Dolphin Ratings - National Basketball Association

Explanation: Each team is listed with its record, overall score differential, and its ratings. Brief explanations of the ratings follow.

Schedule The number in this column is the effective opponent strength of a team. In other words, they would be expected to have the same record had they played all games against an opponent of this predictive rating at a neutral site. Because this calculation depends on the strength of the team in question, it is not possible to rank schedules using these values.
Expected Losses For college teams, this number is the number of losses an average ranked (top 15 hockey; otherwise top 25) team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. For pro teams, this is the number of losses an average team would be expected to have against the team's schedule. Unlike the schedule ranking, this value can be used to rank schedules.
Standard Ranks teams in an order such that a team is "probably better" than all teams ranked lower than it. This calculation uses margin of victory only for computing a team's opponents strengths; the team's rating itself is computed using only wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule
Median Likelihood Determines the likely ratings for each team, based on its wins, losses, and ties relative to its schedule. This generally produces the same or similar ratings as the standard ranking.
Predictive Both schedule strength and rating vs. schedule strength are determined considering both the wins and losses and the score differentials. This rating contains none of the biases in the standard rating, but does weight recent games slightly more than past games since those are a better indication of the team's current strength. This rating is the best of the first three for seeing how good teams are, and thus is the best for predicting future results.
Improved RPI Rating The improved RPI formula is similar to the standard RPI, except that the schedule strength is carried out to infinite depth instead of ending with opponents' opponents, thus allows for a better comparison of isolated groups of teams than is given by the standard RPI calculation. It is similar to the simple rating, except that all games are given equal weight.
Scoring. This value indicates how many points a team would be expected to score if it played an identical team.
Offense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team scores. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to score the league average number of points. This does not necessarily rate a team's offensive abilities, as a fast pace in basketball or big-play defense in football can make a team score more points.
Defense. This combines the predictive and scoring ratings to measure how many points a team allows. The number is the predictive rating of an opponent against whom the team would be expected to allow the league average number of points. The same caveat in the predictive-offense rating applies here.

In order to increase early-season stability, the three main rankings, the improved RPI, and the college pseudopoll include priors based on the previous season final predictive ratings and occasionally incorporating preseason predictions of various major publications. The other rankings for college sports do not include priors, and thus can be wildly unstable early in the year. A team whose rankings are affected by this prior is noted with a P following its rankings.

