Indiana University professor Wayne Winston is a pioneer of plus/minus who has long advised NBA teams including the Dallas Mavericks.

I've written about him many times, and he never fails to rile people up with his unconventional findings.

But for the record, in my experience, Winston is not wacky or anything else. He's just a guy who passionately believes in adjusted plus/minus -- even when sample sizes are fairly small.

Would you have it any other way? Would you hire me as a blogger if I were tepid on blogging? Would you hire a point guard who headed into the lane thinking "I'm probably going to miss this"? A lot of people believe in their work, and while I honestly still haven't grasped exactly how to use plus/minus, I'm certain it's one part of a good, broad analysis of a team or a player. (I'm also sure that, limited though it may be, for the time being it's just about the only way to measure individual NBA defense in any meaningful way, so it simply can't be ignored.)

So, with that as a backdrop, here are Winston's most recent NBA power rankings, based on the last 30 days, which he just e-mailed over. I honestly don't know his secret sauce, but I'd put good money on it being based on margin of victory and strength of opponent -- so take this as a measure of who has been playing well against tough competition lately:

1. Denver Nuggets
2. Chicago Bulls
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Miami Heat
5. Oklahoma City Thunder
6. Dallas Mavericks
7. Portland Trail Blazers
8. Houston Rockets
9. Orlando Magic
10. San Antonio Spurs
11. Memphis Grizzlies
12. Philadelphia 76ers
13. Boston Celtics
14. New Orleans Hornets
15. Phoenix Suns
16. New York Knicks
17. Atlanta Hawks
18. Los Angeles Clippers
19. Sacramento Kings
20. Golden State Warriors
21. Milwaukee Bucks
22. Detroit Pistons
23. Indiana Pacers
24. Minnesota Timberwolves
25. New Jersey Nets
26. Utah Jazz
27. Charlotte Bobcats
28. Toronto Raptors
29. Cleveland Cavaliers
30. Washington Wizards