Atlanta Hawks: Eastern Conference Power Rankings, Nov. 26

It’s Thanksgiving and the Philadelphia 76ers still haven’t won a game this season. In all fairness, they could have won last night versus Atlantic Division rival Boston, but with a young team that doesn’t know how to win, it’s understandable how they let the Celtics back in the game to steal away their first victory of 2015-16.

While the team always plays hard for HC Brett Brown (24th team defensive rating, 107.1), the offense of the 76ers is not that of a standard NBA team (30th team offensive rating, 93.2). It’s starting to get to the point where enough’s enough with GM Sam Hinkie’s tanking experiment in Philadelphia. Though C Joel Embiid‘s perpetually injured body has certainly extended their rebuilding process, I’d give Philly a win if I could.

The Brooklyn Nets have absolutely no incentive to tank in 2015-16. Rival Boston snared away the Nets’ first round pick in the 2016 NBA Draft in the Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry deal. Celtics GM Danny Ainge was able to convince Nets GM Billy King that giving away unprotected picks aren’t that big of a thing.

It’s when your team is in salary cap purgatory and you don’t own your own lottery pick despite being easily one of the four worst teams in the NBA. Though the Brooklyn Nets made the Eastern Conference Playoffs in 2015, this team may not see them again until 2020, unless they move C Brook Lopez and any other trade assets, assuming they still have any, before they rapidly decay in the Barclays Center mid-season.

More from Atlanta Hawks

• Atlanta Hawks Sweep Back-to-Back Games Over Weekend
• Atlanta Hawks Look to Continue Momentum Tonight Against Portland
• Joel Embiid Leads Sixers Over Hawks On Monday Night
• Atlanta Hawks: John Collins Playing His Best Basketball Of Season
• Atlanta Hawks Win Second Straight Against the Dallas Mavericks

What happened to the stifling Milwaukee Bucks’ defense under HC Jason Kidd? The upstart basketball club finished fourth in team defensive rating in 2014-15 (102.2), now they are dead last in the NBA in 2015-16 in team defense (111.4).

I expected the Bucks to come down to Earth a bit defensively in 2015-16 as improving their offense would take away some of their focus on the defensive end. Milwaukee isn’t as naturally skilled on offense as they are on defense. However, this defensive nosedive has almost eliminated the strong identity Kidd cultivated at the Bradley Center last year. If the Bucks remain bad defensively, then they’ll remain a bad team.

Next: Tier IV: Not Making the Playoffs