The Most Embarrassing NBA Teams of All Time Essay Example

consecutive seasons that the Charolette Bobcats and eventually Charolette Hornets failed to pair any substantial talent with their young star Kemba Walker (Chem-bah Walker) who wasted many years of his career with the team  futile attempts to make a deep playoff run year after year.

Looking deeper into the stats of the 2011-2012 Bobcats, Walker was mainly the only bright spot of the team, showing great potential in his rookie season. Statistically, the team was absolutely atrocious, in terms of team rankings, they ranked dead last in the entire NBA in field goal percentage, three-point percentage, and total points on the season. With such a low level of offensive production, it made it almost impossible for them Bobcats have any real shot against any other team. Which does justify why their record would end up looking the way it did in this season. However, to attest to how dedicated the fan base in Charolette was this season, despite supporting the worst team in the NBA and possibly of all time, people still went out to watch them play and they finished 25th out of 30 in terms of fan attendance.

1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers

The embarrassment from the story of the 1972-1973 76ers comes incompetence in coaching a management. Along with this, the chemistry on the team was some of the worst in all of NBA history. While the NBA was not followed or covered as closely as it is today, some stories about the level of dysfunction with this team have leaked out. The first story comes from when the team met their coach Roy Rubin (Roy Roo-bin) for the first time. Rubin was a coach that ran

his team like a dictatorship. However, he also managed to play favorites. He laid down the general rules with his team on the first day of training camp in which he implemented a dress code and said that there was to be no smoking with absolutely no exceptions. However, when a player said that their smoking was the only way that he could deal with the pressure, Rubin changed his no exception rule to only one exception.

Also, in terms of dysfunction, it is personified during one of the 76ers road games in Detroit. During the game, Rubin tried to sub out Detroit native and 76ers player John Q. Trapp (John-Q -Trap). However, Trapp refused to come out of the game and motioned over to one of his friends in the crowd who opened his coat and revealed a gun. It is safe to say that Rubin has his hand forced and for the safety of everyone involved, he kept John in the game. With 31 games left in the season, Rubin would be fired and Kevin Loughery (Kev-in Lowry) who was also a player on the 76ers at the time. He would go on to release Trapp from the team and also led the team to a 5 and 26 record which interestingly was a better record than Rubin who led the 76ers to a record of 4-47.

2004-2005 Detroit Pistons & Indiana Pacers

Both the 2004-2005 and the 2004-2005 Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers more or less have the same story of embarrassment and will forever be tied together after a crucial event on November 19, 2004, in the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills

Michigan. Going into the 2004-2005 season, both the Pistons and the Pacers were both contenders to come out of the Eastern Conference and participate in the NBA Finals. The Pistons were led by Chauncy Billups (Chawn-see Bill-ups), Ben Wallace (pronounced as spelled), Rasheed Wallace (Rah-Sheed Wallace), and Tayshaun Prince (Tay-Shawn Prince). The Pacers were led by Metta World Peace (pronounced as spelled), known as Ron Artest at the time (Ron Are-test), Jermaine O’Neal (Jer-main O-Neal), and Stephen Jackson (Steven Jackson).

Both teams were heated rivals and faced off in the Eastern Conference Finals in the previous season so there was already bad blood between the Pistons and the Pacers. The event started with 45.9 seconds left in the game with the Pacers up 97-82 Artest would foul Ben Wallace. Wallace took offense to this and forcefully shoved Artest. After the shove, Artest went to the scorer’s table and grabbed a microphone in an attempt to talk to a local reporter and remove himself from the situation while things escalated on the court. However, going to the scorer's table wound up making the situation so much worse. A fan threw a cup of beer at Artest that hit him.

As a result, he furiously stormed into the stands where he began a physical altercation with a man that he believed was the one that threw the cup. It was later found out that Artest had the wrong man. This is when chaos ensued and players came into the stands to help out their teammates fight fans and fans came out of the woodwork to test their might against their favorite NBA stars. This was the most violent situation

in a televised NBA game and is the only time that fans were involved in an altercation to that degree. This altercation basically ended any hopes to make the Finals for the Pacers and the Pistons also faced multiple suspensions. The suspended Pacers players were Ron Artest, who missed the rest of the season and playoffs, Stephen Jackson, who was suspended 30 games, Jermaine O’Neal, who was suspended 15 games, Anthony Johnson (Pronounced as spelled) who missed 5 games, and Reggie Miller (pronounced as spelled) who was suspended a single game.

