NBA Power Rankings Week 11: All-Star break edition

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15-21. Previous: 25th. Oklahoma City Thunder. 23. team. 149.

Last Week: Lost to Dallas Mavericks 87-78, Beat San Antonio Spurs 107-102

This Week: 3/11 vs. Dallas Mavericks, 3/13 vs. New York Knicks

For a team projected to be the worst team in the league coming into the season, entering the halfway point with 15 wins has to come as a surprise to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Many on the outside would have projected it would have been tough to get to this many wins overall this year, let alone at the halfway point.

The young talent of the Thunder has coalesced much faster than anyone would have reasonably expected. The discussion starts with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The third-year guard has taken a leap as the leader of the team, averaging 23.2 points, 6.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds while canning 41.2 percent of his 4.9 3-point attempts per game. He had a legitimate All-Star case and may have been able to sneak in if the Thunder were not in the midst of a rebuild.

For their part, the Thunder have discovered several interesting young prospects who are helping them fight every night of the year. Lu Dort will put the clamps on any and everyone (famously on LeBron James this season). Justin Jackson and Kenrich Williams have shown flashes of 3-and-D potential. Hamidou Diallo and Theo Maledon are just fun and intriguing. If you have to go through a rebuild with a bevy of picks on the horizon, this is a beautiful way to start it.