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With power rankings now spread out over five days, from Friday through Tuesday, it's hard to get a good read, particularly when the early rankers were basing their numbers on the Spurs blowout, while the later ones had the Pacer win to factor in. So this week, with all the big rankings finally in, we're trying something new, putting them in chronological order, starting with the most recent. When you do that, the Nets stay basically where they were last week, around 10 or 11. If you go way back, it tends to get uglier.
Marc J. Spears, Yahoo! Sports (11)
Brooklyn Nets (30-22, previous ranking: 11th): The Nets earned a quality win at Indiana on Monday without injured guard Deron Williams (ankle). The Nets had dropped three of four before the victory. (In Charlotte summary, he added, "Trade talks regarding Brooklyn forward Kris Humphries to Charlotte for guard Ben Gordon are at a standstill, a source said. Charlotte had interest in Humphries as a free agent last summer."
Seth Rosenthal, SB Nation (10)
There was a little grumpiness developing in Brooklyn, so Deron Williams sitting out and relieving some pressure/expectations for a bit may have actually been a boon. And hey, they went ahead and beat the Pacers in Indiana with Tyshawn Taylor and point-forward Gerald Wallace filling Deron's shoes.
Kurt Helin, NBC Sports (11)
This team got the coach change bump of energy — they played harder for P.J. Carlesimo. For a while. But lately that energy is gone and the result is half-run sets followed by isolations late in the shot clock on offense. That will doom them.
Marc Stein, ESPN (15)
Joe Johnson has gone 10 straight games without scoring 20 points. Gerald Wallace is averaging 8.9 points per game after the Nets surrendered the pick that became Damian Lillard to acquire him from Portland. And Deron Williams? Shooting less than 30 percent from the floor in fourth quarters.
John Schuhmann, NBA.com (13)
The Nets have a bad habit of getting their butts kicked by the league's best teams. They lost three games to the Heat by a total of 63 points and two games to the Spurs by a total of 56. They could certainly use some help at the trade deadline and Josh Smith would be nice, but Billy King might have a tough time finding the assets needed to get another deal done with his friend Danny Ferry.
Wes Szafran, NJ.com (13)
Last 8 games: 3-5 scoring 88.5 ppg.
Matt Dollinger, Sports Illustrated (10)
Would the Nets be better off with Dwight Howard over Brook Lopez? It's tough to go against the three-time Defensive Player of the Year, but Lopez is doing his best to make that a tough question. He leads all centers with 18.9 points per game and ranks fourth at the position in blocks. Furthermore, his 25.3 Player Efficiency Rating is fourth in the league, well ahead of Howard's 19.7 mark. If you're looking for another tiebreaker, the Lakers' record doesn't help Howard's case, either.
One question about the Nets: Who's going to close games for this team in the playoffs? From the looks of it when they fell to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, they don't have one.