Ranking Each NBA Team By Their League Pass Watchability

Welcome to the 2014 League Pass Rankings. Unlike my 2013 version, this is just one post as opposed to three parts. And this time, it's not just my opinion, we voted. Yay Democracy at Sonics Rising!

Participating in this poll was Kevin Nesgoda, Taylor Bartle, Chris Meirose, Dontae Delgado, Mike Baker, Joanna Nesgoda, Matt Tucker and myself.

I can't speak for the others, but when evaluating each team I took into account: style of play, court design, broadcasting crew, jerseys and individual player performances.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
30		28	30	29.5

Instead of watching this team, just follow Joel Embiid on Twitter.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
29		20	29	25.8

The Bucks will likely be really bad and hard to watch, but anytime new head coach Jason Kidd puts Giannis Antetokounmpo in at point guard you should be watching. Is there anyway we can set up a text message alert for this? I don't want to watch the Bucks all the time, but I definitely want to see G-Po dropping dimes off to Jabari Parker.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
28		18	29	24.6

I can't wait to see Stan Van Gundy return to the sidelines, other than that, meh.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
27		16	29	24.4

Carmelo Anthony is awesome, but you're really only watching this team because you had a bad day and need a good laugh.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
26		16	28	24.4

If Kobe Bryant is healthy, I'm really excited for his death stares towards Byron Scott and Nick Young. If Kobe Bryant isn't healthy, I'm really excited for his death stares towards Byron Scott and Nick Young. Also, can we set up text message alerts for Nick Young too? Something like "LAKERS: SWAGGY P IS DOING SWAGGY P THINGS."

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
25		19	29	23.8

Brad Stevens is in year two and Rajon Rondo enters the season healthy. The jerseys are classic, the court design is solid and the broadcasting crew is fun, but this team is still pretty bad.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
24		19	27	23.6

There isn't anything to appealing about this team that makes you want to watch them every night. They lack a star, the uniforms aren't great, the crowd isn't great, but hey, this team found ways to win and sneak into the playoffs last year. They'll be tough again.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
23		19	26	22.6

The Nets have a cool court design, sharp jerseys and will have a solid team this year, but we'll really just watch the Nets for the interactions between Kevin Garnett and head deacon Lionel Hollins. Also, be on the lookout for a wild Plumdog.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
22		18	30	22.3

Without Paul George and Lance Stephenson, this team suddenly gets really boring. Have fun watching an offense ran through David West and George Hill.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
21		15	27	22.1

I like watching the Grizzlies, they were one of my five league pass picks last year, but this team is a year older, a year slower and don't have any players that really make you say, "I HAVE TO WATCH (PLAYER X) PLAY TONIGHT!" Be honest. You're not saying that about Zach Randolph or Marc Gasol or even Mike Conley. The Grizzlies will be tough again, but they'll be boring to the average fan again too with the grit-grind style of play. Now, watch this, and then this and celebrate another year of The Whoop That Trick All-Stars, the Memphis Grizzlies.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
20		17	30	21.5

Derrick Favors set career-highs last season, they brought back Gordon Hayward (HEAT-CHECK GUY ALERT), drafted Dante Exum and got a new coach. Still, I voted them last while Kevin and Taylor pegged them at 17. I'll let them explain further in the comments why you should watch the Jazz this year. I say don't. Set up that fake-text alert thing for Hayward heat-checks and awesome Exum things.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
19		13	28	19.9

Nice looking jerseys, a solid court and play-by-play man David Steele is one of the best, so you'll hear him on the local feeds for League Pass. The actual game play from the Magic should be better too. Victor Oladipo is in year two, they added Channing Frye and others via free agency, drafted Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon, and a young core including Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic and Maurice Harkless returns. This team will still lose a large chunk of games, but they should be fun to watch as a fast-paced, up-and-down the court type of team.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
18		14	23	18.6

The Miami Heat lost LeBron James and replaced him with Josh McRoberts, Danny Granger and Luol Deng. Dwayne Wade is hoping to play in 75 games and Chris Bosh is suddenly the best player on the roster. This team could be fun to watch, or they could be really hard to watch. Who knows. You're really just watching for the Bosh photo bombs during the post-game interviews.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
17		11	26	18.4

BOOGIE! Oh, and Rudy Gay and Nik Stauskas. The Kings should be better in year two of the Mike Malone era, but you're watching the Kings BECAUSE BOOGIE.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
16		12	24	18

New awesome uniforms, a new awesome court design and a new awesome Lance Stephenson. Maybe Lance will rap at halftime with PA announcer Big Pat doubling as his DJ.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
15		10	18	13.3

