FIBA Basketball
WASL Power Rankings: Season 1, Volume I
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The first games in the first week of the first ever West Asia Super League (WASL) season in both Sub-Zone leagues are in the book. And here's the first WASL Power Ranking.
BEIRUT (Lebanon) - The first games in the first week of the first ever West Asia Super League (WASL) season in both Sub-Zone leagues are in the book.
There's been plenty of excitement. There's been plenty of emotions. Big players. Great players. Great games all around. But now that we've all got the chance to see all of these teams in action, we're going to take the opportunity to stack them up a bit against each other in these WASL Power Rankings.
Reminder: These are not the official rankings. Power Rankings are just here to reflect on a team's current form and not based entirely on their records in WASL.
Team |
Movement |
|
16 Al-Ittihad Ahli |
We'd love to give props to Al-Ittihad Ahli for their faithful fans that were supportive through their first ever WASL game... but since these Power Rankings are based solely only on the current form of each team at the moment, this is where Al-Ittihad Ahli will have to be placed for now. On the bright side, the only way to go should be up after scoring 40 points on 25 percent field-goal shooting in their first game. | 🆕 |
15 Alkaramah |
Tough week for the clubs from Syria. Again, there was also a great crown in Damascus but it wasn't an ideal start to the season after falling behind 13-0 right from the get to. | 🆕 |
14 ZobAhan |
We know that with the current ZobAhan that played in the first game, there's more than meets the eye. We also know that it wasn't an easy game to play against Beirut Club in Lebanon either. Still, shooting 37.5 percent and committing 18 turnovers is not the best way to start in WASL. | |
13 Al Bashaer |
Al Bashaer gets some credit for being the first team ever to score in WASL (thanks, Aaron Clyde Parker!) and for closing in on the big lead Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai had built up early in the game. Still, it wasn't the strongest way to end the game at home for Al Basher. | 🆕 |
12 Al Sadd |
Another tough team to properly place as they it did take overtime to take down Al Sadd, a team that had very solid contribution from their starting five. That is where the concern is, however. Will they have enough depth to outlast tough games like the one against Kuwait Club? | 🆕 |
11 Al Nasr Riyadh |
Give some credit to Al Nasr Riyadh for fighting back from double-digit deficits twice in their game against Al Manama. Take away some of that credit for not being able to seal the deal in the final moments when they had some advantageous possesions. | 🆕 |
10 Kazma |
What more could Kazma have done (aside from avoiding those technical fouls after the clutch three-and-one by Abdel Gabar)? They pushed the home team Saudi Arabian champs to the brink and lead by as much as 16 at one point, so it's safe to say that Kazma are no pushovers. Let's see how they rebound from this. | 🆕 |
9 Gorgan |
There aren't many teams that Gorgan would lose to in WASL with the way they were playing. The only problem was that they were playing against Al Riyadi at home which the remaining teams in WASL West Asia will soon understand is not easy. | 🆕 |
8 Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai |
Shabab Al Ahli - Dubai completed the task of claiming the first ever win in the history of WASL, but it wasn't pretty. They allowed Al Bashaer to get back into a game they had no business being in and needed a last second shot to win it. Still, anytime you can celebrate a win after shooting 14.3 percent from beyond the arc, do it. | 🆕 |
7 Al Manama |
Solid performance from the Bahrain champions to storm into Riyadh and get the win in this fashion. There still even more room to improve when the Bahrain national team sharpshooters start finding their strokes. | 🆕 |
6 Orthodox Amman |
It was not the best offensive performance from Orthodox Amman (and the team will be the first to tell you that), but they can be satisfied of their defense for now. Orthodox had 17 assists and 21 made field-goals, so the ball movement is there. Maybe all that they need is just for those shots to drop to get the offense going. | 🆕 |
5 Kuwait Club |
Gritty win by Kuwait Club. Jacob Pullen, Cody Lalanne, and Marcus Georges-Hunt did lead the team in scoring, but it was more than just the performance of these three stars. All but one fielded player scored at least 4 points with Mustafa Matwali scoring 12. If Pullen and Matwali can continue to connect, watch out for Kuwait Club. | 🆕 |
4 Al Hilal |
The inside-outside combo of Khalid Abdel Gabar and Mohammed Alsuwailem might already be one of the best in WASL Gulf. It might have took them both some time in that first game to get on the same page, but when they are (and when Clint Chapman is doing a little bit of everything else) they will be trouble for every team. | 🆕 |
3 Beirut Club |
Their win might not have turned heads or dropped jaws, but beating ZobAhan by nearly 20 points is a solid one. | 🆕 |
2 Al Naft |
Al Naft were the odd team out this week that had a strong start and kept going until the final buzzer. Don't be quick to look at the box score and mark it as an "Edgar Sosa scoring" victory for Al Naft - the star guard dished out 10 dimes as well. | 🆕 |
1 Al Riyadi |
There might not be a better way to start a season than by beating a team as good as Gorgan at home with the players playing well and confidently as Al Riyadi did. | 🆕 |
*The power rankings are entirely subjective based on recent events/results/announcements and is in no way a true, accurate ranking systems. All comments are purely those of the author.
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