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John Schuhmann has covered the NBA as a writer for more than 20 years. He sat down to discuss his weekly Power Ranking column<\/a>, his thoughts on the league and more in this month\u2019s Reddit AMA<\/a>. Check out what he had to say.<\/p>\n QUESTION JOHN SCHUHMANN If you were to create a power ranking for anything besides basketball, what would it be for and what would the top 5 be?<\/p>\n I would have to do 90\u2019s R&B artists. 1. En Vogue 2. Keith Sweat 3. Whitney Houston 4. Mariah Carey 5. Boyz II Men (I am probably forgetting somebody, and I reserve the right to change these rankings at any point.)<\/p>\n Which team or teams do you think will surprise people after the All-Star break, as we get closer to the playoffs, when flares start getting faded on here? For better or for worse lol.<\/p>\n This team wouldn\u2019t be a surprise, but they are due to play better, and that is Cleveland. They have been banged up and have had some bad luck in regard to opponents\u2019 shooting numbers. It all depends on the health of Darius Garland going forward, and assuming he isn\u2019t out too long. I think they are primed to have a strong second half. In the West, I think Houston still belongs in the tier right below Oklahoma City. I think they are right there with the Spurs, Nuggets, and Wolves as a team that can make the Western Conference Finals and give the Thunder a good series.<\/p>\n How long have you been working on the power rankings, and what\u2019s been the biggest surprise or change you\u2019ve seen over that time?<\/p>\n I think I started in 2007. The evolution of the game is fairly obvious in how it has become more of a 3-point shooting league and how we now have lineups where five guys can shoot 3-pointers, and when I started, it was 3 at most. It was rare to have a 4 or a 5 to shoot 3-pointers. Right when I started, the Suns had Shawn Marion, who would play the 4 and space the floor, but he was rare. But it\u2019s definitely the spacing and the number of shooters the teams put on the floor at one time.<\/p>\n I saw the stat in your power rankings that the West is 115-91 against the East this year. That\u2019s not so bad for the East! Is the gulf between the West and the East starting to narrow? The bottom-feeder teams are pretty equal between the conferences this year, too \u2013 Brooklyn, Washington, Indiana (arguably a special case) against Sacramento, Utah, and New Orleans.<\/p>\n So, the answer is no, the gap is not narrowing. There were two years, 2021-22 and 2022-23, where the East had a better record than the West. But the last three seasons, including this one, have been pretty dominated by the West. And over the last 8 days, the West is 24-8 against the East and 5-0 yesterday alone. Like, Portland is 22-22 and 9th place in the West, so you would think they are the hard luck team, but they would be 9th place in the East at 22-22. I think the tough part is the 6-7 range, like Phoenix, which is 7th in the West but would be in 3rd place in the East. The West teams are very good and are still fighting to be in the top 6, where they would easily be in the top 6 in the East.<\/p>\n I wondered how much the expectations set by the fans and the media weigh on you at the beginning of a season when the teams start to actually play and overperform or underperform those expectations. Is there much \u201cresistance\u201d to changing things too much based on the first few weeks? As a Suns fan, the example I have in mind is Phoenix. It was predicted they would be one of the worst teams, but then they have been more competitive than most (including me) would have thought: how much \u201cconvincing\u201d did you guys need to start having them climb the rankings? How much does that initial assessment weigh in comparison with the actual games?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care what other people expect, and I don\u2019t really pay much attention to what other people expect from teams. As far as my own expectations, I sort of let go of those by week 3. The Clippers, for example, I thought they were going to be a much better team over the first couple of months. Once they suffered multiple bad losses, they are going to be at the bottom of the rankings. For me, it\u2019s all about results first and foremost. Like, they lost to Utah on opening night, and sure, that is just one game, but then a couple of weeks into the season, they lost 5 straight. At that point, you realize they are not a very good team. So, my own expectations play a role in where teams are ranked at the start, but once we get two or three weeks into the season, it\u2019s all about results.<\/p>\n The Suns went from being ranked 16th in Week 5 to 7th in Week 6. That\u2019s when they beat the Wolves and the Spurs, so for a team like that, wins are one thing, but quality wins are another. Even 16 was much higher than where I had them at the start of the season, but once they put together multiple wins against good teams, it became a belief that they were a good team as well.<\/p>\n Who do you think is the most underrated player, most underrated coach and most underrated arena?