NBA Preseason Power Rankings: Where do the New Orleans Pelicans land?

27. Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers are a team who could be in the mix for a late playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but they just have more questions than answers. Sure, Kevin Love and Andre Drummond are proven talents in the NBA, but you can’t say that about the rest of the roster.

Darrius Garland is looking like an early bust, and Collin Sexton is an empty scorer. There’s tons of potential in Kevin Porter Jr. and 5th overall pick Isaac Okoro, but we don’t know what they’ll become. Beyond that, the rest of the roster is poor and J.B. Bickerstaff is still a largely unproven coach. This Cleveland team could be interesting, but they probably won’t win much.

26. Oklahoma City Thunder

If we were doing these power rankings based on which team is set up best for the future, the Oklahoma City Thunder would be right at the top with the New Orleans Pelicans. Unfortunately, we’re doing these rankings on this season, and Sam Presti has gutted this roster of all the talent they had, except for Shai Gilegous-Alexander.

Now, their roster looks like a bunch of misfit toys, and it’ll be first-time head coach Mark Daigneault’s job to try to make them into a collective team. Overall, this Thunder team has a young star worth building around, and the capital to do it, but they won’t win many games this year in a loaded Western Conference.