The Pistons faced many suspensions as well, although they were not as harsh as those the Pacers faced. Ben Wallace was suspended 6 games, Chauncey Billups faced one game, Derrick Coleman (Pronounced as spelled) missed one game, and Elden Campbell (Pronounced as spelled) was also suspended one game. Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O’Neal, Anthony Johnson, and Anthony Harrison (pronounced as spelled) all faced legal action for their roles in the altercation as well. This is easily the most embarrassing situation, in NBA history and it tanked the Pacers season, while the Pistons faced their suspensions and still made the NBA Finals. It is arguable that they could have had a chance to win the Finals if they had all been able to play together in the games that they missed due to suspension.

2001-2005 Portland Jail Blazers

This is another special case of an embarrassing team. While most just have one main event or are focused on a single year, the Portland Trail Blazers had a trend of players being arrested or acquiring players in legal trouble. This earned them the nickname of the Portland “Jail

Blazers”. While there were countless off the court issues, the Jail Blazers actually did accomplish a lot on the court. They made the Western Conference Finals and even gave the Shaq and Kobe led Lakers trouble. However, the off the court and behavioral problems of the team held them back from the championship that they set out for. One issue came from Damon Stoudamire (Dame-on Stod-a-mire) and Rasheed Wallace. They were pulled over and caught smoking weed after a game against the Seattle Supersonics.

Another issue also game from Stoudamire after he was caught trying to sneak over an ounce of weed onto the team airplane. Some problems came from Qyntel Williams when he was caught running a dogfighting ring from his home and when he was pulled over by police he tried to show the office a basketball card as a form of identification. Darius Miles (Dare-ee-us Miles) was suspended multiple times for verbally assaulting head coach of the Trail Blazers at the time Maurice Cheeks (Mo-Reece Cheeks) included a suspension for calling Cheeks the n-word. The Trail Blazers signed Ruben Patterson after he was arrested and charged for the attempted rape of his family nanny. Zach Randolph (Zach Rand-of) caused multiple problems during his time in Portland. One incident was his punching teammate Rueben Patterson (Ru-Ben Patterson) so hard during a team practice that he shattered his eye socket.

Also, members of Randolph’s friend group viciously assaulted a man who was delivering weed to his Portland mansion. Lastly, shortly after Zach was traded from the Trail Blazers to the Knicks, he hosted a party at a Portland club that resulted in a huge brawl that

would end up getting the club shut down. While the Trail Blazers had an amazing team on the court, their chemistry and off the court problems would be their downfall and turn them into a notorious team of lawbreakers and troublemakers.

2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers

This Lakers team came the year after Shaq and Kobe’s notorious three-part run of NBA championships. During this off-season, they signed NBA veterans Gary Payton and Karl Malone, who were hunting to end their careers with an NBA championship that neither one of them was able to acquire in their primes. While they seemed to be perfectly fitted into the Lakers system, this is not how it panned out. Payton thrived in freedom offensively however, in coach Phil Jackson’s triangle offense, it allowed no freelance offense for Payton. In terms of Karl Malone’s problems, he just simply could not stay healthy when the Lakers needed him. He was over a decade into his career and his body could not handle the persistent wear and tear of another season. Also, the Lakers wanted them as a veteran presence to try to settle the brewing anger and negative energy in the locker room. This is something that they did their job to handle and did all they could, but even well-respected legends could not solve these locker room problems.

These problems came from the two players that were the reasons behind the Lakers three previous championships in a row, Shaquille O’Neal (Sha-queel O-Kneel) and Kobe Bryant (Ko-bee Bryant). The two wanted to have total control of the team and be known as the man in the most recognizable brand in the NBA. This caused much

tension between the two that came to a climax in this 2003-2004 season. To begin, Kobe Bryant was facing a sexual assault case that caused him to miss many games during the regular season for the Lakers and also, he was deeply hurt than none of his teammates reached out to him or spoke out in his support during his trial.

Also, this is the year that Shaq and Kobe took their beef to the media. They spoke very negatively about the other including a comment by Bryant in an interview with police in which he hinted at Shaq paying off women when he was found in a similar situation in which Bryant was in during this season. While they still made a trip to the NBA finals, all of the problems along with an elite Detroit Pistons defense would end up being too much for the star-studded Lakers.

After the season, it was made clear that the duo could not spend another year together. Shaq would be traded to the Miami Heat and the Kobe was made the head honcho of Los Angeles that would end up being a decision that the Lakers would not regret. He would go on to win two more championships for the franchise and would go down as the greatest Laker of all time. After their playing days, Shaq and Kobe reconciled and would end up being good friends and honorary uncles for the other’s children. This media firestorm that was caused by this team caused quite the embarrassing story considering the amount of championships that the due could have won if cooler heads would have prevailed and they would have

stuck together.

Final Thoughts

There are many ways for a team to be made a laughing stock or a side show in the NBA. No matter their play on the court, off the court issues, can be enough to dismantle championship teams and even potential dynasties. While coaching or front office ineptitude can be enough to form a team that simply cannot compete with the rest of the league. Stay tuned for more NBA content similar to this.