I play with a player.dbf that I created, but I expect the team rankings to be about the same as before. But with every new player.dbf, the team rankings change drastically. With my latest roster, the game ranked the grizzilies second even though they should still suck.
The rankings are also screwed for the teams created in franchise mode with a fantasy draft. It's obvious that some teams should be ranked much higher and vice versa. Although the ranking doesn't affect sim results. A bad team with a high ranking will still have a bad record.