The fervour around the next 12 NBA teams was comparable to the fervour surrounding a franchise that, let’s say, had the first 10 selections in a loaded draught.
When NBA superstars switch teams, the conference typically experiences a shock wave once they get to their new location.
It’s actually fairly straightforward when superstars team up: championship or bust.
Ask Allen Iverson if he doesn’t believe that a single superstar can drive a team to the NBA Finals. Ask Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen or Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant how many titles their NBA teams won with two superstars on the roster.
Given that everyone knew who would win the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the end of the season and that several All-Stars (or, in some cases, Hall of Famers) were expected at training camp for the upcoming NBA teams, it is rather remarkable that the NBA decided to even play the season out.
However, games are not played on paper, as one of the greatest sports clichés puts it.
Some of these teams would later win championships, while others had less luck. But for these clubs, these seasons may only be referred to as “busts.”
1. 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers
There are unsuccessful NBA teams, and then there are the Lakers from 2003–2004. One season after winning three straight NBA titles, the Lakers added Payton and Malone, two additional players who are almost certain to make the Hall of Fame, to one of the greatest NBA teams in history, Bryant and O’Neal.
Given the ridiculous amount of skill on the team, Malone and Payton were even criticised in the media for pursuing rings because it was a given that they would win at least one title.
Despite their mediocre, unspectacular play, the Lakers ended the regular season with a 56-26 record, giving them the second seed in the Western Conference. Although they only needed five games to overcome the Houston Rockets, they needed six games to defeat the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the next two rounds.
When the NBA Finals pairing was announced, the Los Angeles Lakers were widely favoured to meet the Detroit Pistons. Although the Lakers seemed to have more firepower than any defence could handle, the Pistons were a tough, defensive team.
The Pistons winning Game 1 caused the NBA as a whole to turn. They may be more of a series than they initially believed after holding the offensive powerhouses to only 75 points in the contest.
It turned out to be a dreadful series, though. only five games, to be exact. The Pistons destroyed the Lakers’ offensive scheme, limiting them to under 90 points in each of their victories (including a humiliating 68-point performance from Los Angeles in Game 3).
By the time the 2004–05 season rolled around, Phil Jackson, Malone, Payton, and O’Neal had all left the Lakers.
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2. 1968-69 Los Angeles Lakers
Elgin Baylor, a member of the Hall of Fame, would be the third choice on how many NBA teams? Although the Baylor of a few seasons ago averaged more than 30 points per game, 24.8 points and 10.6 rebounds still make for a talented third fiddle.
However, playing beside the Logo and the player with the highest statistical dominance in league history was just a part of life for Baylor. In the 1968 summer, the Lakers traded for Chamberlain from Philadelphia, and as one might anticipate, they received immediate rewards. Despite Chamberlain’s dominance (20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds), Baylor and West’s combination of 25.9 points and 6.9 assists was enough to win the game.
By no means was Chamberlain joining a new or struggling team. The Lakers have been in three of the previous four NBA Finals. The Lakers exploited their home-court advantage to take a 3-2 lead against the fourth-seeded Celtics in the Eastern Conference before the Celtics demanded a seventh game. The Celtics pressed the pace in Game 7 to upset the heavily-favoured Lakers 108-106 after West tore his hamstring in Game 5.
Interesting side note: Despite playing with hamstring pain in Games 6 and 7, West averaged 38 points per contest in the championship series and had a triple-double in Game 7 to win the NBA Finals MVP award. West is still the lone member of a losing squad to ever get the honour.
3. 1972-73 Boston Celtics
The Celtics appeared to be the overwhelming favourite to win the NBA title with Hall of Famers Havlicek and Cowens leading the team on the court and Hall of Famer (and Celtics icon) Tom Heinsohn in Red Auerbach’s coaching chair.
Cowens won MVP honours with 20.5 points and 16.2 rebounds, while Havlicek (23.8) and White (19.7) prevented Silas and Cowens’ defences from collapsing against them. During the regular season, the team only suffered 14 losses, which helped them win the top slot in the Eastern Conference.
The Boston Celtics defeated Pete Maravich and Lou Hudson’s Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs in a six-game struggle, and they went on to play the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season. The Knicks had too much firepower and shut out the Celtics before defeating the Lakers in five games to win the team’s second title in four seasons. The Celtics battled back from a 3-1 hole to force a Game 7 while still using a damaged Havlicek prominently in the rotation.