Full Ranking

                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
THUNDER       6 0 718 662 -0.113  2.435    1  0.293    1  0.296    4  0.205    1 0.5877   30  3.870   28 -0.397    1  0.807 P
BULLS         5 0 614 570 -0.065  2.230    2  0.242    2  0.245    8  0.109    2 0.5872   10  4.019    7  0.267   16 -0.049 P
SPURS         5 0 591 519 -0.224  1.832    3  0.205    3  0.206    6  0.141    3 0.5512   29  3.872   30 -0.452    2  0.733 P
76ERS         4 1 625 604 -0.153  2.107    4  0.136    4  0.131   16  0.011    7 0.5305    3  4.052    5  0.343   25 -0.321 P
TRAIL BLAZERS 4 2 727 700  0.160  3.295    5  0.127    5  0.127   10  0.082    5 0.5359    8  4.036    6  0.329   21 -0.164 P
PISTONS       4 2 697 681  0.106  3.168    6  0.124    6  0.125   14  0.038    6 0.5345   17  3.988   14  0.034   13  0.042 P
LAKERS        4 2 705 698  0.065  3.081    7  0.122    7  0.120   13  0.048    4 0.5410   15  3.990   12  0.052   12  0.044 P
BUCKS         4 2 742 710 -0.078  2.648    8  0.094    9  0.087    9  0.098   10 0.5218    6  4.044    2  0.390   23 -0.194 P
WARRIORS      4 3 823 810  0.139  3.739    9  0.082    8  0.091    7  0.114    8 0.5255   22  3.965   18 -0.010    7  0.238 P
ROCKETS       3 2 639 571  0.216  2.625   10  0.078   10  0.084    1  0.278    9 0.5242   14  4.002    4  0.344    8  0.213 P
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
NUGGETS       3 2 620 559  0.127  2.441   11  0.069   11  0.073    2  0.267   12 0.5177   20  3.976    9  0.200    4  0.334 P
HEAT          3 2 627 570  0.115  2.513   12  0.062   12  0.068    3  0.209   11 0.5187    7  4.038    1  0.464   15 -0.046 P
CLIPPERS      3 2 556 560 -0.144  2.170   13  0.039   13  0.039   18 -0.023   16 0.5033   27  3.927   27 -0.342    5  0.296 P
CAVALIERS     3 3 682 688  0.099  3.157   14  0.032   14  0.035   12  0.051   15 0.5035   26  3.951   22 -0.144    6  0.245 P
TIMBERWOLVES  3 3 693 700  0.055  3.061   15  0.025   15  0.027   15  0.037   14 0.5068   19  3.981   17 -0.007   11  0.082 P
KNICKS        2 3 567 577  0.333  3.119   16  0.016   16  0.020   11  0.075   13 0.5072   23  3.965   19 -0.050    9  0.200 P
CELTICS       3 4 781 772  0.143  3.736   17 -0.003   17  0.003    5  0.148   18 0.5004   28  3.909   24 -0.258    3  0.555 P
HAWKS         3 3 697 710 -0.017  2.955   18 -0.011   18 -0.004   21 -0.058   17 0.5019   13  4.002   15  0.010   20 -0.127 P
GRIZZLIES     3 3 714 732 -0.144  2.675   19 -0.028   19 -0.023   22 -0.084   21 0.4802    4  4.045    8  0.211   26 -0.378 P
MAGIC         3 4 818 814 -0.037  3.330   20 -0.066   20 -0.060   17 -0.004   20 0.4908   21  3.967   21 -0.116   10  0.109 P
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
KINGS         2 4 690 717  0.149  3.371   21 -0.069   21 -0.061   19 -0.039   19 0.4930   12  4.005   13  0.044   19 -0.121 P
RAPTORS       2 4 719 740  0.155  3.387   22 -0.076   22 -0.068   20 -0.045   22 0.4768    1  4.071    3  0.388   27 -0.477 P
JAZZ          2 3 601 601 -0.134  2.209   23 -0.092   23 -0.089   23 -0.089   23 0.4627   11  4.008   16  0.007   22 -0.186 P
SUNS          2 4 698 726 -0.062  2.884   24 -0.115   24 -0.112   24 -0.094   24 0.4549   16  3.989   20 -0.094   18 -0.094 P
MAVERICKS     2 4 649 699 -0.309  2.450   25 -0.162   26 -0.165   27 -0.237   25 0.4549   25  3.956   29 -0.405   17 -0.068 P
HORNETS       2 4 725 744 -0.222  2.611   26 -0.166   25 -0.163   26 -0.206   27 0.4401    5  4.045   10  0.086   28 -0.499 P
PACERS        1 5 675 727 -0.068  2.904   27 -0.208   27 -0.208   25 -0.170   26 0.4417   24  3.960   26 -0.318   14 -0.022 P
PELICANS      0 5 540 618  0.138  2.954   28 -0.236   28 -0.234   29 -0.264   29 0.4113   18  3.985   25 -0.287   24 -0.242 P
WIZARDS       1 5 686 770 -0.206  2.827   29 -0.254   29 -0.254   30 -0.403   28 0.4260    9  4.026   23 -0.212   29 -0.594 P
NETS          0 5 569 639  0.010  2.739   30 -0.261   30 -0.262   28 -0.256   30 0.4044    2  4.053   11  0.083   30 -0.595 P

PACIFIC DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LAKERS        4 2 705 698  0.065  3.081    7  0.122    7  0.120   13  0.048    4 0.5410   15  3.990   12  0.052   12  0.044 P
WARRIORS      4 3 823 810  0.139  3.739    9  0.082    8  0.091    7  0.114    8 0.5255   22  3.965   18 -0.010    7  0.238 P
CLIPPERS      3 2 556 560 -0.144  2.170   13  0.039   13  0.039   18 -0.023   16 0.5033   27  3.927   27 -0.342    5  0.296 P
KINGS         2 4 690 717  0.149  3.371   21 -0.069   21 -0.061   19 -0.039   19 0.4930   12  4.005   13  0.044   19 -0.121 P
SUNS          2 4 698 726 -0.062  2.884   24 -0.115   24 -0.112   24 -0.094   24 0.4549   16  3.989   20 -0.094   18 -0.094 P

NORTHWEST DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
THUNDER       6 0 718 662 -0.113  2.435    1  0.293    1  0.296    4  0.205    1 0.5877   30  3.870   28 -0.397    1  0.807 P
TRAIL BLAZERS 4 2 727 700  0.160  3.295    5  0.127    5  0.127   10  0.082    5 0.5359    8  4.036    6  0.329   21 -0.164 P
NUGGETS       3 2 620 559  0.127  2.441   11  0.069   11  0.073    2  0.267   12 0.5177   20  3.976    9  0.200    4  0.334 P
TIMBERWOLVES  3 3 693 700  0.055  3.061   15  0.025   15  0.027   15  0.037   14 0.5068   19  3.981   17 -0.007   11  0.082 P
JAZZ          2 3 601 601 -0.134  2.209   23 -0.092   23 -0.089   23 -0.089   23 0.4627   11  4.008   16  0.007   22 -0.186 P