Kevin and I will be watching the Raptors because of GREIVIS VASQUEZ, but you should also watch the Raptors because they feature an awesome starting back-court pair of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, Masai Ujiri might curse someone out, they have an awesome court and, oh, hey, there's Drake on the sidelines.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
14		8	30	13

Someone says it every year, but this really might be Tim Duncan's last run with Greg Popovich, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Even if it's not, the Spurs win a lot and play near mistake-free fundamental basketball. If your're looking for dunks and highlights, this isn't the team for you; but if you like lots of screens and corner threes, join the party.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
13		5	14	12

Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, I mean, what's not to like about the Oklahoma City Thunder? Oh, Scott Brooks is still coaching? Oh, Kendrick Perkins is still starting? The court is still ugly? Yup. Yup. Yup. But hey! You can catch former Sonic Michael Cage on the call this year for the Thunder.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
12		5	17	11.8

If the Knicks are unavailable, you can always tune into the Rockets and laugh at how bad James Harden is at defense. The difference is, Houston actually has a good team and wins games as opposed to the Knickerbockers.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
11		8	17	11.5

Kenneth Faried had a breakout performance at the FIBA World Cup. I'm watching the Nuggets to see if that continues, but a roster that also includes Ty Lawson, Gary Harris, JaVale McGee, J.J. Hickson and Nate Robinson sounds pretty entertaining too. Denver's court and uniforms are easy on the eyes and their announcing crew are easy on the ears too.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
10		8	15	11.1

The Wizards are coming off of their first playoff appearance of the John Wall era, while Wall is coming off of his first all-star appearance. Bradley Beal is a year older, Marcin Gortat is back to share a front-court with Nene and the Wizards added Paul Pierce in the off-season. Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier are on the call again for the 'Zards, which is a great thing. If you like speedy point guards, spot-up threes from your small forward and big Polish centers, then this is the team for you.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
9		5	16	11

Dirk Nowitzki, awesome uniforms and MONTA BALL.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
8		7	15	8.8

Anthony Davis. Do I need to say more?

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
7		3	25	8.1

The Minnesota Timberwolves brass swapped out Kevin Love for a new set of toys for Ricky Rubio this off-season (that's one way to put it, I suppose). Rubio has the keys to an offense that includes number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Anthony Bennett and a bulldozer at center, Nikola Pekovic. Outside of Pek, this team is young, quick and should make for some very entertaining basketball.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
6		2	10	6.4

Eric Bledsoe is back and healthy. And joining him in the back-court are Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas. This team was really fun to watch last season and I think they will be again this year. Jeff Hornacek seems like a good coach that put everyone in the right positions to excel last season, and he'll have them running, again. My only quibble with watching the Suns is that their home court might be the worst in the league. It looks like they redesigned it for a Halloween promo and never switched it back.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
5		2	15	6

Derrick Rose is back! ... for now. The Bulls also added Pau Gasol in the off-season, drafted Doug McDermott, convinced Nikola Mirotic to come over and got rid of Carlos Boozer. Add in a a solid broadcast team, classic uniforms, a good court design and Tom Thibodeau on the sidelines and you have yourself a prime League Pass candidate.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
4		2	8	5

Great court, great fans, great uniforms and a solid team on the court once again. If Damian Lillard continues to play in F-YOU mode and LaMarcus Aldridge continues to be one of the best bigs in the league this team will not only be really fun to watch, but they'll compete for one of the top spots in the western conference playoff race too.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
3		1	8	3.8

LeBron James, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving. You get to watch these three play together for 82 days a year while Austin Carr talks about them. That's why you're signing up for the Cavaliers on League Pass.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
2		1	5	2.3

They have a new owner, but this is still Lob City. So while Chris Paul is throwing oops to Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, we can expect Mark Cuban-esque sideline antics from new owner Steve Ballmer. Seriously, while you're watching this, Ballmer might be doing this on the sidelines.

Rank	Team	Highest Rank	Lowest Rank	Average Rank
1		1	3	1.8

As long as the Golden State Warriors have the number one heat-check guy in the league on their roster, Stephen Curry, then they'll be number one in league pass rankings. He is the number one overall leader in getting a text from your buddy that says "TURN THE CHANNEL TO THE (BLANK) GAME! (BLANK) IS GOING OFF!"

Mix in fellow splash-brother Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodola and David Lee and the on-court product looks very appealing, again. You'll also want to watch to see how new head coach Steve Kerr does with this roster.

The court is awesome, and watching Curry jog up to that blue three-point arc to fire a shot is one of the best scenes in the NBA. The Warriors have one of the best home crowds, great looking uniforms, a solid broadcast crew. If you're looking for a reason to get League Pass this year, get it to watch the Warriors.