Remember when we were talking ourselves into ways
the Lakers could win the title ? That didn't go exactly as planned,
did it? Here we are, 82 games later, and the Lake Show is one of 14 teams
looking at a long summer break. Some of the Lakers' fellow vacationers, like
the New Orleans Pelicans, began the 2018-19 NBA season with playoff
aspirations. Others, like the New York Knicks, knew this would be a wasted
season and tanked accordingly. Thus, the post-mortem for certain teams on this
slideshow will play out a little more optimistically than others.
NEW YORK KNICKS
The Knicks' regular season was already a funeral. Thus,
instead of a eulogy, Knicks fans should look at this post-mortem as a
celebration of life. They should be toasting to inefficient play of Emmanuel
Mudiay, the inconsistency of Mario Hezonja and the regression of Frank
Ntilikina this season as their collective efforts, along with David Fizdale's
ornery mail-in of a coaching performance, put New York in the best position to
win the Zion Williamson sweepstakes this summer. It will all have been worth it
if Madison Square Garden's rims are being assaulted by Williamson next fall. If
Knicks fans really want to look at the positives from this lost season, they
can point to the respective development of Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox,
Alonzo Trier and the acquisition of Dennis Smith Jr. — all of whom would fit in
nicely alongside two max free agents (Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving?) and
whomever they select with their top-five pick. So cheer up Knicks fans: You can
only go up from here.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Where did it go wrong for the Cavaliers? Owner Dan Gilbert's
ego and unrealistic expectations are a good place to start. If you recall,
before the season, Gilbert was dead set on making the playoffs to prove to
whomever would listen (no one was listening, Dan), that the franchise wasn't as
dependent upon LeBron James as it had seemed. Turns out, it was. The season got
off to a rough start, which was exacerbated by Kevin Love getting injured four
games into the year (he'd miss the next 50 games) and Gilbert firing Coach Ty
Lue after an 0-6 start. Much like the Knicks backers, however, Cavaliers fans
can find solace in that they will have a 14 percent chance at landing yet
another No. 1 overall pick and a chance to rebuild around Zion Williamson, the
best athlete to enter the league since LeBron in 2003.
CHICAGO BULLS
There are a number of anecdotes to choose from when pointing
to what went wrong with the Chicago Bulls this season. You could point to the
fact that management brought in an offensive-minded coach in Fred Hoiberg a
couple of seasons ago and gave him a roster of bricklayers for two seasons and
then fired him before his most gifted offensive player (Lauri Markkanen) made
his season debut this year. You could point to the hilarious team mutiny after
then-interim coach Jim Boylen tried to treat the players like high schoolers in
practice. But the best way to sum up where it all went wrong for the Bulls this
year is to have you watch this horrendous last second shot by Zach
LaVine against the Spurs. Just when you start to think LaVine and the Bulls
roster might have some potential, he shoots a flat-footed, highly contested
fadeaway three that barely grazes the rim. Hey, at least they'll get a top five
player in the draft.
PHOENIX SUNS
Where did it all go wrong for the Suns? If we're being
honest, it was when they drafted Deandre Ayton over Luka Doncic with the No. 1
overall pick in last summer's draft. Not that Ayton hasn't played well for a
rookie big man — he has (averaging 16 and 10 as a rookie ain't no joke) — but
Doncic is clearly a better player and prospect moving forward. Imagine Doncic
and Devin Booker playing together on offense. If you have two amazing offensive
talents like that as your backcourt, you can build around them with three-and-D
wings and a rim-running/rim-protector down low, and you have the makings of a
good team. Instead, the Suns will hope that the lottery gods reward them again,
and Zion Williamson or Ja Morant falls into their laps on draft night.
ATLANTA HAWKS
One could argue that it never went wrong for the Hawks this
season. They were expected to be one of the worst teams in the NBA — and they
were for the first half of the year — but once Trae Young turned the corner,
Atlanta was competitive. At the same time, the Hawks were able to remain in
play for the Zion Williamson sweepstakes by not winning too many games. Now
they're in line to have a top five pick and possibly another high-lottery pick,
as they own the rights to the Mavericks' pick if it doesn't fall in the top
five. Equipped with a franchise point guard in Young and a number of talented
complementary players like John Collins and Kevin Huerter, the Hawks have
positioned themselves perfectly for the future. It'd be amazing if Zion is
donning an ATL jersey this fall too!
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
Where did it all go wrong for the Wizards? I'm not sure of
the "where," but I'm pretty sure that the "when" was
approximately 4 a.m. every morning this summer at John Wall's favorite night
clubs. Harkening back to the "too much, too soon" post-Jordan era of
the NBA, Wall seemingly ignored the cautionary tales of stars in the '90s and
early-2000s landing big contracts and then partying their way out of stardom.
Get a Bumble profile, John Wall! Your Team USA picture in Vegas was absolutely
hilarious...and absolutely embarrassing...as was your showing up to
training camp out of shape and ornery. What kind of team leader does that? The
funny thing is that all of this nonsense occurred before Wall blew out his
Achilles in a "slip and fall" at his home. Don't hold your breath,
Wizards fans. This is far from over.
