As we near the end of the regular season, I’m going to share some of my biggest disappointments around the NBA. From players who should have, could have taken a bigger step to teams who have underachieved … here are my Top 10 Disappointments of 2017-18.
Honorable Mention
… Injuries, as a whole. Injuries suck. I wish we could somehow exist in an NBA universe where injuries did not exist. As a fan, I’m disappointed to see any player suffer a serious injury. The sheer volume of season-ending injuries this season has been unfathomable.
I hope I don’t forget anybody, but here’s to: Gordon Hayward, Jeremy Lin, Mike Conley, Brandon Knight, Kristaps Porzingis, DeMarcus Cousins, Daniel Theis, Mirza Teletovic, Kent Bazemore, Seth Curry, Wesley Matthews, Jon Leuer, Avery Bradley, Patrick Beverley, Dion Waiters, Andre Roberson, Ron Baker, Thabo Sefolosha … all who suffered season-ending injuries. Special condolences to Mirza, whose career may be over. Also, never forget Chris Bosh.
10. Brooklyn Nets
It’s hard to be too critical of Brooklyn for not being very good. They’re still at the beginning of their rebuild process, and without any lottery picks it might be awhile yet. For whatever reason, I really thought they’d be better this year, though. I’m a big believer in GM Sean Marks and Head Coach Kenny Atkinson. Even if they didn’t improve much in the win/loss column this year, they have this franchise headed in the right direction.
Injuries have played a key role in this team underachieving. Jeremy Lin was lost for the year in the season-opener. D’Angelo Russell has missed extended time as well. Because the Nets don’t own their first round pick, they are not tanking like the rest of the bottom teams. For that reason, I predicted they’d be better this season. I’m disappointed they aren’t.
9. Denver Nuggets
Denver is another team I expected to take a step forward this season. They came on strong near the end of 2017, and gave us plenty of just reasoning to believe they’d be better. Their young core is talented and improving every year under Coach Mike Malone. Nikola Jokic is one of the most promising young talents in the world, and damn near everyone expected the Joker to go from on the cusp of greatness to being truly elite. Instead, he’s teased us again for much of the season and has his potential ceiling looking higher than he may actually reach.
No one knows how many wins this team might have if Paul Millsap had been healthy all year. But, with him back now, Denver has the unique opportunity to shock the world in the playoffs. If they make the playoffs, and are healthy, they could give any team in the West a tough series.
8. Tom Thibodeau
I know the Timberwolves are primed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004. I know that Thibs is a big reason why. I know this. I’m not disappointed in the success of the Timberwolves, even though two members of the team are on this list.
Thibodeau finds himself here because I am adamantly against his approach towards minutes allocation. In the modern NBA, when we have more data available than ever, it’s clear that excessive minutes have a cumulative effect on players’ bodies and can lead to severe or chronic injuries. Whether or not it’s Thibodeau’s fault, several of his players have worn down and suffered serious injuries – Rose, Deng, and Noah all saw the primes of their career burn out quicker than the average. Now Jimmy is hurt. And if this happens to KAT, I’ll never forgive Thibs.
Also, he thought it would be a smart basketball move to sign Derrick Rose in the year 2018. I’m disappointed in any person who believes D. Rose is still an NBA caliber player. He’s just not, sorry.
7. Russell Westbrook
Why is the reigning MVP on this list? Well, because he’s been kind of disappointing this season. Last year Russ routinely stuffed box scores, and we all overlooked his inefficiencies, because he was carrying an unimpressive roster in his first year without KD.
This year was supposed to be different. Now he has help. But despite that, he has regressed as a shooter. His 3pt % is the lowest it’s been since his second year in the league. His free throw percentage is a career low. He’s still getting triple-doubles, by actively hunting them, but overall he’s been a bit of a disappointment this season. Rather than improving into the well-rounded and polished elite NBA player that many expected, he has shown that last season’s fluke MVP is probably the peak for Russ.
6. Orlando Magic
Before the season started, I doubt anyone would have been surprised or disappointed to see Orlando at 21-48 and in the hunt for a high lottery pick. This is probably where many expected them to be. It was only their hot start that caught the league off guard. Maybe I fell for the trap, and believed this team could be better. Frank Vogel is a heck of a coach, and looks like he’s in basketball purgatory suffering through all these L’s.
I’m disappointed that Orlando’s front office can’t figure out which direction they want to go. After last season’s white-board debacle, and the abysmal acquisitions of Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo, the Magic one-upped themselves this year. Elfrid Payton, once thought to be a franchise building block, was traded for a second round pick.
C’mon Orlando, do better.
5. Andrew Wiggins
Much like Russ, my disappointment in Wiggins stems from slight regressions when we expected to see improvement. He has a max contract to live up to now, and has not quite done that this season. Of course, because of the addition of Jimmy Butler, it is expected to see a dip in production. In that sense, his 17 points per game are still pretty solid. But his efficiency leaves a lot to be desired.
Wiggins is shooting just 32% from 3pt land this year, down from 35% last year while attempting more shots from deep. He’s also shooting a career-worst 63% at the free throw line, on a career-low number of attempts. His box plus-minus is -2.7, and his PER of 13.0 is below the league average of 15.
Wiggins still has room to grow, and Minnesota fans have to hope he keeps growing. Because this isn’t what they shelled out a max extension for.
