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
BUCKS         0 3 357 387 -0.335  1.181   29 -0.344   29 -0.343   24 -0.245   28 0.4115    1  4.071    4  0.284   30 -0.773 P
PELICANS      0 3 374 384 -0.106  1.408   28 -0.316   28 -0.309   21 -0.139   29 0.4058    2  4.049    5  0.274   27 -0.552 P
LAKERS        3 0 384 345 -0.119  1.242    5  0.260    5  0.259    7  0.192    5 0.5573    3  4.039    1  0.553   19 -0.169 P
BULLS         1 2 344 384 -0.256  1.342   23 -0.151   23 -0.145   28 -0.323   23 0.4531    4  4.034   16  0.009   29 -0.654 P
HEAT          0 3 327 374  0.101  1.739   26 -0.243   25 -0.233   23 -0.178   24 0.4528    5  4.031   10  0.140   26 -0.497 P
HAWKS         2 1 374 327  0.131  1.530    9  0.100    9  0.109    4  0.270    6 0.5444    6  4.012    2  0.487   15  0.053 P
NETS          0 3 333 371 -0.437  1.137   30 -0.390   30 -0.387   30 -0.423   30 0.3924    7  4.012   27 -0.206   28 -0.640 P
KINGS         0 3 328 372  0.114  1.762   27 -0.274   27 -0.259   27 -0.280   27 0.4230    8  4.011   19 -0.070   25 -0.489 P
JAZZ          1 2 346 374 -0.062  1.533   22 -0.136   22 -0.119   26 -0.267   22 0.4572    9  4.007   20 -0.075   24 -0.459 P
CAVALIERS     1 1 231 235 -0.294  0.743   16 -0.005   18 -0.007   15  0.012   18 0.4886   10  3.999    8  0.160   18 -0.135 P
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
PACERS        2 1 364 350 -0.306  1.098   14  0.020   14  0.019   18 -0.049   20 0.4807   11  3.997   12  0.088   20 -0.186 P
WARRIORS      0 3 335 369  0.052  1.623   25 -0.242   26 -0.243   20 -0.124   25 0.4478   12  3.995   17  0.005   22 -0.252 P
ROCKETS       3 0 363 334  0.377  1.832    2  0.357    2  0.372    3  0.281    2 0.5997   13  3.983    3  0.348   10  0.214 P
WIZARDS       2 1 354 348 -0.369  1.110   20 -0.039   20 -0.026   25 -0.256   21 0.4781   14  3.981   26 -0.200   23 -0.312 P
MAGIC         1 2 329 349  0.401  2.024   18 -0.023   16 -0.000   17 -0.016   19 0.4809   15  3.978   15  0.025   16 -0.057 P
MAVERICKS     1 2 337 355  0.248  1.847   21 -0.058   21 -0.039   19 -0.063   16 0.4933   16  3.976   18 -0.034   17 -0.092 P
SUNS          1 1 214 246 -0.057  1.034   15  0.012   15  0.016   22 -0.178   15 0.4960   17  3.974   23 -0.158   21 -0.198 P
CELTICS       1 1 220 224  0.308  1.188   10  0.098   11  0.100    6  0.210   10 0.5269   18  3.970    7  0.207   11  0.212 P
SPURS         1 2 336 336  0.353  1.915   17 -0.020   17 -0.004   11  0.117   12 0.5134   19  3.969   11  0.111   14  0.123 P
TRAIL BLAZERS 2 0 252 203 -0.371  0.614    8  0.116    8  0.124   10  0.148    8 0.5352   20  3.954   13  0.066    9  0.230 P
TEAM          W L  PF  PA  SCHED  ELOSS  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING  RNK RATING
PISTONS       3 0 355 317  0.167  1.611    4  0.301    4  0.313    5  0.255    3 0.5851   21  3.950    9  0.153    6  0.358 P
CLIPPERS      1 2 339 329  0.352  1.803   19 -0.029   19 -0.019    8  0.174   14 0.4992   22  3.942   14  0.031    8  0.318 P
GRIZZLIES     3 0 357 323 -0.300  1.058    6  0.209    6  0.209   13  0.065    7 0.5424   23  3.942   21 -0.080   12  0.211 P
NUGGETS       1 1 225 231  0.259  1.164   12  0.063   12  0.070   12  0.096   13 0.5129   24  3.921   22 -0.154    7  0.345 P
TIMBERWOLVES  3 0 363 293  0.194  1.560    3  0.324    3  0.326    1  0.492    4 0.5842   25  3.916    6  0.217    2  0.767 P
RAPTORS       2 1 341 311  0.127  1.473   11  0.096   10  0.104    9  0.163    9 0.5327   26  3.905   24 -0.171    3  0.496 P
76ERS         3 1 440 428 -0.068  1.850    7  0.149    7  0.159   14  0.013   11 0.5209   27  3.900   28 -0.344    5  0.370 P
KNICKS        0 3 305 324  0.056  1.567   24 -0.236   24 -0.232   16  0.008   26 0.4323   28  3.884   29 -0.430    4  0.446 P
HORNETS       2 1 306 341 -0.375  1.175   13  0.021   13  0.026   29 -0.334   17 0.4916   29  3.873   30 -0.825   13  0.158 P
THUNDER       3 0 320 289  0.293  1.722    1  0.379    1  0.383    2  0.414    1 0.6000   30  3.847   25 -0.199    1  1.028 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        3 0 384 345 -0.119  1.242    5  0.260    5  0.259    7  0.192    5 0.5573    3  4.039    1  0.553   19 -0.169 P
KINGS         0 3 328 372  0.114  1.762   27 -0.274   27 -0.259   27 -0.280   27 0.4230    8  4.011   19 -0.070   25 -0.489 P
