NBA Power Rankings Week 19: April review and the rising Phoenix Suns

April has come and gone, and the NBA is just a couple of weeks away from nearly half the league going home for the season. During this week’s power rankings we will look back at the trends from April to project which teams are best prepared to climb to the top as the calendar turns to May and playoff basketball.

This was a weird month for the NBA. Plenty of injuries were suffered, leading to questions about the necessity of the season. Nine teams would win at least 10 games, including two perennial also-rans. The Phoenix Suns broke the second-longest playoff drought in the league today. The Sacramento Kings did their best (worst?) to extend the longest such drought.

While it has been the topic of much debate of late (thanks Mark Cuban) the play-in tournament has done plenty of good for making the traditional dog days of the season into something to watch. There are very few teams packing it in for the season, as there are at least 24 teams in sniffing distance of the play-in tournament.

Which NBA team made the best of the month of April and who has continued along the tanking path? The trends of the last month will be examined here.

Even the teams that are doing less in the way of winning than those at the top of this list have something to take from the last few weeks of the season. Plenty of young players are finding a groove, setting a foundation to build upon next season. In fact, we will be starting with the most explosive of those.

Now, let’s start the Week 19 Power Rankings.