The NBA season is coming to an end. Apart from the dominant Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, the season has been rather rough around the Association.
This is especially true in San Francisco and Philadelphia, as two title contenders continue to struggle.
Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving’s experience in Brooklyn has already proven to be an absolute disaster.
These are among the six biggest failures in the NBA season to date.
Draymond Green, forward, Golden State Warriors
I fully understand that Green is frustrated. His Warriors currently have the worst NBA record at 13-48 and have been without Stephen Curry for the first week of the season. With fellow All-Star Klay Thompson sidelined all season, these warriors are simply a shell of themselves.
Even then, Green did not meet expectations. He is continuously escaped from games, which makes me believe that Green’s heart is not in the game this season. All told, the former All-Star averaged 8.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists on 39% of the shots from the field. Just disgusting.
Philadelphia 76ers
Even when Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were together on the field before the two stars were injured, these Sixers did not meet expectations. This suggests that general manager Elton Brand may decide to leave head coach Brett Brown before the end of the season.
Philly is currently 37-24 and is only half a game away from the Indiana Pacers for fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. More troubling is the fact that the Sixers are a laughable 9-22 on the road. At this point, a season that started with championship aspirations will end with an early playoff exit. Nothing we’ve seen from the Sixers this season dispels this notion.
Luke Walton, Head Coach, Sacramento Kings
Sacramento thought he would become an excellent young head coach at Walton last summer after being fired by the Los Angeles Lakers. Boasting a talented young team, the recipe for success seemed to be there in the capital of California.
This in no way materialized. Walton has been an absolute disaster on the bench. He didn’t get a long pit with the players, Buddy Hield included. This led to a horrible mark of 26-34 over the season. Right now, I would actually be surprised if Walton lasted more than a season in Sacramento. That’s how bad it was.
Kyrie Irving, guard, Brooklyn Nets
Injury in addition to injuries. Drama in addition to drama. You name it. Nothing went well for Irving in his first season with the Nets. Now absent for the rest of the campaign with a shoulder injury, Irving is very close to reaching bust status.
The interesting dynamic here is that Brooklyn has not necessarily played better in the 20 games to which Irving has adapted. The team was 8-12 on those outings and is currently 18-21 on the sidelines. Could this lead the Nets to find a way out of Irving’s contract over the summer? Stranger things have happened.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Although he seems to be above his head in this role, the problems in Minneapolis extend much further than the young head coach Ryan Saunders. We are talking about an awkwardly constructed lineup behind the big star man Karl-Anthony Towns.
Minnesota changed course during the February deadline, passing Andrew Wiggins and the Golden State Warriors draft picks to D’Angelo Russell. With Towns away from injury, this led to a disastrous record of 17-41. Heck, the Wolves are 2-6 since Russell’s trade. It will be a major project to bring this team back to respectability. And I don’t think Saunders was the guy to do this.
New York Knicks front office
It’s not that the Knicks are 18-42 this season. Rather, it is this organization that gets bogged down at almost every turn. Led by besieged owner James Dolan, which included head coach David Fizdale and President Steve Mills.
On the ground, these Knicks have very few building blocks to move forward. Former first-round picks Kevin Knox and Frank Ntilikina were major busts. The only bright spots here are Mitchell Robinson and R.J. Barrett. However, neither player will move the needle too much in the future. At the very least, these Knicks have the NBA Draft lottery to look forward to.