Here is a closeout from last season. Playoff teams are ranked 1-16 and non-playoff teams are ranked 17-30.
| Rank | Team | Notes | Previous |
| 1. | Miami Heat | The NBA Champions won it all with clutch play in Games 6 & 7 of the NBA Finals. | (2) |
| 2. | San Antonio Spurs | Clutch play by the Heat ruined a possible retirement party for Tim Duncan after a clinching Game 6 victory slipped out of reach. | (1) |
| 3. | Indiana Pacers | The Pacers are a team in waiting in the East. Their bench crumbled in the playoffs, warranting some key offseason acquisitions. | (4) |
| 4. | Memphis Grizzlies | After making trades to clear payroll and resetting their mix of role players, the Grizzlies finally advanced to the Western Conference Finals. However, the team was not so kind to now former head coach Lionel Hollins. | (9) |
| 5. | Golden State Warriors | Coach Mark Jackson has developed a winning culture in Golden State, combining his emphasis on defense with the team's offensive potential. | (11) |
| 6. | New York Knicks | The Knicks played with as good of chemistry as they have in years, but it was not enough to beat the Pacers. Carmelo Anthony is on track to join the list of NBA Hall of Famers to never win an NBA Championship. | (10) |
| 7. | Chicago Bulls | The spirited play of the Bulls overcame the well-balanced Nets in last season's only seven-game first round series. However, the Bulls can only beat the Heat with Derrick Rose in the lineup. | (6) |
| 8. | Oklahoma City Thunder | The Thunder could not handle an injury to Russell Westbrook with James Harden lost to a pre-free agency trade. For the first time, they are not in the top 3 of the NBA Team Chemistry Rankings. | (3) |
| 9. | Los Angeles Clippers | The Clippers played a good series but still lost to the Grizzlies, leading to some bolstering of their bench and the hiring of coach Doc Rivers. | (5) |
| 10. | Brooklyn Nets | The talented Nets fell to the spirited Bulls in a tough seven-game series. With a ceiling in sight, owner Mikhail Prokhorov added the championship swagger of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in hopes of bringing the NBA Championship to Brooklyn. | (7) |
| 11. | Denver Nuggets | The steady Nuggets lost a closely-contested first round series to the Warriors. Afterwards, they sent star swingman Andre Iguodala to the Warriors in a three-team trade and did not re-sign head coach George Karl. | (15) |
| 12. | Houston Rockets | The high octane Rockets solidified their return to championship contention by adding prized free agent center Dwight Howard. | (13) |
| 13. | Atlanta Hawks | The Hawks are in transition but still have enough talent to compete. General Manager Danny Ferry took last season's first round loss as an opportunity to not re-sign star forward Josh Smith or coach Larry Drew. | (8) |
| 14. | Boston Celtics | Let the rebuilding begin. The Celtics managed to take 2 games in their first round loss to the Knicks, but it was clear that it was time to move on from the New Big Three era, especially after Ray Allen had already left town prior to last season. | (19) |
| 15. | Milwaukee Bucks | The under-.500 Bucks sneaked into the playoffs as the other 7 sub-.500 teams in the East were too weak to claim the #8 playoff seed. | (16) |
| 16. | Los Angeles Lakers | The Lakers were too talented not to make the playoffs last season. However, a season-ending injury to Kobe Bryant and drama surrounding Dwight Howard's pending free agency were too much to overcome against a stacked Spurs team. | (20) |
| 17. | Utah Jazz | The Jazz narrowly missed the playoffs but remain a middle of the road underdog team that got even younger this offseason with the departures of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. | (12) |
| 18. | Dallas Mavericks | The short contracts/annual free agency strategy has not been kind to the Mavericks since they won the championship in 2011. | (21) |
| 19. | Minnesota Timberwolves | The Timberwolves made some necessary front office changes. Hopefully, Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio can finally be healthy and put together a playoff run. | (14) |
| 20. | Toronto Raptors | Coach Dwane Casey is getting the team to be competitive. Despite only winning 34 games, they were only outscored by 1.5 points per game last season after being outscored by 3.3 points per game during the 2011-2012 season. | (25) |
| 21. | Portland Trail Blazers | The Trail Blazers rode Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard to a modest 33-win season. The team remains very young heading into next season. | (17) |
| 22. | Philadelphia 76ers | Coach Doug Collins went back into retirement as injured center Andrew Bynum never played a game for the team. Then, the Sixers traded star point guard Jrue Holiday to deepen their rebuilding efforts. | (18) |
| 23. | Washington Wizards | The Wizards played competitively again once point guard John Wall returned to the lineup. Bigger things are in store for next season. | (29) |
| 24. | Detroit Pistons | President Joe Dumars expressed his disappointment with last season by replacing coach Lawrence Frank with Mo Cheeks and acquiring disgruntled stars Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings. | (23) |
| 25. | New Orleans Pelicans (formerly Hornets) | Ownership relinquished the Hornets name in favor of the Pelicans name. Coach Monty Williams is hoping that last season was the last year of their much-needed rebuilding phase. | (22) |
| 26. | Sacramento Kings | The Kings remain a young, inconsistent team but are turning to respected young coach Mike Malone for his first NBA head coaching job. | (24) |
| 27. | Cleveland Cavaliers | Coach Byron Scott's lack of emphasis on defense and rumored lack of office hours led the team to fire him and rehire Mike Brown. Last year's team underachieved but will benefit from this year's draft picks and free agent signings. | (28) |
| 28. | Phoenix Suns | The firing of coach Alvin Gentry and the protesting walkout of his assistant coaches revealed a franchise in disarray. The Suns were outscored by 6.4 points per game last season. The question now is how long the rebuilding plan will take to execute. | (27) |
| 29. | Orlando Magic | The Magic had a bad season, getting outscored by 7 points per game. They did not get the #1 pick but got a player with tons of potential at #2 in Victor Oladipo. The youth movement is on, but not in the form of the center-driven eras of Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard. | (26) |
| 30. | Charlotte Bobcats | The Bobcats never looked good last year, getting outscored by 9.3 points per game. Mike Dunlap's unheralded hiring and firing illustrated the continued struggles of Michael Jordan's transition to a career in the front office. | (30) |