The NBA's Most Disappointing Teams
Three teams who have left their fans scratching their heads.
Jan 17, 2008
Houston Rockets
The Rockets won 52 games last season and things were looking promising for 2007-08. A full season of health for stars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady and the hiring of coach Rick Adelman was supposed to propel them to return to the glory days of the mid-nineties. As the midpoint of the season approaches however, things are looking bleak in Texas.
Yao (who has been troubled by injuries for his entire career) is playing at a very high level – he is perhaps the best multifaceted true center in the game. McGrady on the other hand has again been bitten by the injury bug, missing a dozen or so games already.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly why the Rockets are faltering: is it McGrady missing games?; is it adapting to Adelman’s new running offense?; is it the improved play of other Western Conference teams such as New Orleans and Portland? Regardless of the reason, Houston fans are not as happy as they thought they would be as the All Star break approaches.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls were predicted to be a strong contender for the Eastern Conference title this season. The team performed credibly last season winning 49 games and the nucleus remained intact. In addition some front court depth was added through the draft in Joakim Noah and Aaron Gray. In what has become traditional fashion, they started off sluggishly and have not yet regained any kind of momentum.
Perhaps the catalyst for this underachieving has been the sub-par performances of key players Kirk Hinrich at point guard and Ben Wallace down low. Hinrich was signed to a big contract extension October 2006 and looked set to captain the young Bulls towards a long playoff run this season. Ben Wallace was signed from Detroit for big money (around $15 million per year) in the same offseason and, at the time, was considered to be possibly the ‘final piece’ in the Bulls machine. Both players are performing well below what is expected of them.
In addition to this, several off court distractions have occurred. Young stars Ben Gordon and Luol Deng failed to reach agreements on contract extensions with the Bulls in the summer and both have been heavily mentioned in trade talks all season. Coach Scott Skiles repeatedly fiddled with the lineup and rotation and the lack of notches in the win column ultimately saw him receive his marching orders on Christmas Eve. Nearly halfway through the season, the Bulls are sitting just outside the eighth seed in the East and may yet make the playoffs, but a first round match-up with either of the powerhouse teams Boston or Detroit looks likely. The Bulls will have a long summer trying to figure out what went wrong.
Miami Heat
Although the Heat were not widely projected to be the force they have been in seasons past, any team that contains legendary big man Shaquille O’Neal, young stud Dwyane Wade and proven coach Pat Riley cannot be completely written off. Miami even got involved in offseason moves to shore up some scoring deficiencies and take the heat (no pun intended) off Wade. Ricky Davis, a proven scorer, was brought in and expected to spark the offense but his game has not lived up to expectations.
Wade missed several early games through injury rehab and O’Neal’s ageing body is only capable of playing 60 or so games in a season as he nears the end of his career. Even with all the above taken into account, no one could have predicted the mess that the champions from 2005-06 would be in right now. At the time of writing, the Heat were on an 11 game losing skid and have a record of 8-29. They are the lowest ranked team in the East and only the rebuilding Timberwolves sit lower overall. With this season already a failure, it is anyone’s guess where the Heat go to from here.
