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30. Cleveland Cavaliers (30)

Larry Drew, the voice of the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, will be around in corporeal form at least through the end of what'll be a brutally painful season. He agreed to a new deal with management, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

So...good for him?

Having installed a coach, all the Cavs (0-3 this week) have to do now is make good on promises to trade their older rotation pieces, stop Jordan Clarkson from ball-hogging at a criminal level, overcome Kevin Love's foot surgery and figure out how to repair the division forming between Collin Sexton and several vets—all of which The Athletic's Joe Vardon chronicled in a damning assessment of just how bad things are in Cleveland.

29. Phoenix Suns (28)

Devin Booker sank some tough buckets in the late going to down the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, giving the reeling Suns their first win since opening night. Of course, the hometown crowd booed Phoenix during a listless blowout loss to the Nets on Tuesday.

Continuing the peak-and-valley theme, Phoenix limited a struggling Boston offense to just 35 first-half points...but then wound up losing in overtime.

Deandre Ayton is already one of the most efficient low-block scorers in the league. Among players with at least 60 post-ups, only Kevin Durant's field-goal percentage is higher. He's got a long, long way to go before he's even an adequate defender, though. His lack of effort and attentiveness against Brooklyn was as jarring as you'll ever see from a big man. Even if he remains clueless about rotations going forward, he's got to operate with at least a shred of urgency.

Until he does, the Suns aren't going to stop anyone.

28. Washington Wizards (24)

This is ridiculously low for a team with as much raw talent as Washington, but what else can we do with this monument to malaise and dysfunction?

Infighting, shot-hunting and zero-effort defense have all contributed to the Wizards' disastrous start, but it's always important to attribute some blame for underachievement to a team's most prominent player.

That's John Wall.

Per ESPN's Zach Lowe:

"Perhaps age and knee surgeries have chipped away at Wall's speed. The Wizards have long been concerned about his conditioning. The same issues have infected his defense. Three years ago, Wall made a deserving appearance on the league's second All-Defense team. We have not seen much of that player since."

Quick suggestion: If you've been concerned about a player's conditioning for years, and you've got a front-row seat to his obvious albeit gradual physical decline...maybe don't max him out.

Washington is 2-8 with the third-worst net rating in the league. Even if we ignore the drama and focus only on actual performance, this is where the Wizards belong.

27. Chicago Bulls (29)

Antonio Blakeney is the only Bulls player not named Zach LaVine to lead the team in scoring this season. His 22 points in Friday's 107-105 loss to the Pacers was the lone interruption in LaVine's streak of team-high scoring efforts.

Chicago has loads of problems, but at least it got its third win of the year against New York on Monday: a double-overtime thriller (can we say that about a game involving these two teams?) in which LaVine posted a career-best 41 points.

The Bulls have lost five of their last six.

26. Atlanta Hawks (26)

Trae Young can see the floor, people. And more importantly, when he sees where the ball needs to wind up in order to create an efficient shot, he gets it there. His 15 assists in a 123-118 win over the Heat on Saturday showed that.

Exploitable on defense and still adjusting to the NBA's supercharged athletes, Young is nonetheless learning to use craft and skill to compete. Even with his weaknesses on display, the Hawks' prized rookie is flashing signs that point toward stardom.

Also, 41-year-old Vince Carter spun baseline and dunked against Jeremy Lamb on Tuesday. When he's 114 years old, wheelchair-bound and playing for the NBA's Denver Tides (because Colorado will be the West Coast by then), Carter will still be dunking on 20-somethings.