I definitely liked what I saw in Kyrie Irving’s first action as a Celtic, in one half of play. Really looked to move the ball and run the offense. He still managed to get up 11 shots in 19 minutes for a nine points.
6.	San Antonio Spurs	You have to be a little nervous with the announcement that Kawhi Leonard is going to be out possibly all of the preseason with a quad injury. Hopefully he’ll be ready to go at the start of the season, otherwise it could be a rough start to the season.
7.	Washington Wizards	Go read Brian Windhorst article on the confidence of the Washington Wizards, Beal and Wall both thinking the Cavs tanked to avoid them in the second round is quite a bold statement. Hopefully they’ll do better than their 2-8 start from last season and they could have homecourt in the second round.
8.	Minnesota Timberwolves	Taj Gibson and Karl-Anthony Towns were responsible for five of the six threes the Wolves hit against the Lakers. Butler only paying 12 minutes is a gift from Thibs, he’ll be getting 1000 minutes per game once the season begins.
9.	Toronto Raptors	Watching the Raptors beat the Clippers in their first of two games in Hawaii, it’s surprising how little firepower they have coming off the bench this season. A lot of weight will be put on their starters this season.
10.	Utah Jazz	Huge season for Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors. If Hood stays healthy he has to prove he can handle a larger scoring load than he has in the past. Favors has to prove that he can be a compliment to Rudy Gobert in his contract year at the very least every game is an audition for a new contract next season.
11.	Miwaukee Bucks	No Giannis in their first preseason game (condolences to him and his family for the loss of their father), the thought that Jabari Parker will be back in January, could be a boast that can give the Bucks enough to evaluate things before the trade deadline.
12.	Denver Nuggets	The two biggest questions I have for the Nuggets are who is going to consistently play defense and who is their third guy? Is it Gary Harris, Jamal Murray, Wilson Chandler, Mudiay, a committee, who?
13.	Portland Trail Blazers	This is a real important season for the backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, if they struggle this year the chatter that the Blazers should break them up will only grow louder. However if they make it for a fifth straight playoff run, I think it’s time to put that to bed and trust in Neil Olshey
14.	Charlotte Hornets	A very preseason-esque game from the Hornets, no one really stood out but we’ll have to keep an eye out on how long Dwight Howard remains a starter if they struggle early and considering how good the Hornets were with Cody Zeller in the lineup last season.
15.	Memphis Grizzlies	When we talk about the Grizzles we know what we are going to get from Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, the real question is what will Chandler Parsons bring to the table? In their first preseason game, his line of 3-6 from the field, 3 rebounds and assists plus 2 blocks in 19 minutes is a good start.
16.	Los Angeles Clippers	After watching Teodosic do his thing in their first game of the preseason, the question isn’t if but more when will he start and who will he replace in the starting lineup, Austin Rivers or Patrick Beverly? Either way, he should start, he’s the best pick-and-roll playmaker they have on this revamped roster.
17.	New Orleans Pelicans	Pressure is on in New Orleans, it’s felt even before the first preseason game. Everyone is predicting doom but if they are able to pull of this zig while everyone is zag and play big it could have huge benefits for Pels. Unfortunately, they won’t have a lot of time to prove it before the hook comes.
18.	Miami Heat	Another young player who will need to step up this year is Justice Winslow. After his season being cut short due to injury, he’ll need to work to regain his spot in the Heat’s rotation since they are so deep at the wing position. Also can we please get Bam more than six minutes in the preseason game. He was a surprise in summer league.
19.	Philadelphia 76ers	With Embiid still not clear for 5-on-5 the injury question still looms, besides that I’m very eager to see Ben Simmons play since it’s been so long and I hope he’s add a few elements to his game. This is the biggest mystery to me of the season.
20.	Detroit Pistons	No real news in Detroit other than Stan Van Gundy wants to tear down the draft and the max contract. No news isn’t bad news, but let’s add Stanley Johnson to the long list of young players than need to prove themselves. After taking a step back from a promising rookie season, Johnson needs to bring the fire this season.
21.	Dallas Mavericks	With the Mavs committed to starting small and moving Noel to the bench, it will be interesting to see how it affects his contract next summer seeing he had very few teams bidding for his service this year.
22.	Los Angeles Lakers	Lonzo Ball has looked like a rookie for the first two preseason game and now has a mild sprained ankle to go with his performance. I expect to see a lot of highs and lows for Ball this season. Kuzma brought his game from summer league to the preseason so far.
23.	Sacramento Kings	De’Aaron Fox scores 16 points in his first 17 minutes of preseason action. I would like to see him fill out the rest of the box score but this is the first game and was not televised either.
24.	Brooklyn Nets	If teams aren’t careful the Nets will be able to surprise them and steal a few wins. With some shrewd moves by Sean Marks, they have more talent than they have in years past. Could be a break out year for D’Angelo Russell or he could end up the way of the Tyreke Evans and OJ Mayos, guys who never met their expectations.
25.	New York Knicks	The hostage crisis is over, not sure who was holding who hostage but it’s over. Now it’s time for Porzingis to truly begin. The Knicks will be bad but it’s time to give KP every chance to learn what it’s like to be the man for an NBA team and see if he really has it.
26.	Orlando Magic	Jonathan Isaacs is about the only player I am really interested on the Magic and is off to a nice start with a 6-10, 15-point night in his first taste of preseason basketball.
27.	Indiana Pacers	It’s going to be the Myles Turner and Victor Oladipo show, Pacers fans should hope that this can lead to a chance to snag one of the many top draft picks in whatever might be a top five heavy draft.
28.	Atlanta Hawks	We have to see how the Dennis Schroder situation plays out, I’m Adam Silver is keeping a close eye on the situation as well.
29.	Phoenix Suns	The Suns front office is either going to look really smart or end up with egg on their face with this T.J. Warren four year, $50 million extension for a career 31% 3-point shooter coming off a 26% last season. They may something we don’t but the jury is still out on this one.
30.	Chicago Bulls	The Markkanen era is starting off with back spasms and no Zach LaVAine as he is rehabbing his torn ACL for at least another month. The Bulls will go into this preseason game with only Kris Dunn to show off in their Jimmy Butler trade, that’s quite underwhelming.