Handicappers' power ratings for all 30 NBA teams this season

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By Dave Tuley | ESPN Insider

AP Photo/Mark Duncan Vegas has very high expectations for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers became the NBA title favorite in July when LeBron James decided to sign there and they start the 2014-15 season as the top team in the NBA Vegas Rankings. But it's not a landslide.

Our panelists of handicappers -- Erin Rynning of sportsmemo.com, Geoff Kulesa of wunderdogsports.com and yours truly, Dave Tuley -- take our individual power ratings and average them out to come up with our group's power ratings, which can then be used to weight the relative strength of two teams and compare it to the point spread for a given game.

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One of us has the Cavaliers as 3.5 points higher than his next-highest team, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, and another has the Spurs tied for the best rating with the Los Angeles Clippers. When it all shook out, we have the Cavs rated one point ahead of the Spurs, with the Clippers another 1.5 points back. So, there's less than a 3-pointer separating our top three teams.

Then there's NBA Insider Kevin Pelton, whose my SCHOENE projection system offers yet another look at how the season might end up. He's bullish on the Cavaliers, posting a 10-win difference than Vegas (see below).

Here is the ranking of all 30 NBA teams from Vegas' perspective, along with which teams and overrated and underrated in their season win totals.