Most Disappointing Teams NBA

This NBA season has seen a number of teams exceed expectations such as the Warriors tremendous start (and their overall play for that matter, even for a defending champion has been absurdly high), the Spurs gelling this fast even with a big name acquisition like LaMarcus Aldridge, the Mavericks competing for a playoffs spot, the Raptors furious start and the improved play of DeMar DeRozan, and the Knicks being in contention for a playoff spot among others that I haven’t mentioned. This year has shown a much bigger middle tier of teams competing for spots in the playoffs while the upper tier of teams that are truly championship caliber seems to have shrunk with the Warriors and Spurs in their own tier.

On the other side however, there are the teams that have severely underachieved or disappointed after coming into the year with at least a playoff spot or building upon last year as their main goal. The following teams are not ranked in order of disappointment, it is just a list of disappointing teams.

Phoenix Suns (14-32 13th in The West; 39-43 last year 10th in West)

Anyone that has followed the NBA this year knows how bad things have gotten in Phoenix. Their offseason started with GM Ryan McDonough swinging and missing on LaMarcus Aldridge, and in order to clear cap space trading Marcus Morris to Detroit for virtually nothing. After that Markieff Morris became unhappy after he felt both the brothers took discounts to play together, and he has been disinterested and unhappy ever since. Follow that up with the season-ending injury to guard Eric Bledsoe, the dramatic downturn of Tyson Chandler (the supposed big acquisition of the offseason), and the firing of two assistant coaches and this thing has been a dumpster fire since the offseason.

The Suns are absolutely brutal on the road sitting at just 4-19 on the road overall, compared to 10-13 at home, and Jeff Hornacek‘s team has recently endured a 2-8 stretch, are just 9-19 vs the Western Conference (5-13 vs the East), recently lost to the 76ers by 10 after giving up 113 points (to the 76ers!?!?), and most notably gave up 142 points to the Kings this year. This team is as big of a mess as there is the NBA, and they need to clean house, perhaps even starting with McDonough. Not exactly the way people saw this going after Hornacek had them surprising the NBA with a near playoff berth just a few years ago.

Houston Rockets (25-22 7th in The West; 56-26 last year 2nd in West)

The Rockets are currently seventh in the West, which is a huge improvement from the way things looked not that long ago. However, they are still a huge disappointment from what they were last year. Last year the Rockets were one of the elite teams in the NBA as they finished with just 26 losses or four more than they currently have.

Despite their high loss total they have really turned it on of late, as after starting 5-10, the are 20-12. Not quite on par with last year’s level, but if they continue to play like this they should grab a playoff spot in a Western Conference that suddenly has very little depth.

Unfortunately the disappointment stems deeper than just their rough start as they got their head coach, Kevin McHale, fired early on for poor chemistry issues, Ty Lawson‘s inability to play up to capability, Dwight Howard‘s injury problems, and most important James Harden‘s lethargic start that saw him shooting just brutal percentage after brutal percentage. This team is disappointing because no matter how they do in the regular season, this is not a team set up to compete in playoff basketball. Dwight Howard is not the same anymore with injuries taking a toll, James Harden cares too much about numbers and not wins, and there are long stretches where they give very little effort and don’t even seem to like each other. There is a lot wrong in Houston, despite what their numbers suggest.

New Orleans Pelicans (16-28 12th in The West; 45-27 last year 8th in West)

The Pelicans were everyone’s pick to potentially move up a couple of seeds from eighth seed to maybe a fifth seed or even a fourth seed and grab home court advantage. However that talent, potential, and improvement have not showcased itself this year as the Pelicans find themselves in 12th place in the Western Conference, with teams like the Kings, Nuggets, Jazz and Trail Blazers all ahead of them.

Anthony Davis has once again proved he is among the elite of the elite in today’s NBA as he is leading the Pelicans in points per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, and blocks per game. Unfortunately, talent has never been the issue with Davis, but his health and ability to keep his body out of harms way has been an issue once again this season. Davis struggles with his physique staying away from stray elbows, and his body takes a pounding leading to decreased minutes and eventually missed games.

Other issues that have plagued the Pelicans include the big money signing of Omer Asik, who has very little use in today’s NBA as an expensive rebounder and garbage collector on the offensive end, as well as the ineffectiveness and injuries to Eric Gordon (once again) and very little from their bench. There is no excuse for this team to not be in the projected playoff field right now, and with very few assets and tradeable pieces, this is the team they will have to roll with.

Washington Wizards (20-23 11th in The East; 46-36 last year 5th in East)

The Wizards are incredibly frustrating to watch play as they possess one of the better-starting fives in the Eastern Conference with a rim protector and potent offensive rebounder in Marcin Gortat, a skilled big man in Nene Hilario, and an insanely good backcourt with John Wall and Bradley Beal. Throw in the development of Otto Porter Jr. and this team should be competing for a top three seed in the playoffs. If only things were as they seemed on paper. The Wizards are once again plagued by ineffectiveness, a lack of effort at times, and a team that looks like they don’t like to play with one another. Bradley Beal consistently gets hurt, and as I mentioned in my power rankings piece, has already suggested a minutes cap might do him well (at age 22 mind you), and they have gotten very little from people not named John Wall.

It is unfortunate for Wall, who is having another great year averaging close to 20 and 10 per game, as well as playing very good defense, but you feel almost as if this team is just sleepwalking out on the court. Throw in the distraction of Kevin Durant potentially coming here this offseason and this team has been off from the end of last year.

The Wizards are a team that has had severe problems getting potential out of what should be a very good starting five unit, and you have to feel like losing Paul Pierce and his veteran presence, dependability, ability to hit take clutch shots, and hold people accountable, is what this team is missing.

Milwaukee Bucks (20-27 13th in The East; 41-41 last year 6th in East)

The Bucks are clearly the most disappointing team in the East with last year’s core in place, along with the further development of that core, and the addition of Greg Monroe to that core. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gone that smooth for the Bucks who have struggled to defend at times have gotten subpar play from point guard Michael Carter-Williams, seen no development in Jabari Parker, and a sharp decline in spark plug Jerryd Bayless.

This team has found life to be the targeted tough after last year’s playoff run, and with a deeper middle tier in the Eastern Conference, they may already be out of the picture unless they can get players playing at the level they are capable of playing. Part of the blame has to be on head coach Jason Kidd as he is supposed to have wisdom and knowledge at the point guard position, but we have seen no development or improvement from Carter-Williams, and their defense has regressed.

Monroe is a good piece, but he is a gaping hole in the paint on defense, as he is not the rim protector Henson or Zaza Pachulia was last year for them. You have to wonder if that has affected their defense as normally they could gamble on the perimeter, relying on the paint protection to mask the poor wing defense. Rough times in Milwaukee.

Dishonorable Mention:

Cleveland Cavaliers (31-12 1st in The East; 53-29 last year 2nd in East)

I threw the Cavaliers in here because although they are in first, they have very little flow in their game, and there is always a negative story coming out of there. Kevin Love clearly does not fit and is just an expensive role player, and they have very little wiggle room to do anything of note other than trade Love. LeBron James is clearly still a lethal player, but the wear and tear will ultimately come knocking in the playoffs, and the Cavaliers will need others to step up if they want to do anything of note this year.

The concerning thing was the Warriors playing like they lost the championship last year when they visited Cleveland when it should have been the other way around. This team is not built to win a championship currently and is an expensive conference finals team as currently constituted. The Spurs, Warriors, and Thunder are all better than them by wide margins, and the Bulls, Hawks, Celtics, Heat, and Pistons can all take it to them enough that each round will be taxing for them. This will be a messy summer in Cleveland.

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