WARRIORS      0 3 335 369  0.052  1.623   25 -0.242   26 -0.243   20 -0.124   25 0.4478   12  3.995   17  0.005   22 -0.252 P
SUNS          1 1 214 246 -0.057  1.034   15  0.012   15  0.016   22 -0.178   15 0.4960   17  3.974   23 -0.158   21 -0.198 P
CLIPPERS      1 2 339 329  0.352  1.803   19 -0.029   19 -0.019    8  0.174   14 0.4992   22  3.942   14  0.031    8  0.318 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
JAZZ          1 2 346 374 -0.062  1.533   22 -0.136   22 -0.119   26 -0.267   22 0.4572    9  4.007   20 -0.075   24 -0.459 P
TRAIL BLAZERS 2 0 252 203 -0.371  0.614    8  0.116    8  0.124   10  0.148    8 0.5352   20  3.954   13  0.066    9  0.230 P
NUGGETS       1 1 225 231  0.259  1.164   12  0.063   12  0.070   12  0.096   13 0.5129   24  3.921   22 -0.154    7  0.345 P
TIMBERWOLVES  3 0 363 293  0.194  1.560    3  0.324    3  0.326    1  0.492    4 0.5842   25  3.916    6  0.217    2  0.767 P
THUNDER       3 0 320 289  0.293  1.722    1  0.379    1  0.383    2  0.414    1 0.6000   30  3.847   25 -0.199    1  1.028 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
PELICANS      0 3 374 384 -0.106  1.408   28 -0.316   28 -0.309   21 -0.139   29 0.4058    2  4.049    5  0.274   27 -0.552 P
ROCKETS       3 0 363 334  0.377  1.832    2  0.357    2  0.372    3  0.281    2 0.5997   13  3.983    3  0.348   10  0.214 P
MAVERICKS     1 2 337 355  0.248  1.847   21 -0.058   21 -0.039   19 -0.063   16 0.4933   16  3.976   18 -0.034   17 -0.092 P
SPURS         1 2 336 336  0.353  1.915   17 -0.020   17 -0.004   11  0.117   12 0.5134   19  3.969   11  0.111   14  0.123 P
GRIZZLIES     3 0 357 323 -0.300  1.058    6  0.209    6  0.209   13  0.065    7 0.5424   23  3.942   21 -0.080   12  0.211 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
BUCKS         0 3 357 387 -0.335  1.181   29 -0.344   29 -0.343   24 -0.245   28 0.4115    1  4.071    4  0.284   30 -0.773 P
BULLS         1 2 344 384 -0.256  1.342   23 -0.151   23 -0.145   28 -0.323   23 0.4531    4  4.034   16  0.009   29 -0.654 P
CAVALIERS     1 1 231 235 -0.294  0.743   16 -0.005   18 -0.007   15  0.012   18 0.4886   10  3.999    8  0.160   18 -0.135 P
PACERS        2 1 364 350 -0.306  1.098   14  0.020   14  0.019   18 -0.049   20 0.4807   11  3.997   12  0.088   20 -0.186 P
PISTONS       3 0 355 317  0.167  1.611    4  0.301    4  0.313    5  0.255    3 0.5851   21  3.950    9  0.153    6  0.358 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          0 3 327 374  0.101  1.739   26 -0.243   25 -0.233   23 -0.178   24 0.4528    5  4.031   10  0.140   26 -0.497 P
HAWKS         2 1 374 327  0.131  1.530    9  0.100    9  0.109    4  0.270    6 0.5444    6  4.012    2  0.487   15  0.053 P
WIZARDS       2 1 354 348 -0.369  1.110   20 -0.039   20 -0.026   25 -0.256   21 0.4781   14  3.981   26 -0.200   23 -0.312 P
MAGIC         1 2 329 349  0.401  2.024   18 -0.023   16 -0.000   17 -0.016   19 0.4809   15  3.978   15  0.025   16 -0.057 P
HORNETS       2 1 306 341 -0.375  1.175   13  0.021   13  0.026   29 -0.334   17 0.4916   29  3.873   30 -0.825   13  0.158 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
NETS          0 3 333 371 -0.437  1.137   30 -0.390   30 -0.387   30 -0.423   30 0.3924    7  4.012   27 -0.206   28 -0.640 P
CELTICS       1 1 220 224  0.308  1.188   10  0.098   11  0.100    6  0.210   10 0.5269   18  3.970    7  0.207   11  0.212 P
RAPTORS       2 1 341 311  0.127  1.473   11  0.096   10  0.104    9  0.163    9 0.5327   26  3.905   24 -0.171    3  0.496 P
76ERS         3 1 440 428 -0.068  1.850    7  0.149    7  0.159   14  0.013   11 0.5209   27  3.900   28 -0.344    5  0.370 P
KNICKS        0 3 305 324  0.056  1.567   24 -0.236   24 -0.232   16  0.008   26 0.4323   28  3.884   29 -0.430    4  0.446 P

DIVISION            W  L   PCT  RNK RATING
NORTHWEST DIVISION 10  3 0.769    1  0.403
SOUTHWEST DIVISION  8  7 0.533    2  0.123
ATLANTIC DIVISION   6  9 0.400    3  0.015
PACIFIC DIVISION    5  9 0.357    4 -0.100
CENTRAL DIVISION    7  7 0.500    5 -0.150
SOUTHEAST DIVISION  7  8 0.467    6 -0.209

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

Predict score:








Team Strength vs. Time Plot:






posted: Mon Oct 26 05:30:12 2026
games through: Sun Oct 25 2026

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