4. 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks appeared stronger and more determined to win the elusive NBA championship after watching Dwyane Wade’s incredible NBA Finals explosion from courtside seats the year before.
As they sped to a league-best 67-15 record, Avery Johnson’s team seemed anxious to erase memories of Josh Howard’s foolish timeout or Dirk Nowitzki’s fall to Earth in the previous championships. Nowtizki in particular put up 24.6 points and 8.9 rebounds on the way to winning the Most Valuable Player title because he wanted to show everyone that a seven-footer with a turnaround jumper is unbeatable.
The run-and-gun Golden State Warriors required a 16-5 record to squeak in as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. Don Nelson, whose run-and-gun Golden State Warriors would face Johnson’s Mavericks in the opening round, was Don Nelson’s assistant coach in Dallas from 2003 to 2005. Nelson would take advantage of the speed of his smaller squad (and annoy Nowitzki with the smaller, more rugged Stephen Jackson on defence), and his team would steal Game 1 in Dallas. The Mavericks bounced back with a 112-99 victory in Game 2, but they dropped Games 3 and 4 in front of a boisterous Oakland crowd, losing to the Warriors in six games.
5. 1998-99 Indiana Pacers
The 1998–1999 NBA season was remarkable despite having just 50 regular season games and no All-Star Game (there’s still hope, NBA fans!). The Los Angeles Clippers equalled the previous record for the longest losing run to begin a season in NBA history as Phil Jackson (for the first time) and Michael Jordan both announced their retirements.
Despite the disruption of the strike-shortened season, the Indiana Pacers were the favoured in the race for the NBA title. The Pacers just needed seven games to go to the conference finals because of their 33-17 record, which tied them for first place in the Eastern Conference. This time, Jordan wasn’t a member of the rival team.
The Pacers’ opponent would be the No. 8 seeded Knicks, who they had previously defeated in the Conference Semifinals of the previous season. It seemed as though the Pacers would be making their first trip to the NBA Finals until the Knicks learned Patrick Ewing was out for the playoffs due to a partially torn tendon. In the competition, Miller continued his impressive shooting (20.2 points). Allan Houston of the Knicks, who scored 32 points in the sixth game to seal the series after Larry Johnson’s brilliant (or magnificently miscalled) four-point shot rescued the team in Game 3, however, would have few replies from Miller.
6. 2005-06 Detroit Pistons
Forgive this Pistons squad if they appeared to be on autopilot throughout the regular season. Since the previous three Pistons NBA teams had almost the same makeup, it was fairly expected that this one would also get to the NBA Finals.
It’s difficult to recall a recent team where every member was more conscious of their duties. The average point total for Billups, Hamilton, Prince, and ‘Sheed per game during the regular season was above 14. All of them kept up these averages throughout the postseason. Big Ben and McDyess led a strong defence that held opponents to just 90.2 points per game throughout the regular season.
When they first entered the playoffs, the Pistons defeated the inferior Milwaukee Bucks in five games before overcoming LeBron James’ Cavaliers in seven games. But the Pistons’ luck would run out when they faced the Miami Heat in the conference finals. Led by a maniacal Dwyane Wade and a still-productive Shaquille O’Neal, the Heat defeated the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champions in six games to win the franchise’s lone NBA championship.
7. 1994-95 New York Knicks
The Knicks under Patrick Ewing possessed every quality needed to win a championship. Starks and Anthony played the guard positions well for them. With Ewing, Mason, and Oakley in their frontcourt, they possessed one of the decade’s most formidable frontcourts. Their coach, Pat Riley, could have stacked as many championship rings in one hand.
Ewing and his friends were held at bay for the early 1990s by the Knicks’ lack of Michael Jordan. However, the basketball gods appeared to be leading the Knicks to the throne until the sport’s biggest star made the decision to take his abilities (or were they gambling debts?) to the baseball diamond.
The Knicks missed out on the title the season before after falling to Olajuwon’s Rockets in seven games. Before any ideas of vengeance could even occur to the Knicks, they had to compete in the 1995 playoffs against the Indiana Pacers and Reggie Miller. By hitting eight points in the last nine seconds of Game 1, Miller stole the game for Indiana, who went on to upset New York in seven games.
