A great week of 5v5 play is in the books, so we get another round of Power Rankings! One final week of group play before we head back to in-person play in Indianapolis, so every game counts now. We’ll go through a couple teams per conference, be sure to check out the small blurb at the bottom about the trade between Raptors Uprising GC and Bucks Gaming sending Plondo to Toronto for Dimez.

Eastern Conference

Wizards District Gaming (Last Week: 1)
76ers GC (LW: 2)
Gen.G Tigers (LW: 3)
Heat Check Gaming (LW: 5)

Don’t look now, but the Heat are figuring out how to score. They clearly spent the weeks since the Tipoff working on their offensive scheme and watching film because the improvements to their offense are very visible. Not only that, their transition game has made great strides as well. I have a feeling this team hasn’t reached their peak yet, they remind me a lot of Hornets Venom GT from Season 4 that ended up winning the Turn. Big shoes to fill, but I like how this team is moving.

Grizz Gaming.(LW: 6)
Knicks Gaming (LW: 4)

It’s time we start asking the real questions with this team. Can they win? Is this core good enough to come out of the East? That was their top goal coming into this season outside of winning a championship and so far it looks like they aren’t going to come close. The Duck trade was a good idea in theory, but in reality, it’s been their defense that’s been letting them down the past couple games. They are running a little low on time to turn this all around, so this is a big week for them.

Nets GC (LW: 7)
Raptors Uprising GC (LW: 8)
CLTX Gaming (LW: 11)

Is this the beginning of the CLTX run or just a pump fake? I might get a little backlash for putting them ahead of a Hornets team that beat them, but a 2-1 record with a win over 76ersGC is enough for me to give them a nod at a top 10 spot. TreyDollaz is playing a lot better on both ends and it’s really fueling their uptick in play. Their transition offense is improving as well, but their issue is consistency. Can they maintain the momentum from this week or will the rollercoaster ride continue?

Hornets Venom GT (LW: 9)
Hawks Talon GC (LW: 10)
Magic Gaming (LW: 12)

Western Conference

T-Wolves Gaming (Last Week: 1)
Lakers Gaming (LW: 2)
Warriors Gaming Squad (LW: 3)
Jazz Gaming (LW: 4)
Kings Guard Gaming (LW: 12)

Hello Kings Guard! Finally! They woke up in a big way this week with a 3-0 record including a thrilling 4th Quarter comeback against Pistons GT. Their defense was outstanding, fueling plenty of transition buckets, and making life much easier on Mama Im Dat Man on the other end. He shot very well this week and seemed to be playing with the confidence that we are used to. OneWildWalnut is also quietly putting up another career year, but again, we need to realize it’s only three good games. They are now 4-4 on the year, so let’s see if they take off from here.

Dux Infinitos (LW: 5)
Bucks Gaming (LW: 7)

This Dux Infinitos-Bucks Gaming-Mavs Gaming-Pistons GT groups of teams could be shuffled anyway and I’d say you are correct. I have them as you see here, but you could rank these three teams in any order and I’ll give you a thumbs up. Talent wise, they are pretty close. They all have big 5v5 issues that they have to work on and I’m not sure if any have the upside to take down the top 4 teams in the conference. If they do, this is the week to show it. All four are running out of time to collect points, especially with Kings Guard on the rise.

Mavs Gaming (LW: 8)
Pistons GT (LW: 6)
Pacers Gaming (LW: 10)
Blazer5 Gaming (LW: 9)

Brutal week for Blazer5. A bad loss against Mavs Gaming followed by an excruciating three-point loss to Jazz Gaming puts them at the bottom of their group and in a serious danger zone of missing the playoffs. It’s hard to not think back to their draft. With Randomz and Breadwinner in tow, they ended up with unguardable, Bucket, and CantGuardRob across three picks in the top 30. The Bucket pick was a head-scratcher and putting Rob back at Center was a huge risk, especially with unguardable not wanting to play Point Guard. The roster just seems to be a little unorganized and if they don’t pick up at least three wins this week, the playoffs might be out of reach entirely

Cavs Legion GC (LW: 11)

Trade recap:

Raptors Uprising GC acquires: Plondo
Bucks Gaming acquires: Dimez

Man, we’ve had some real crazy trades this year. Plondo for Dimez was not on my bingo card, it wouldn’t have even been on my second bingo card. It makes some sense for both sides, but it changes up the chemistry for both instantly. Let’s start with Bucks Gaming. Dimez gives them a guy who puts up big numbers at Center, but also requires a much bigger usage rate. Plondo was sitting at around 9% for Milwaukee whereas Dimez was at almost 17% with Toronto, he supplies a much different offensive challenge. The real question with this trade is how much Dimez will help Cooks and Johhny. That’s it. If he helps them get better, it’s a good trade. If the two of them continue to have issues and the team doesn’t win more, it’s a lateral swing trade that you didn’t have to give up a draft pick for. All in all, not bad for Bucks Gaming one bit. For Raptors Uprising, it’s a big-time shake up coming at a very strange time. The team has had some issues recently, but a big win over 76ersGC to end the week seemed to give them some needed momentum. Now, with one of their vocal leaders in Dimez gone and being replaced by a guy that you wouldn’t call a vocal replacement, they have a lot of reshuffling to do. From a leadership perspective and from a gameplay perspective, it’s a huge change at a very important time of the season. Either it galvanizes the team and helps them go on a run or it sinks them completely. It’s a boom or bust trade for Toronto.