The Austin Toros are 6-4 in their last 10 games. They’ve outscored the opposition by 8.2 points (per 100 possessions) in this span, the highest differential in the D-League, and the offense has crept within inches of the top-ranked Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
But the Toros dropped three spots in Gino Pilato’s power rankings. They are 12th (out of 17 teams).
Via D-League Digest:
Nando De Colo is with the team one moment and gone the next, but when he’s with Austin the team is always dangerous. Ronald Murray has been a steady force for the Toros, and the recent addition of Dexter Pittman could pan out.
Although, those are two rather old names to be hoping for, the Toros will need to rely more on Malcolm Thomas and Aron Baynes assignment stints in order to move up in the rankings.
The Toros are difficult team to pinpoint — their point differential (3.5 points per 100 possessions) is fifth in the D-League, indicative of an elite basketball team, but their winning percentage is ninth, a hair below average.
Nando De Colo and Malcolm Thomas, habitually sent down to the D-League, will likely play less minutes with Austin, given the injuries to Danny Green and Tiago Splitter. Austin has outscored their opponents by 26.9 points per 100 possessions when they share the floor — otherwise, the Toros have been a very bad basketball team. It’s a strange dichotomy.
While I would put the Toros in the top 10, by virtue of their elite point differential, it has been heavily weighted by the presence of De Colo and Thomas. Neither figures to play significant minutes in the interim, putting the Toros in a hole for the time being.
