DESIGNATED NOTE — J.J. Marshall, Jr. is the latest to join the staff as a Designated Contributor. He knows all about contributing — he was a three-year letterman on the Louisiana Tech basketball team as well as an award-winning sports editor for the Tech Talk. He has also contributed for The Times, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and other publications. We had him working in the mailroom (editing copy) until now, where we decided to unleash him, so to speak.

By JJ MARSHALL, Jr., Designated Contributor

Since you don’t have time to spend grinding the NBA and I do, here are the Top 10 teams in the league (for now):

1. Warriors
I don’t always think records are entirely reflective of a team’s greatness. Teams are tanking, everyone’s schedule has wild variance, and you only get one “point” for a blowout or a buzzer-beater. That’s why we can always rely on the eye test. Steph Curry is struggling with an ankle injury again, but even without him I like the Dubs’ chances of being the best team out there. They have four superstars who can kill you in so many ways. Andre Iguodala is back to form after a slow start to the season. The Warriors’ offensive and defensive system is the best in the league and even manages to make Nick Young AKA Swaggy P look good. Hopefully, Curry won’t get injured in the playoffs. If he does, expect Kevin Durant to go Superfreak and get 40 a game. They wouldn’t mind Draymond mixing in a shot or two, he’s shot below .250 from 3 in 2018.

2. Rockets
People love to talk about how Chris Paul and James Harden have failed to get it done in the playoffs. These people neglect to remember that they now play on the same team. The Rockets have lost only one game this season in which Clint Capela, Harden and Paul have played together. I’m worried about Houston depending on Eric Gordon in the playoffs, but only because I saw him struggle for years in New Orleans. He’s in the mix for 6th man of the year every year, and he can score from anywhere. Capela provides a shot-blocker at the rim. Paul is tough as nails. They’re atop the West and cruising, though they really need to best the Warriors for the top seed and secure home-court advantage should there be a series between the two. They will need all the advantages available if they want to beat Golden State.

3. Raptors
Are the Raptors any different than they have always been? Unless you’re an NBA nerd, the roster looks the same as when they flailed out of the playoffs the last few seasons before it got interesting. Head coach Dwayne Casey has tinkered his roster a bit, gotten younger, and his stars have developed in to Canadian Superstars. If DeMar DeRozan was in a Knicks jersey, they’d think he was the second coming of Jordan. His last-second dunk to beat Detroit, followed by late-game heroics to end Houston’s 17-game winning streak is the clutch stuff NBA fans clamor for. He will have to be that guy for Toronto when they face the Celtics or the Cavs in the playoffs, where LeBron will not allow him to get to the basket so easily.

4. Celtics
In the first few months of 2018 the Celtics have looked more like the team we thought they’d be when Gordon Hayward went down for the year. But you look up at the standings and Boston still has a chance to win the East. Kyrie Irving is tested, clutch and incredible with the ball. I’m wondering if he will revert to bad habits or Brad (Stevens) habits when the postseason rolls around. I don’t think Hayward should try to come back this season. It’s too soon, and guys like Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum are discovering themselves in his absence. They’re both under 21, but so good, and add so much spice to the Celtics’ offense when Irving is sitting or struggling. Al Horford is probably the best passing big in the league, and he plays defense and he can shoot 3s. The most impressive aspect of this team is Stevens and his system. He gets his guys to buy in defensively, and gets the most out of them offensively. See Jae Crowder for how good you look in another system after leaving Brad’s.

5. Cavs
The Cavs are struggling. We all thought their deadline-day swoop was a culture-changing overhaul, but when you realize that Larry Nance Jr was the best of their deals, you start to worry about this team. Cleveland is still waiting for Kevin Love to come back. Love will take some of Nance’s and Tristian Thompson’s minutes which will allow them to revert back into their ideal roles. LeBron is LeBron, so everyone accepts that this team has to at least get to the conference finals, but how much more can James do? He leads the team in points, FG%, assists, steals, blocks, and is second to Love in rebounding. He’s shooting at career levels and doing everything for his team. Someone else has to step up for the Cavs to have a chance at getting back to the promise land. It will take a herculean effort from James at the very least, but his whole career has been magnificent, underrated and under appreciated. If he wins a championship this season with this team, it will be his greatest career feat. Jordan Clarkson? Rodney Hood? No Kyrie? I’m fascinated.

6. Blazers 6. *Wolves
This has a caveat because if we get a healthy Jimmy Butler for the playoffs, I love the Wolves. Without him, nobody should trust Jeff Teague being the spiritual leader of this team. With Butler, the Wolves have an identity. Andrew Wiggins doesn’t have to be a main scoring option so he has much less pressure to produce. The Wolves have a ton of talent with Karl Anthony-Towns in tow, and Teague is a solid point guard for a playoff team. Nobody in the West knows what to do now that the Spurs are struggling, so teams like the Blazers are swooping in to get a home series in the playoffs or two. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum form a crazy-fun backcourt capable of going for 70 in any game. Jusuf Nurkic is a poor man’s Nikola Jokic, but the Blazers don’t need a big man to run their offense through when they have Lillard. I doubt the Blazers can keep this up, but they are a fun team to watch and will be good for a while to come.

8. Thunder
Oklahoma City has two of the best players in the league. Paul George is the perfect second option. Russ Westbrook is the reigning MVP. Carmelo Anthony is…. *sigh* Losing Anthony Roberson has been tough for the Thunder. He could guard multiple positions, and he fit great around chuckers like ‘Melo, George and Russ with his anemic offense. The problem is that they have no identity. It’s like when you play with all the superstars in the pickup game, then lose to a bunch of back-dooring Princeton white boys. There is no offense. Without Roberson, there is no defense outside of George and Steven Adams. Their bench is trash. Luckily, like I said, they have two of the best players in the league. That should be enough for the Thunder to win a playoff series.

9. Pelicans
I’m a homer and I don’t care who knows it. Anthony Davis is the MVP. You want to give it to Harden, I know you do. Then call it the “Most Outstanding Offensive Player.” Harden plays no D, Davis is the best defensive player in the league who leads the league in blocks (he had 10 blocks in his first career triple-double last night). Losing Boogie Cousins made the Pelicans better. It opened up driving lanes on offense, lowered turnovers, and forced play-hard guys like Emeka Okafor (!!!) and Rajon Rondo to step up. We will go as far as Davis takes us, but I’m along for the ride and loving it. He’s the best big man in the league, putting up unbelievable numbers (last ten games: 33 PPG, 4 blocks, 13 rebounds on .531 shooting) and has dragged New Orleans to within three games of the 3-seed in the West. Outside of the top two teams, everything is up for grabs in the West. Unfortunately, the Pellies have a brutal schedule and could easily end up on the outside looking in come May. For now, we should put a statue up of The Brow outside of the Smoothie King Center.

10. Sixers
With apologies to the rolling Indiana Pacers, I decided to slip a slightly more fun team into the top 10. Philadelphia’s “Process” has yielded two phenom young players in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. They have added toughness in Trevor Booker and shooters around them with JJ Redick and Robert Covington. Dario Saric is a solid stretch 4, and nobody is thinking about the Markelle Fultz debacle (at the moment). The Sixers have one of the easiest remaining schedules and could slip into a top 4 seed if they remain healthy. Will they lift Embiid’s minutes-limit in the playoffs? I hope so, because he and Simmons are a great team to watch if you love basketball.

Dropped:
Spurs, Wizards, Nuggets