Rumors spread recently that Wiggins has been voicing his discontent within the locker room about being the third option offensively behind Towns and Butler. For starters, this is inaccurate. Wiggins has a higher usage percentage than Towns, even though everyone and their mother knows Towns should be featured more. Also, more importantly, Wiggins should be behind both of those two in terms of usage. If he thinks otherwise, he’s delusional and shows he may care more about himself than winning. (Wiggins disputed these rumors)
4. Kawhi Leonard
The San Antonio Spurs are in serious danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997. They will almost certainly fail to reach 50 wins for the first season since the 1998-99 strike shortened campaign. They already secured their first season with a losing road record since ‘97. None of this is fair to blame on Kawhi, but it’s disappointing to see this great franchise finally fall from the ranks of the elite, and Kawhi’s injury-plagued season is a huge reason for the Spurs’ demise.
As a fan, I’m disappointed that after an MVP caliber season for Kawhi was cut short by a dirty play in last year’s Western Conference Finals, Leonard hasn’t gotten the opportunity to come back for revenge this season. Well, not yet anyway. There is rumor that Kawhi may try to play in the final week or so of the season, and into the playoffs if the Spurs make it.
I’d love for San Antonio to sneak into the 7 seed, and see a suddenly fully healthy Kawhi shock the defending champs. Every part of that sentence is very unlikely, but a guy can dream right? As it stands now, the Spurs’ are out of the playoffs, and NBA fans everywhere should be disappointed to see this once unstoppable dynasty finally fading.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers
I’m not – I repeat, I AM NOT – disappointed in LeBron James. In his 15th season, the King is showing everyone why he is the King. It’s unreal how well he has been playing this season. It’s also unfair and disappointing that he’s had to carry this team as much as he has, and still be sitting in the middle of the pack in the East.
I’m disappointed in the rest of this roster, trade or no trade. J.R. Smith struggles to show up on a nightly basis. Tristan Thompson was never worth his massive contract, and it shows now more than ever. The Kyrie trade was a disaster, I knew it and wrote about it at the time, it took until January for everyone else to see it too. Kevin Love has been a bright spot, when healthy.
Koby Altman’s trade deadline maneuvers saved this season, no doubt about it. That Cleveland team that started the season would not have beaten Boston or Toronto in the playoffs. Who’d have guessed that a bunch of past-their-prime players who don’t play defense would struggle so mightily as a group?
This new post-trade deadline team has shown some promise. I think they have a legitimate shot to make it past the Raptors and continue LeBron’s ridiculous streak of Finals appearances. But I don’t give them any realistic chance to beat either the Warriors or Rockets out of the West. And for that, I am disappointed. I think NBA twitter is with me. We want a competitive Finals, and we won’t get that with this Cavs team.
2. Mark Cuban
One of the league’s most “progressive” owners has been one of the biggest disappointments this season. I put quotes around progressive, because it turns out he’s just as close-minded when managing his organization as any other bigoted sports franchise owner. It’s so disheartening to hear stories about sexual assault perpetrators being enabled by their supervisors, instead of stopping them and taking appropriate action to prohibit such behavior in the workplace.
Cuban has long been one of my favorite owners in the league. His vibrant personality, the enjoyment he takes in watching games from behind the team bench, his love of all things Dirk, his Shark Tank persona … it truly seemed like he was one of the good ones. Sadly, it no longer appears to be so. There are simply too many reports out there to ignore. All signs point to systemic failure to protect victims in this organization, and I can no longer support an owner who actively allowed this to happen.
1. Milwaukee Bucks
As a lifelong Bucks fan, I admit my bias in having Milwaukee as my biggest disappointment this season. But after the way last season ended, a heartbreaking but promising series loss to the Raptors, everyone expected the young Bucks to continue improving. Giannis has lived up to these lofty expectations. No one else has really been able to keep up.
Prior to the start of the season, I didn’t think Jason Kidd was a top-tier NBA coach but I had faith in him to help this team take the next step. That faith quickly faded as Milwaukee’s lackluster efforts piled up. Kidd constantly blamed losses on youth and lack of effort, instead of ever taking any accountability for failing defensive schemes or lack of ball movement on offense. It became apparent that the Bucks would need to move on from Kidd, and I’m glad that GM Jon Horst decided to do this sooner, rather than later. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed they didn’t fire him sooner.
Interim Coach Joe Prunty started off hot, but hasn’t maintained. Their team defense has significantly improved though, and I fully stand behind the team’s decision to finish this season with Prunty instead of Kidd. I actually believe they have a chance to win a playoff series. But someone other than Giannis needs to step up.
The trade for Bledsoe, despite his sometimes maddening tendency to pull up from 3 in transition, has been a success overall. That trade has been the lone bright spot from an otherwise mismanaged roster. Mirza’s injury hurt, and waiving him hurts the salary cap. Choosing to sign DeAndre Liggins in the preseason instead of Gerald Green was a poor decision. As was the drafting of DJ Wilson over several frontcourt rookies who have actually produced for their teams this season.
The Bucks, as a franchise, have a tricky road ahead of them. If they don’t find a way to transform this roster into a contender, and end up wasting Antetokounmpo’s prime and watching him leave in free agency down the road, this could be the most disappointing stretch in Bucks history. Here’s to hoping this season is the only disappointing portion of Giannis’ career in Milwaukee.
