Disappointing NBA Team Seasons
With the NBA Regular Season coming to a close this week. We are all looking forward to the Playoffs that start on Saturday but there will be a certain player that gets to start his NBA off season early. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers did not qualify for the playoffs and this season will go down as one of the more memorable disappointing seasons in recent history. Let take a look at why that is and take a look back at other teams in recent history that left us disappointed.
2018–2019 Los Angeles Lakers
What happened this year? Injuries, poor front office decisions, and your best player misses a third of the season. That will put you in the lottery. The Lakers looked like a promising young team after beating the Warriors on Christmas Day, but a groin injury to the games greatest player turned the whole season around. Could the Lakers have made the West Finals? Probably not, but LeBron brought that type of hype coming into Year 1 in Hollywood. This team was doomed from July with player personnel moves in free agency but The King gave Laker fans hope. Life comes at you fast though.
2017–2018 Oklahoma City Thunder
Russ was the reigning NBA MVP, Paul George was stepping into his prime, and Melo was fresh off of his Hoodie Melo summer run. This team was expected to contend with the Warriors for the West crown. This would be OKC’s chance to knock out KD after he had abandoned the franchise. All Russ needed was a crew of all-stars. Well, Melo looked and played like a past his prime all-star and Paul George looked like “George Paul” (Skip Bayless reference) on the backend of the season. It’s hard for me to blame Russ, but he did shoot 18 for 43 in Game 6 in Utah and refused to pass to more efficient scorers. Then again, George Paul was 2 for 16 in that same game and Melo was Melo was 3 for 7 (38% for series). Losing in the first round to Utah was not part of the OK3 plan.
2013–2017 Los Angeles Clippers (Flop City)
Where should I get started? I don’t know who is more overrated with this group, Doc Rivers as a coach, CP3 as a leader, Blake Griffin as a superstar, Paul Pierce for everything, JJ Reddick as a shooter, Deander as a dunker, or Austin Rivers for even being on the team. Only player that I can appreciate in that picture is Jamal Crawford (he retweeted me once). But this team blew it against OKC in 2014, Houston in 2015, and every other year after. All that talent, not one West Finals. Im so disgusted with this team, I’ve got to stop writing now before I get banned from Staples Center (which I wouldn’t care because I’d still go to Laker games). Flop City.
2012–2013 Los Angeles Lakers
This team was suppose to be in the finals playing against the Miami Heat. We were suppose to finally get a Kobe-LeBron NBA Finals matchup. To me, poor coaching was the reason this team didn’t work. Mike Brown got fired less than 10 days into the season, Mike D’Antoni refused to change his style to fit current roster, and Kobe was Kobe. This season has left Lakers behind for the last 6 years.
2008–2010 Cleveland Cavaliers
Over two season Cleveland had the best record in the NBA regular season. Too bad you don’t earn rings for 82 game runs. In the playoffs the Cavs were disappointing for two straight years. Although they reached the East Finals in 2009 and had a combined record of 16–8 during two postseasons, this team should have been in the NBA Finals. LeBron won League MVP in these two years and dragged a far worse Cavs team (2007) to the finals years earlier. The most disappointing part for me is, we missed out on LeBron-Kobe NBA Finals matchups both these years when NIKE went all out on the Lil Dez commercial campaigns.
Follow Tony Eackles Jr. on Twitter | @TonyEacklesJr
