Ice, Ice, baby and WNBA Power rankings

I'm typing this on a kindle fire!!!!

Anyway, I have some power rankings for you. Yes, you, specifically. I'm doing another themed power rankings post because I'm on a streak of horrible posts, and that is not a streak I want to break.

The theme this week: "Ice Ice Baby" lyrics as tiers of teams.

Buckle in!!!!!

TIER ONE: “Yo, VIP, let’s kick it.”

1 – Los Angeles Sparks

2 – Minnesota Lynx

I am getting tired of these two teams. They are always at the top of the rankings, and I never get to do anything fun because neither team really ever slumps. There has been a bit more separation between these two teams of late, however; Los Angeles has taken a nice lead in offensive rating, while holding steady in defensive rating in relation to the Lynx position of the same statistic.

That was a confusing sentence to both read and write.

Interesting to note: according to WNBA.com (where I get 99% of my numbers), the Lynx and Sparks are giving up the same amount of points per game. Minnesota is also playing about two more possessions per game; I think that, though the Sparks are ahead in defensive rating, that the Lynx are probably as good as their Los Angeles counterparts. That was a convoluted way of saying that these teams have very little defensive separation.

ICE ICE BABY???????

They’re VIPs.

TIER TWO: “Anything less than the best is a felony.”

3 – New York Liberty

The New York Liberty are in a strange spot. They’re good enough to win a championship, but perhaps not right now. It’s kind of like the Warriors-Cavs thing over in the NBA; there is some talk of some teams just throwing their hands up and deciding to wait out these two dynasties before even attempting to field a competitive team. I don’t know if I buy that, but it’s an interesting idea.

The reason that this lyric applies is because I’m sure the mood in Liberty Central is one of ‘championship or bust’. Their defense is one of the best in the league, and they score well enough to be considered competent; in any other year, they’d be one of the true favorites.

They’ll more than likely win the Eastern Conference. But they’re also staring down the barrel of facing either the Lynx (a legitimate dynasty), or the Sparks (who have one of the best players ever on their roster in Candace Parker). Not great odds.

THE ICED BABE?

They’re probably in a champ-or-bust mentality, but are screwed because of the teams in front of them.

TIER THREE: “Yo, I don’t know.”

4 – Chicago Sky

5 – Phoenix Mercury

6 – Indiana Fever

7 – Seattle Storm

8 – Atlanta Dream

Just a hodgepodge of teams with talent, but glaring flaws so large that automatically disqualify them for championship contention. I ranked them according to their net rating, which is the offensive rating minus the defensive rating; I think this give a clearer picture of how these teams stack up, and is a little more in-depth than straight wins and losses.

Perhaps the most disappointing team on this list is the Atlanta Dream. They were near the top of my list for a few weeks, but just never seemed to put it together in a way that mattered.

Out of all of these teams, I think the Mercury have the best shot of playing spoiler to the tier one and two teams. They have two great players in Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi, and no other team has that collection of upper-level talent in the tier three group.

A COLD DRINK FOR THE BABY?

“Yo, I don’t know.”

TIER FOUR: “All right, stop.”

9 – Dallas Wings

10 – Washington Mystics

11 – Connecticut Sun

12 – San Antonio Stars

The lyric says it all.

BABY BABY ICE!

These teams are bad.