SOUTHWEST DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
SPURS         5 0 591 519 -0.224  1.832    3  0.205    3  0.206    6  0.141    3 0.5512   29  3.872   30 -0.452    2  0.733 P
ROCKETS       3 2 639 571  0.216  2.625   10  0.078   10  0.084    1  0.278    9 0.5242   14  4.002    4  0.344    8  0.213 P
GRIZZLIES     3 3 714 732 -0.144  2.675   19 -0.028   19 -0.023   22 -0.084   21 0.4802    4  4.045    8  0.211   26 -0.378 P
MAVERICKS     2 4 649 699 -0.309  2.450   25 -0.162   26 -0.165   27 -0.237   25 0.4549   25  3.956   29 -0.405   17 -0.068 P
PELICANS      0 5 540 618  0.138  2.954   28 -0.236   28 -0.234   29 -0.264   29 0.4113   18  3.985   25 -0.287   24 -0.242 P

CENTRAL DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
BULLS         5 0 614 570 -0.065  2.230    2  0.242    2  0.245    8  0.109    2 0.5872   10  4.019    7  0.267   16 -0.049 P
PISTONS       4 2 697 681  0.106  3.168    6  0.124    6  0.125   14  0.038    6 0.5345   17  3.988   14  0.034   13  0.042 P
BUCKS         4 2 742 710 -0.078  2.648    8  0.094    9  0.087    9  0.098   10 0.5218    6  4.044    2  0.390   23 -0.194 P
CAVALIERS     3 3 682 688  0.099  3.157   14  0.032   14  0.035   12  0.051   15 0.5035   26  3.951   22 -0.144    6  0.245 P
PACERS        1 5 675 727 -0.068  2.904   27 -0.208   27 -0.208   25 -0.170   26 0.4417   24  3.960   26 -0.318   14 -0.022 P

SOUTHEAST DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
HEAT          3 2 627 570  0.115  2.513   12  0.062   12  0.068    3  0.209   11 0.5187    7  4.038    1  0.464   15 -0.046 P
HAWKS         3 3 697 710 -0.017  2.955   18 -0.011   18 -0.004   21 -0.058   17 0.5019   13  4.002   15  0.010   20 -0.127 P
MAGIC         3 4 818 814 -0.037  3.330   20 -0.066   20 -0.060   17 -0.004   20 0.4908   21  3.967   21 -0.116   10  0.109 P
HORNETS       2 4 725 744 -0.222  2.611   26 -0.166   25 -0.163   26 -0.206   27 0.4401    5  4.045   10  0.086   28 -0.499 P
WIZARDS       1 5 686 770 -0.206  2.827   29 -0.254   29 -0.254   30 -0.403   28 0.4260    9  4.026   23 -0.212   29 -0.594 P

ATLANTIC DIVISION
                                          STANDARD   MED LIKELY  PREDICTIVE  IMPRVD RPI    SCORING     OFFENSE     DEFENSE 
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
76ERS         4 1 625 604 -0.153  2.107    4  0.136    4  0.131   16  0.011    7 0.5305    3  4.052    5  0.343   25 -0.321 P
KNICKS        2 3 567 577  0.333  3.119   16  0.016   16  0.020   11  0.075   13 0.5072   23  3.965   19 -0.050    9  0.200 P
CELTICS       3 4 781 772  0.143  3.736   17 -0.003   17  0.003    5  0.148   18 0.5004   28  3.909   24 -0.258    3  0.555 P
RAPTORS       2 4 719 740  0.155  3.387   22 -0.076   22 -0.068   20 -0.045   22 0.4768    1  4.071    3  0.388   27 -0.477 P
NETS          0 5 569 639  0.010  2.739   30 -0.261   30 -0.262   28 -0.256   30 0.4044    2  4.053   11  0.083   30 -0.595 P

DIVISION            W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
NORTHWEST DIVISION 18 10 0.643    1  0.260
CENTRAL DIVISION   17 12 0.586    2  0.075
PACIFIC DIVISION   15 15 0.500    3 -0.002
ATLANTIC DIVISION  11 17 0.393    4 -0.031
SOUTHWEST DIVISION 13 14 0.481    5 -0.081
SOUTHEAST DIVISION 12 18 0.400    6 -0.201

Home field advantage amounts to:
     0.211 points in main ratings (0.186 for semineutral)
     0.022 points in improved RPI (0.019 for semineutral)
Average of 2.15 points per score

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Sun Nov  2 05:30:16 2025
games through: Sat Nov  1 2025

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