8. 2010-11 Miami Heat
Fans all across the world had an emotional reaction to this past season’s Heat squad after the PR disaster known as “The Decision,” and that feeling only became stronger during the season.
While the doubters only hoped that someone, anybody (yes, even Kobe Bryant and the Lakers) would be able to stop this Heat team from winning the next five titles, Heat supporters were right there with James thinking, “Not one, not two, not three…”
After that, the season began, and the Heat struggled to a 9-8 record. While some questioned if the Heat would ever gel, supporters of the team pointed the finger at injuries (Miller and Haslem each missed a significant amount of the season). After that, the Heat won 12 games in a row, and another lengthy postseason run appeared to be in store.
The Miami Heat produced a strong postseason run and advanced all the way to the NBA Finals, but Dirk Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks outplayed the Heat’s players and the Heat lost in six games.
9. 1961-62 Philadelphia Warriors
Consider the records Chamberlain set (and still holds) during this season: most minutes played, most minutes played per game, most points scored, highest scoring average, most 50-point games, most 40-point games, most field goals made, most free throws made, and most points scored in a season (some may argue Oscar Roberston’s triple-double season, which ironically was also during this season). And on March 2 of that same year, Chamberlain destroyed the Knicks by a score of 100.
Whew. After discovering that Chamberlain put up these numbers despite playing with two other Hall of Famers, Arizin, who somehow managed to score 21.9 points per game, and Gola, you might be wondering how this team failed to win a championship.
Well, NBA teams, not individuals, win championships, as Chamberlain would later discover but never fully grasp, and, similarly to his rookie season two years earlier, Chamberlain and company were ousted by Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, this time in a seven-game series in the Western Division Finals.
10. 1994-95 Phoenix Suns
Another fast-paced squad made the list; is this even a coincidence at this point? In the brutal NBA of the mid-1990s, this Suns team managed to have seven different players average double digits.
The Suns won the Pacific Division with a 59-23 record, and Sir Charles, who is 31 years old, was still in his prime (23 points, 11 rebounds, four assists), “Thunder” Dan made over 36% of his 3-point attempts (which is impressive given that he averaged nearly seven attempts per game, and “KJ” kept everything running with almost four assists for every turnover).
The team possessed the seasoned leadership (five rotation players were in their 30s) to make a deep postseason run, but they carried the danger of losing to the Houston Rockets in back-to-back playoff series. The Suns held a 3-1 lead over Houston in the Western Conference Semifinals, but Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler sent Charles Barkley and company home following Game 7.
11. 2001-02 Sacramento Kings
The Kings possessed terrifying size beneath with Divac and Webber patrolling the paint, but the team truly thrived on the offensive end when the big men showed off their passing prowess while the Kings’ plethora of shooters confounded defences night after night.
The Kings finally found a point guard with more substance than flare after trading fan favourite “White Chocolate” Jason Williams to the Grizzlies for Bibby. As a result, the club breezed through the season, winning a league-best 61 games (including an incredible 36 of 41 games at home).
With only two losses in their first two playoff series combined, the Kings went into their battle with the two-time reigning champion Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers would steal Game 6—and the series—before winning their third straight championship. Coach Rick Adelman’s team had taken a 3-2 series lead but was “allegedly” handicapped in Game 6 (also, another postseason Donaghy game).
12. 2006-07 Phoenix Suns
This team gave all supporters of frantic, run-and-gun basketball optimism that playing fast-paced basketball might succeed in the NBA.
The Suns had winning streaks of 15 and 17 games during the regular season, which enabled them to win the Pacific Division and have their second-best season (61-21) in franchise history.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Suns defeated the Lakers in five games. They then faced the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals. In their previous two postseason meetings, the Spurs had defeated the Suns, most recently in the 2005 Western Conference Finals, a five-game series that the Spurs won.
There are several images from this series that stand out above the others, including the bleeding Steve Nash in Game 1, the Tim Donaghy calls in Game 3, and the ragdoll Nash that Robert Horry hip-checked into the scorers’ table late in the fourth quarter. After rushing to Nash’s help, Stoudemire and Diaw received a one-game suspension for leaving the bench. The Spurs won the series in six games after shutting out the Suns without a single rebound; they went on to win the NBA title.
These are the NBA Teams that didn’t live up to the expectations. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
