Atlanta Hawks: Eastern Conference Power Rankings, Jan. 14

Admittedly, the Philadelphia 76ers are playing better now that Mike D’Antoni and Jerry Colangelo are in the organization, but this team still only has four wins on the year. The only other team in the NBA entering Thursday that doesn’t have 10 wins on the year is the 9-31 Los Angeles Lakers.

Interestingly, all four of the 76ers wins have come against the weaker 2015-16 Western Conference. While the franchise isn’t the most dysfunctional organization in the Eastern Conference, that would be their Atlantic Division rival Brooklyn, the 76ers are still seven wins worse than the Nets and stay at 15th in the East.

The Brooklyn Nets have finally decided to shake some things up with their franchise by firing head coach Lionel Hollins and demoting general manager Billy King. With a bad team and little hope coming from NBA Drafts before 2020, the Nets are by far the biggest disaster in the NBA.

Owner Mikhail Prokhorov is targeting former Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo to run the front office. He also seems to want either former NBA head coach Tom Thibodeau or Mark Jackson to lead his club. Neither may want to coach for a team that isn’t a realistic playoff team for at least three more seasons after this.

Milwaukee is the quintessential talented, but far too young up and coming NBA team. The Bucks surprised everyone with their strong play in the first half of last year to make the playoffs under new head coach Jason Kidd.

However since January of last year, the Bucks have been arguably one of the five worst teams in the NBA. They’ve lost their defensive identity and aren’t a great shooting team either. The Atlanta Hawks will take on the Bucks in Milwaukee for the first time this season on Friday, so we will learn more about that club’s current state then.

Next: Tier IV: Not Making the Playoffs