<\/p>\n Underrated player, I would say, is Rudy Gobert. He gets a lot of flak, but he is just a really, really impactful defensive player. If you have Rudy Gobert on your team, you probably have a top 10 defense. Underrated team, I would say Detroit. I think they are really, really good, and because they are a group that has yet to win a playoff series, it\u2019s hard to pick them to win the East. But with their win over the Celtics on Monday, the Pistons have the best record (12-4) in games played between the 16 teams over .500 right now. The next best is 13-6. And the most underrated Arena, there are still a few I haven\u2019t been to, and this is one of my home arenas, but I love Brooklyn. I am super lucky to go to games in Brooklyn and Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n Who\u2019s a player that has stood out to you the most this season?<\/p>\n Stephon Castle, in his sophomore season, is averaging 17.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 7 ast.<\/p>\n I would say Stephon Castle. Obviously, he won Rookie of the Year, so it\u2019s not a surprise that he is a good player, but I have just been really impressed with him every time I watch. And that comes with his playmaking and decision-making with the ball, but also the force that he plays with and how strong he is when he attacks the rim. He is also a really good defender, so he is an absolute keeper for the Spurs. He is going to be an all-star at some point in the next few years. He is everything you want in a guard, minus the shooting, and I believe that will come soon enough.<\/p>\n What team would you say has the most to gain from the upcoming NBA Trade Deadline? A few teams have played below their preseason power rankings (CLE, LAC) all year, while January\u2019s gauntlet has raised some questions about contenders (NYK), so I\u2019m curious who you believe could make the biggest move.<\/p>\n I would think that Houston has the tools to make a deal, and they obviously have some flaws regarding their offense that they can address.<\/p>\n What advice would you give to an aspiring writer trying to make it in this industry? Any specific memory you have from earlier in your career that you think back to?<\/p>\n The one thing I always focus on is just giving readers a reason to read your stuff. You\u2019re competing with a lot of people. If you\u2019re covering a payoff game, for example, assume that everyone who might read you watched the game. Assume they are on social media and caught some of the postgame quotes. So now, what are you going to offer them that is going to make them want to read you? And then come back and read you after the second game too. And even with Power Rankings every Monday, I am trying to provide, for example, a hardcore Pistons fan with some little bit of information that they didn\u2019t know, even though they have watched every single game and pay attention to social media and read some of the Pistons beat writers who are covering the team daily. I want you to come to Power Rankings every Monday and learn something you didn\u2019t already know. It\u2019s impossible to do that for all 30 teams, 25 weeks in a row, but that is the goal.<\/p>\n Since you\u2019ve been writing for 20 years in the NBA, a lot of people ask what\u2019s been the biggest change, but I am curious what has been the most consistent trait or trend in the game of basketball over your career?<\/p>\n Talent wins. The best players win. The best teams have the best players, and it\u2019s rare when you get a team that doesn\u2019t have a top 10 player on it that wins. In fact, the last team in the Finals before I started this job was the Pistons in 2003-04, when they won, and they were back there again in 2004-05. It\u2019s talent, but obviously, there are a lot of teams that have talent. After that, it\u2019s buy-in and a belief in what the team is doing, an understanding of how it wins, and execution of that formula for winning games. Just look at the last several championships. There are lots of different ways to win in this league. The Thunder won in a different way than the Celtics, and the Celtics won very differently from the Nuggets. There\u2019s no one way to win Championships. You can win with different kinds of defenses and offenses, but talent, buy-in, and execution get you there.<\/p>\n What was the biggest argument you ever had when it came to a power ranking placement?<\/p>\n I can\u2019t remember anything specific. First of all, I don\u2019t worry too much about the order I put teams in because, as I explained, I really focus on what I am writing about the team. Also, because I do it every week, I get to do it again in seven days. If I had a team too high or too low this week, I get to try again next week. There are some weeks where it\u2019s tough because there isn\u2019t a clear number one. Sometimes Team A beats Team B, Team B beats Team C, but Team C beats Team A, and there\u2019s no clear order. Some weeks are definitely cleaner than others, where teams rank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Schuhmann has covered the NBA as a writer for more than 20 years. 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Which metric do you trust most that fans usually overlook when evaluating how good a team really is?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s never one thing. It\u2019s a combination of things; it\u2019s definitely efficient on both ends of the floor. Strength of schedule matters, point differential. I always look at quality wins, so your record versus the best teams, so when I am putting teams in order or ranking teams, it\u2019s always a combination of lots of different things. It\u2019s never one thing that is going to determine where they are. And of course, if two teams are ranked near each other in the rankings and one of them won a head-to-head meeting, that team will have an advantage.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-22492481612-1-784x441.jpg\")
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