DALLAS MAVERICKS
Much like the Hawks, everything pretty much broke right for
the Mavericks this season. They made a savvy draft night trade for their next
franchise player in Luka Doncic. Then they made another savvy trade (assuming
the pending allegations against his are false) for potentially the second
coming of Dirk Nowitzki in Kristaps Porzingis. Making matters even better,
Dallas, whose draft pick conveys if it falls outside the top five, lost enough
games this year to still have a 6 percent chance at the No. 1 overall pick and
a 26 percent chance at a top four draft pick this summer. That's Tanking 101
right there, folks.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
The most obvious moment when it all went wrong for the
Pelicans is when Anthony Davis demanded a trade a week before the trade
deadline. However, Davis likely doesn't demand a trade if the Pelicans had
played up to their potential and were competing for a playoff spot like most
experts expected before the season. So what went wrong? The Pelicans caught a
case of the injury bug early in the year with injuries to the likes of Davis,
Nikola Mirotic, Elfrid Payton and other important rotation pieces. Had it had a
clean bill of health all season, the team probably builds off its playoff
success from last spring and avoids the Davis drama that ensued thereafter. Hell,
if the Pelicans had been injury-free, Davis might be neck and neck with Giannis
Antetokounmpo and James Harden for MVP right now.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
If you recall, early in the season the Grizzlies were
actually at the top of the Western Conference standings. While the rest of the
league was pushing the pace and scoring like teams hadn't scored since the
1980s, Memphis was staying true to its grit-n-grind mantra. It didn't quite
make sense how the Grizzlies were winning games this way, but they were...until
they weren't. They really started to nosedive in mid-December when they had a
five-game losing streak, won two in a row, then lost six straight, won a game,
then lost eight more games in a row. I'm not a math guy, but a 3-19 stretch in
the middle of the season seems pretty bad. The only thing that could make this
season a positive is if the Grizzlies' pick falls outside the top eight because
then it will vest to the Celtics and allow Memphis to really tank next season
with reckless abandon.
L.A. LAKERS
Where did it go wrong for LeBron James and the Lakers? How
much time do you have? There are three inflection points that stand out to me.
The first came shortly after James signed then the team signed a clown car
collective of free agents including JaVale McGee, Lance Stephenson, Michael
Beasley, Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope instead of retaining guys
like Julius Randle and Brook Lopez and finding three-point shooting. The second
point was when James hurt his groin on Christmas Day against the Warriors. The
final inflection point came when the front office Klatch Sports botched the
Anthony Davis deal by trying to bully the Pelicans front office into trading
Davis to the Lakers for half of L.A.'s roster. 'Twas an ugly year in the City
of Angels — expect a mini-roster overhaul this summer.
BONUS INFLECTION
POINT: Magic Johnson literally resigned during an impromptu session with
the media about an hour before the Lakers' last regular-season game. He claimed
it was because he wanted to be happy again and didn't want to let his
"sister" Jeanie Buss down. But there's got to be something else going
on here — be on the lookout for a Woj-Bomb in the next few days. I've got a
feeling we're going to hear something juicy about either Rob Pelinka or Jeanie
Buss...or both.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Speaking of drama, it all went wrong for the Timberwolves
when then-coach and team president Tom Thibodeau refused to take Jimmy Butler's
trade demand at the end of the 2017-18 season seriously and allowed the
situation to remain unresolved heading into training camp. We all know what
happened from there. Butler made his demands public and essentially sabotaged
Minnesota's season with his erratic behavior during training camp and at the
start of the season. By the time Butler was traded, Thibodeau had lost the team
and was fired shortly thereafter. Karl-Anthony Towns went bananas once Butler
was gone, but it was too little, too late at that point.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Where did it all go wrong for the Kings this year? What are
you talking about? For the first time in more than a decade, the Kings actually
caught a break this season as a number of their young prospects — De'Aaron Fox,
Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley — all played like future stars for much of the
season. While they won't break their missed-playoffs streak this year, they
nearly went .500 in the brutal Western Conference. The Kings' lack of
experience ultimately doomed their shot at the playoffs late in the year, but
they have the chance to build some serious momentum heading into next season.
Late word is that the team is expected to fire coach Dave
Joerger, who has been linked to the T-Wolves. They also will need to
decide whether Harrison Barnes is worth what the market will demand for him.
MIAMI HEAT
Where did it all go wrong for the Heat? Let's see: probably
the part where their best player this season and their franchise icon who was
on a #one last dance retirement tour they were the same person. I guess if
we're splitting hairs, the Heat's best player all season was Josh Richardson,
but Dwyane Wade was the best player on the Heat for far too many games for them
to be a serious playoff contender. Another telltale sign that Miami wasn't a
playoff team was that its top scorer (Richardson) averaged less than 17 points
per game, and its top playmaker (Goran Dragic) averaged less than five assists
per game. The Heat could really use a young star to give the franchise a jolt
of life this offseason.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS
It all went wrong for the Hornets when they decided to
"run it back" after last season. Scratch that. It all went wrong when
the Hornets decided to not deal Kemba Walker to the highest bidder last trade
deadline, this past offseason or this trade deadline. You see, the Hornets have
the least optimistic long-term franchise outlook in the league, but owner
Michael Jordan seems content with his team competing for the eight-seed every
season (and often failing miserably). With a number of horrendous contracts on
the books (Nic Batum, Marvin Williams), Charlotte had the chance these past two
years to accelerate a rebuild. Instead, it stood pat and didn't get better or
worse at any of the recent deadlines or drafts. I really hope, both for his
sake and Hornets fans' sakes, that Kemba doesn't re-sign with the team this offseason
because this franchise has no plan. Counterpoint (I guess): If you were MJ and
the value of the franchise you'd purchased in 2010 had increased almost
tenfold, would you care either?
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