Power Ranking the 10 Worst NBA Teams Heading into Next Season

Similar to the police blotter or even the famed Mitchell Report, this is not a desirable list to be a part of.

When it comes down to inclusion on the power ranking of the worst 10 NBA teams heading into next season, there are a variety of reasons these teams have landed in this predicament.

Some have suffered from atrocious drafting or consistent losses on the trade market. Others have had their share of past successes, but now have seen their former stars shining for another franchise.

Whatever the reason for belonging on the list, these teams clearly have work to do before challenging for a spot on a favorable power-ranking list. After all, that is the top goal for an NBA franchise, right?

If you find yourself living in any of the forthcoming markets, do yourself a favor and avoid the phone calls and emails of the ticket sales people. Be advised, they will not be nearly as brutally honest as this ranking will.

10. Washington Wizards

2011-12 Record: 20-46 (14th in Eastern Conference)

Credit Washington for sacrificing some talent in their pursuit of removing low character from their evolving locker room.

It began with the badly needed trade of Gilbert Arenas in December 2010. Over the next 18 months, Washington continued by cutting ties with the frustratingly inconsistent JaVale McGee and Nick Young, concluding with using the amnesty clause on Andray Blatche in July 2012.

The Wizards' front office has done everything it can to put this team in position to win, so now, the focus of the organization turns to the court.

Here's where Washington may still be a year or two away from playoff contention.

While their starting lineup has been bolstered with veteran additions like Emeka Okafor, Nene (acquired in the McGee trade last season), Trevor Ariza along with, perhaps, this class' most talented rookie in Bradley Beal, Washington needs dramatic improvement from John Wall.

Unless Beal earns an All-Star appearance this season, the Wizards will live and die with their young point guard. His career scoring (16.3) and assist (8.2) totals have been impressive, but he must improve his shooting (41.6 perecent) and lower his turnovers (3.8) for Washington to enter the playoff picture.

They're not far from contention, but putting all of these moving pieces together this season may be out of the question.

9. Detroit Pistons

2011-12 Record: 25-41 (10th in Eastern Conference)

The Pistons may have the best young nucleus of any team on this list in point guard Brandon Knight and big man Greg Monroe.

But, any delusions of competing this season should have been curbed when the team selected ultimate project pick 19-year-old Andre Drummond with the eighth selection of the 2012 NBA draft.

Detroit managed to move Ben Gordon (and his remaining two-year, $25.6 million) for Corey Maggette (with just one year left on his deal at $10.9 million) to provide financial relief for next season. But Maggette's 37.3 percent shooting from the floor in an injury-shortened year last season shows this was nothing more than a salary dump.

Detroit's front office is clearly thinking beyond next season, and it'd be wise for the fanbase to follow suit.

8. Cleveland Cavaliers

2011-12 Record: 21-45 (13th in Eastern Conference)

Credit the Cavaliers' front office, they do not miss with the No. 1 pick (LeBron James and Kyrie Irving).

It's just that fourth overall pick that they've struggled with.

June 2011, Cleveland shocked draft experts when they reached for underwhelming Texas freshman Tristan Thompson at the fourth spot. After posting 13.1 points and 7.8 rebounds, Thompson was every bit the project pick that Drummond was, minus Drummond's 7'0", 280-lb frame (Thompson measures in at just 6'9", 227-lbs)

Fast forward 12 months and Cleveland again threw the first wrench in the NBA draft board, opting for Syracuse sixth man Dion Waiters with the fourth pick. Despite spending most of the season projected near the end of the first round, Waiters can thank an unfounded Dwyane Wade comparison from ESPN's John Hollinger for his dramatic rise.

Waiters may well deserve a comparison to Wade with his 6'4", 216-lb frame, but his underwhelming stats during two years at Syracuse (9.7 points) almost make the comparison laughable given the 19.7 points that Wade managed at Marquette.

If there's a silver lining for Cleveland fans, it's the fact that Irving has more significant injuries (two) than years played in the NBA (one) so maybe they're not out of the running from getting another crack at the top pick.

7. Portland Trail Blazers

2011-12 Record: 28-38 (11th in Western Conference)

Portland fans may rightfully cringe if former Trail Blazer All-Star Brandon Roy contributes with the Minnesota Timberwolves but count those fans lucky if that's the most cringe-worthy aspect of next season.

These are far from the playoff-contending teams headlined by Roy just a few short seasons ago. At best, they're average, and they're a few poor performances from unproven talent and (rookies Damian Lillard, Meyers Leonard and European Joel Freeland) away from being bad.

LaMarcus Aldridge continues to improve his game (21.7 points and eight rebounds last year), but what's left of his supporting cast hardly deserves even being called that.

Late season, waiver pickup J.J. Hickson's 19 games in Portland constituted the team's second-best scorer (15.1) and top rebounder (8.3).

Starting point guard Raymond Felton was traded to the New York Knicks and supersub Jamal Crawford signed a free-agent deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews each have lofty contracts to live up to (four-year, $46 million and five-year, $35 million, respectively), but have yet to consistently perform anywhere near those levels.

6. Sacramento Kings

2011-12 Record: 22-44 (14th in Western Conference)

Sacramento clearly holds the ability to add talent, but they've struggled to make that talent mesh.

Of course, it doesn't help when you target DeMarcus Cousins and then a slew of combo guards as a solution to changing your franchise.

Tyreke Evans was a cornerstone point guard just two years ago and now appears a very disgruntled, undersized small forward. It's hard to blame Keith Smart for making the move, given the ineptitude of John Salmons (7.5 points) and Francisco Garcia (4.8 points) last season.

