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
SPURS         75 31 12524 11681  0.147 56.136    2  0.672    2  0.635    1  0.751    2 0.5583   18  3.965    1  0.706    4  0.796
KNICKS        70 32 11874 11061  0.075 51.738    3  0.542    3  0.506    2  0.740    3 0.5482   25  3.927    5  0.503    1  0.977
THUNDER       75 22 11493 10472  0.106 49.695    1  0.820    1  0.781    3  0.716    1 0.5713   24  3.933    4  0.507    2  0.925
PISTONS       67 29 11126 10434  0.014 46.797    4  0.514    4  0.476    4  0.466    4 0.5468   27  3.921    9  0.199    5  0.734
CELTICS       59 30 10164  9513  0.006 43.058    5  0.410    5  0.376    5  0.455    5 0.5376   29  3.899   12  0.079    3  0.831
HORNETS       45 39  9730  9364 -0.009 40.798   16  0.086   16  0.060    6  0.371   16 0.5054   21  3.946    8  0.231    7  0.512
NUGGETS       56 32 10655 10260  0.014 43.490    6  0.358    7  0.330    7  0.275    6 0.5321    5  4.024    2  0.536   15  0.014
ROCKETS       54 34 10041  9628 -0.005 42.818    9  0.286    9  0.258    8  0.230    9 0.5258   30  3.899   21 -0.148    6  0.608
RAPTORS       49 40 10171  9951  0.017 44.619   12  0.154   13  0.125    9  0.195   11 0.5123   23  3.937   13  0.008    8  0.382
CAVALIERS     60 40 11744 11461  0.059 51.503    8  0.314    8  0.294   10  0.189    8 0.5271   10  3.996    6  0.305   14  0.073
TEAM           W  L    PF    PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
LAKERS        57 35 10562 10467  0.039 47.203    7  0.356    6  0.336   11  0.137    7 0.5309   16  3.971   11  0.125   11  0.149
TIMBERWOLVES  55 39 10975 10770  0.044 48.024   10  0.264   10  0.237   12  0.116   10 0.5227   13  3.980   10  0.148   13  0.083
HAWKS         48 40 10316 10223  0.031 44.877   11  0.160   11  0.136   13  0.103   12 0.5121    8  4.010    7  0.291   18 -0.086
CLIPPERS      42 41  9450  9362 -0.034 40.402   19  0.003   19 -0.025   14  0.074   19 0.4977   22  3.943   19 -0.086   10  0.234
HEAT          43 40 10037  9847  0.005 41.285   17  0.056   17  0.035   15  0.073   17 0.5029    2  4.061    3  0.535   20 -0.388
MAGIC         49 42 10393 10355  0.040 46.920   13  0.153   12  0.129   16  0.039   13 0.5116   19  3.956   18 -0.053   12  0.131
SUNS          46 42  9875  9813  0.036 45.135   15  0.109   15  0.088   17  0.039   15 0.5081   26  3.923   23 -0.219    9  0.297
TRAIL BLAZERS 44 44 10083 10165  0.011 44.806   18  0.035   18  0.017   18 -0.004   18 0.5009   14  3.975   14  0.001   16 -0.009
76ERS         50 44 10745 10857  0.031 48.661   14  0.142   14  0.123   19 -0.081   14 0.5099   15  3.973   20 -0.086   17 -0.076
WARRIORS      38 46  9620  9676 -0.009 42.094   20 -0.096   20 -0.119   20 -0.163   20 0.4881   17  3.967   22 -0.196   19 -0.129
TEAM           W  L    PF    PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
PELICANS      26 56  9473  9842 -0.046 40.941   23 -0.460   24 -0.492   21 -0.248   23 0.4540    7  4.017   16 -0.023   23 -0.473
BULLS         31 51  9537  9964 -0.060 40.785   22 -0.302   22 -0.329   22 -0.418   22 0.4674    3  4.044   17 -0.051   27 -0.784
MAVERICKS     26 56  9358  9810 -0.060 40.836   24 -0.463   23 -0.490   23 -0.422   24 0.4531   11  3.996   24 -0.308   24 -0.537
PACERS        19 63  9219  9874 -0.064 41.337   29 -0.678   29 -0.712   24 -0.492   29 0.4335    9  4.001   26 -0.351   25 -0.632
BUCKS         32 50  9072  9581 -0.073 40.725   21 -0.283   21 -0.305   25 -0.541   21 0.4700   20  3.953   29 -0.646   22 -0.436
JAZZ          22 60  9642 10333 -0.067 41.239   26 -0.587   26 -0.617   26 -0.574   26 0.4423    1  4.081   15 -0.004   29 -1.144
GRIZZLIES     25 57  9403  9896 -0.061 40.858   25 -0.501   25 -0.533   27 -0.575   25 0.4501    6  4.021   25 -0.328   28 -0.822
KINGS         22 60  9102  9922 -0.074 41.322   27 -0.597   27 -0.619   28 -0.652   27 0.4421   12  3.990   28 -0.569   26 -0.736
NETS          20 62  8686  9505 -0.086 41.183   28 -0.675   28 -0.701   29 -0.788   28 0.4356   28  3.902   30 -1.153   21 -0.422
WIZARDS       17 65  9257 10240 -0.096 41.193   30 -0.793   30 -0.828   30 -0.806   30 0.4265    4  4.040   27 -0.457   30 -1.156

