Power Rankers not impressed with Nets

Power Rankings are all over the lot Monday.  Well, not really.  They're all over the bottom five again.  Most pundits dropped them, four to next-to-last.  It would seem that the Nets near .500 record in recent weeks would have helped, but that 132-118 defensive debacle, the worst outing in more than a decade, didn't help. Of course, neither Brook Lopez nor Thaddeus Young played.

Whatever.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com (29)

A 3-4 mark on the Western Conference portion of their circus trip seems decent for the Nets, who have been an above-average offensive team over the last six weeks and have seen some improvement from their younger guys. But their defense stinks and they returned East having been swept by the Lakers and Wolves. With two more meetings, their season series with the Sixers (currently at 1-1) is up for grabs.

Marc Stein, ESPN (26)

That long-awaited first game on Brooklyn soil since Feb. 21 inches closer, with only two road dates left on the mammoth nine-game trek that ranks as the league's longest this season. And the Nets, all things considered, borderline flourished during the Western Conference portion, going 3-3 before resting Brook Lopez and Thad Young and allowing 132 points in Minnesota.

Matt Moore, CBS Sports (29)

The nice win vs. Denver isn't enough to pull them out, especially since the following night they decided to rest their veteran stars, despite having nothing to gain from doing so. The Nets will be a nice test for the question "How much respect can you buy?" this summer.

Kurt Helin, NBC Sports (27)

Break up the Nets, they have won two games in a row. Bojan Bodganovic is starting in place of Joe Johnson and is trying to show other teams he can knock down threes (which has been a good thing for the lowly Nets offense).

Jeremy Woo, Sports Illustrated (29)

The Nets have shot a league-best 44.9% from three in wins this season, as opposed to just 31% in losses. They have lost a lot more than they have wonAdi Joseph, USA Today (27)

Adi Joseph, USA Today (27)

Recently-signed Sean Kilpatrick of the D-league had a career-high 19 points vs. Minnesota

Grant Hughes, Bleacher Report (26)

Look out, y'all! The Nets went 2-2 last week and actually outscored the opposition with a net rating of plus-0.5 points per 100 possessions. That's worth a bump up the rankings, don't you think?

Perhaps more impressively, they did it on the road, beating the Suns (blah) and Utah Jazz (pretty good) before falling in a back-to-back against the two L.A. teams Feb. 29 and March 1.

Dan Devine, Yahoo! Sports (29)

The Nets' starting five in Saturday's loss to Minnesota: Thomas Robinson, Willie Reed, Bojan Bogdanovic, Wayne Ellington, Donald Sloan. Someone send Gerard Butler in to save Ian Eagle, Mike Fratello, Jim Spanarkel, Sarah Kustok and the rest of YES' delightful broadcast team, please.