Jimmer Fredette already hopes to eek out a J.J. Redick-esque existence as a long-range threat and not much more, and Isaiah Thomas faces new challenges in building on his impressive rookie campaign with free agent Aaron Brooks coming on board.

With Cousins entrenched on the front line, Sacramento will need to find a counterpart for him among Jason Thompson, Chuck Hayes, James Johnson and rookie Thomas Robinson.

If Robinson's Las Vegas Summer League stats are any indication of his potential impact for this season (13.0 points on 34.4 percent shooting), Smart may struggle to find who's the least worst among that group.

5. Phoenix Suns

2011-12 Record: 33-33 (10th in Western Conference)

Phoenix fans may want to start compiling a Steve Nash highlight reel.

That might be the last exciting Suns basketball that they see for a while.

This day was coming for a while. Everyone knew it. But his departure (combined with that of Grant Hill) has shed light on just how little talent Nash was working with.

Phoenix holds a few intriguing complementary pieces, but there's nothing resembling a star among them.

Luis Scola and Marcin Gortat form an adequate frontcourt, but neither player is the type of post presence that can be counted on creating offense.

That's a glaring weakness, considering the Suns lack proven playmakers in their backcourt. Rookie Kendall Marshall was the best pure point-guard prospect of his peers, but he'll need to find some semblance of a jump shot to be successful.

Save for a visit to the fountain of youth for Michael Redd, this season may be one for reminiscing in the desert.

4. New Orleans Hornets

2011-12 Record: 21-45 (15th in Eastern Conference)

The biggest even in New Orleans' offseason may have been Blake Griffin's torn meniscus, which thrust Anthony Davis into the Olympics.

The 19-year-old is the centerpiece of not only leading New Orleans out of the Chris Paul era, but also leading them out of the Western Conference's cellar.

So what better environment to expose him to than a Team USA roster packed with franchise-leading talent?

Still, if any expectations have emerged from London, they have to be tempered considering the incredible lack of talent on the Hornets roster.

The question marks surrounding the roster start at the top, with the unproven Davis, the oft-injured Eric Gordon (who's missed 103 games the past three seasons) and possible one-year wonder Ryan Anderson (who's 16.1 points per game last year were nearly six higher than his previous best) headlining coach Monty Williams' team.

After those three, it's hard to find reasons for significant optimism. Fellow rookie Austin Rivers could be missing key developmental time with an ankle surgery while the rest of New Orleans' roster appears a recycling bin for other team's trash (Al-Farouq Aminu, Jason Smith, Hakim Warrick and Roger Mason Jr.).

3. Houston Rockets

2011-12 Record: 34-32 (Ninth in Western Conference)

With Dwight Howard in Los Angeles, it's time to call Houston's superstar pursuit a resounding failure.

What's worse is that not only did the Rockets fail to acquire a superstar now, they also now lack the resources to acquire one in the near future.

Their departures may not be stars, but plenty of proven commodities no longer call Houston home: Luis Scola, Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Samuel Dalembert, Courtney Lee, Marcus Camby and Chase Budinger.

They still have proven scorer Kevin Martin.

After that, their most proven asset is...Chandler Parsons? Patrick Patterson, maybe?

They do hold some (overpriced) intrigue in Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik. And they managed some intriguing choices in the 2012 NBA draft, but to be fair, those intriguing choices were available at the 12th (Jeremy Lamb), 16th (Royce White) and 18th (Terrence Jones) picks.

This is the type of roster that may make Kevin McHale rethink his return to the sidelines.

2. Charlotte Bobcats

2011-12 Record: 7-59 (15th in Eastern Conference)

Charlotte will be better than last year. They nearly have to be given how inept that group was.

With an eye toward their offeason additions (considering that those players weren't part of the NBA's worst regular season performance), Charlotte took baby steps out of the league's cellar.

The Bobcats grabbed Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with the second pick of the draft, but their bigger coup for this year may be the more NBA-ready Jeff Taylor (31st pick).

Taylor joins Ben Gordon (acquired from Detroit) and free agents Ramon Sessions and Brendan Haywood in likely additions to Charlotte's rotation.

Of course, when these are the caliber of players who could be dramatic improvements over last season, that says a lot of about the ineptness of last year's group.

Kemba Walker still needs a playmaker to initiate the offense, so he can fill his natural role of scoring guard, and Tyrus Thomas still hasn't developed into the player we all thought he could be (we are done waiting, correct?).

There are glaring holes up and down Charlotte's roster, but at least this season should be a step in the right direction.

1. Orlando Magic

2011-12 Record: 37-29 (Sixth in Eastern Conference)

It's hard to think of a worse way for the Dwight Howard situation to have played out for Orlando.

The best piece that emerged from the Howard trade was the Magic's own draft pick over the next few seasons.

In terms of talent, Arron Afflalo was the most talented piece that Orlando brought back. Afflalo is an average NBA starting guard, on his best day.

Al Harrington could end up the most productive player acquired next season, because he'll have plenty of opportunities to let it fly and let if fly he will.

The rest of the players brought in (Josh McRoberts, Nikola Vucevic, Christian Eyenga and rookie Moe Harkless) are either unproven, or for Orlando's behalf, hopefully not yet proven to be wastes of a roster space. As for the five draft picks coming from likely playoff rosters, they'll be lucky to find three bench pieces among them.

Orlando's thought process is easy to follow because it's better to be awful than adequate in today's NBA. And Orlando should be atrocious this year.