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        57 35 10562 10467  0.039 47.203    7  0.356    6  0.336   11  0.137    7 0.5309   16  3.971   11  0.125   11  0.149
CLIPPERS      42 41  9450  9362 -0.034 40.402   19  0.003   19 -0.025   14  0.074   19 0.4977   22  3.943   19 -0.086   10  0.234
SUNS          46 42  9875  9813  0.036 45.135   15  0.109   15  0.088   17  0.039   15 0.5081   26  3.923   23 -0.219    9  0.297
WARRIORS      38 46  9620  9676 -0.009 42.094   20 -0.096   20 -0.119   20 -0.163   20 0.4881   17  3.967   22 -0.196   19 -0.129
KINGS         22 60  9102  9922 -0.074 41.322   27 -0.597   27 -0.619   28 -0.652   27 0.4421   12  3.990   28 -0.569   26 -0.736

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       75 22 11493 10472  0.106 49.695    1  0.820    1  0.781    3  0.716    1 0.5713   24  3.933    4  0.507    2  0.925
NUGGETS       56 32 10655 10260  0.014 43.490    6  0.358    7  0.330    7  0.275    6 0.5321    5  4.024    2  0.536   15  0.014
TIMBERWOLVES  55 39 10975 10770  0.044 48.024   10  0.264   10  0.237   12  0.116   10 0.5227   13  3.980   10  0.148   13  0.083
TRAIL BLAZERS 44 44 10083 10165  0.011 44.806   18  0.035   18  0.017   18 -0.004   18 0.5009   14  3.975   14  0.001   16 -0.009
JAZZ          22 60  9642 10333 -0.067 41.239   26 -0.587   26 -0.617   26 -0.574   26 0.4423    1  4.081   15 -0.004   29 -1.144

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         75 31 12524 11681  0.147 56.136    2  0.672    2  0.635    1  0.751    2 0.5583   18  3.965    1  0.706    4  0.796
ROCKETS       54 34 10041  9628 -0.005 42.818    9  0.286    9  0.258    8  0.230    9 0.5258   30  3.899   21 -0.148    6  0.608
PELICANS      26 56  9473  9842 -0.046 40.941   23 -0.460   24 -0.492   21 -0.248   23 0.4540    7  4.017   16 -0.023   23 -0.473
MAVERICKS     26 56  9358  9810 -0.060 40.836   24 -0.463   23 -0.490   23 -0.422   24 0.4531   11  3.996   24 -0.308   24 -0.537
GRIZZLIES     25 57  9403  9896 -0.061 40.858   25 -0.501   25 -0.533   27 -0.575   25 0.4501    6  4.021   25 -0.328   28 -0.822

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
PISTONS       67 29 11126 10434  0.014 46.797    4  0.514    4  0.476    4  0.466    4 0.5468   27  3.921    9  0.199    5  0.734
CAVALIERS     60 40 11744 11461  0.059 51.503    8  0.314    8  0.294   10  0.189    8 0.5271   10  3.996    6  0.305   14  0.073
BULLS         31 51  9537  9964 -0.060 40.785   22 -0.302   22 -0.329   22 -0.418   22 0.4674    3  4.044   17 -0.051   27 -0.784
PACERS        19 63  9219  9874 -0.064 41.337   29 -0.678   29 -0.712   24 -0.492   29 0.4335    9  4.001   26 -0.351   25 -0.632
BUCKS         32 50  9072  9581 -0.073 40.725   21 -0.283   21 -0.305   25 -0.541   21 0.4700   20  3.953   29 -0.646   22 -0.436

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
HORNETS       45 39  9730  9364 -0.009 40.798   16  0.086   16  0.060    6  0.371   16 0.5054   21  3.946    8  0.231    7  0.512
HAWKS         48 40 10316 10223  0.031 44.877   11  0.160   11  0.136   13  0.103   12 0.5121    8  4.010    7  0.291   18 -0.086
HEAT          43 40 10037  9847  0.005 41.285   17  0.056   17  0.035   15  0.073   17 0.5029    2  4.061    3  0.535   20 -0.388
MAGIC         49 42 10393 10355  0.040 46.920   13  0.153   12  0.129   16  0.039   13 0.5116   19  3.956   18 -0.053   12  0.131
WIZARDS       17 65  9257 10240 -0.096 41.193   30 -0.793   30 -0.828   30 -0.806   30 0.4265    4  4.040   27 -0.457   30 -1.156

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
KNICKS        70 32 11874 11061  0.075 51.738    3  0.542    3  0.506    2  0.740    3 0.5482   25  3.927    5  0.503    1  0.977
CELTICS       59 30 10164  9513  0.006 43.058    5  0.410    5  0.376    5  0.455    5 0.5376   29  3.899   12  0.079    3  0.831
RAPTORS       49 40 10171  9951  0.017 44.619   12  0.154   13  0.125    9  0.195   11 0.5123   23  3.937   13  0.008    8  0.382
76ERS         50 44 10745 10857  0.031 48.661   14  0.142   14  0.123   19 -0.081   14 0.5099   15  3.973   20 -0.086   17 -0.076
NETS          20 62  8686  9505 -0.086 41.183   28 -0.675   28 -0.701   29 -0.788   28 0.4356   28  3.902   30 -1.153   21 -0.422

DIVISION             W   L   PCT  RNK RATING
NORTHWEST DIVISION 252 197 0.561    1  0.135
ATLANTIC DIVISION  248 208 0.544    2  0.108
SOUTHEAST DIVISION 202 226 0.472    3 -0.046
SOUTHWEST DIVISION 206 234 0.468    4 -0.063
PACIFIC DIVISION   205 224 0.478    5 -0.114
CENTRAL DIVISION   209 233 0.473    6 -0.163

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Sun Jun 14 05:30:16 2026
games through: Sat Jun 13 2026

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