10 Sports Franchises That Need to Hit Reset Right Now
Hitting the reset button. It's a term sports fans don't like to hear ring through their ears. Sort of like Beethoven's music, if Beethoven was a four-year-old who just found his way over to a drum set.
The reality of the situation is, starting over is something all franchises need from time to time. Contenders aren't built overnight—minus the Miami Heat's Big Three.
We wanted to know, what franchises could benefit from going nuclear and pressing the red button? Scaling over today's landscape, 10 teams stood out.
That's not to say there aren't more than 10 franchises that could use a total reboot. But these particular teams are in desperate need of a new identity to make them long-term contenders.
Whether they've partially realized it or have no clue they need an overhaul, let's check out 10 sports franchises that need to hit the reset button.
Houston Rockets
1 of 10
Logic dictates if a team makes it to the NBA playoffs, they don't need to change course. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out like that.
The Houston Rockets are looking more and more like a franchise in disarray one year removed from reaching the Western Conference Finals. With two superstars on the team in James Harden and Dwight Howard, you'd think the Rockets would have enough firepower to continuously contend for an NBA championship.
But this season, their 41-41 record and the fact they canned their head coach, Kevin McHale, 11 games into the 2015-16 campaign signifies all sorts of problems.
Watching them on the court can only be described as apathetic. And at the crux of it, this is why the Rockets should blow it up and start over.
Picking one superstar to build around while bringing in a new, polished coach could be all they need to make it back to the Western Conference Finals. It's now up to management to head in that direction.
San Francisco 49ers
2 of 10
In a sense, the San Francisco 49ers have already pushed the reset button. Hiring Chip Kelly to take over as head coach signifies a sparkling new era of football in the Bay Area.
Sure, Kelly's tenure in Philadelphia hit its fair share of divots and rough spots. Be that as it may, the fact remains he did cobble together two 10-6 seasons in three years before he was canned.
The 49ers are a team looking to rebound. They're two seasons removed from winning 12 games and playing for the NFC Championship, yet today, the team looks completely different.
It's going to be up to general manager Trent Baalke to retool this roster, and Kelly to get the pieces moving in the right direction—especially quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Working within the confines of a brutal NFC West division could slow the process down. But if anyone can spark an offensive revolution—for a team that was ranked No. 31 last year in total offense—it's Coach Kelly.
Los Angeles Lakers
3 of 10
Succeeding in professional basketball can be starkly different from other sports. Take the draft for example. This process isn't like the NFL, where it's usually rich with talent.
The pool of "game-changing" players is usually shallow, leaving lottery teams searching for the right answer. This means that finding stars through free agency matters, unless you get lucky or plan on enduring a 10-year rebuild.
Los Angeles is a city that doesn't tolerate failure. The Lakers—and recently, Clippers—have maintained a winning, vibrant culture. All-time NBA greats have passed through these palm tree-laden streets on their way to winning titles.
Kobe Bryant's recent departure, mixed together with a putrid 17-win season, demands a thunderous mashing of the reset button.
How the Lakers think they're going to get back to contending for an NBA title is anyone's idea. The fact remains, all of us understand that it has to happen—as does general manager Mitch Kupchak, per Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Daily News.
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San Diego Padres
4 of 10
The first step to fixing any problem is actually acknowledging it exists. And in San Diego, the Padres don't seem to understand that they're not contenders quite yet.
Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune discussed how the Padres' management doesn't think they're in a rebuilding mode. If that's actual gospel and not lucid hyperbole, it's sort of staggering.
Remember, this is a team that hasn't won 80 games since 2010. It's early, but a 5-9 start to the 2016 season doesn't bode well for this club breaking that streak in a stacked National League West.
A strong focus on creating a concise farm system and securing veteran talent to go along with that nucleus could be a surefire remedy to turning their misfortunes around. The question now is, when will that transition take place?
New York Knicks
5 of 10
Are the New York Knicks rebuilding? Do they think their current core of players is enough to make them eventual contenders? It's definitely an uneasy time to be a Knicks fan.
Phil Jackson's arrival as team president two years ago came with a lofty $12 million per year price tag and even loftier expectations. So far, it's been nothing but heartache—outside of Kristaps Porzingis' rookie year.
Jackson first hired Derek Fisher to coach the team. He lasted 136 games.
The Knicks are coming off another season with 50 losses attached to their record, and now, rumors about Jackson departing for Los Angeles, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, have left the team in continued disarray.
At this juncture, elbowing the reset button could work wonders. Whether that means trading Carmelo Anthony to a contender to acquire assets or not remains to be seen.
Either way, Jackson, Anthony, even owner James Dolan, could benefit from seeing this current project get a fresh makeover.
Philadelphia Eagles
6 of 10
Chip Kelly's name is all over two slides on this list. One is more of an optimistic approach, while the other is the Philadelphia Eagles.
It's not that the Eagles don't have talent. Fletcher Cox, Jordan Matthews and Brandon Graham are prime examples of vital playmakers.
The biggest concern for the Eagles, and the reason they've changed direction, is that a lot of talent has been purged from the roster. Two years ago, this team had DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy as an offensive trio.
Now they're left with Sam Bradford, Darren Sproles and Matthews.
Newly minted head coach Doug Pederson is the first step in the post-Kelly healing process. If he can grab control of the team, finding a new identity will be that much easier.
The one thing we do know is that it's time to restore the Eagles back to NFC greatness.
New York Yankees
7 of 10
Demanding the New York Yankees reset their way of thinking is a tough sell so early into the 2016 MLB season. There's a lot of baseball left to be played, and the Yankees' 5-7 record is middle of the road at the moment.
Our focus on the Yanks changing their ways is based more on the long-term picture. The Yankees roster isn't overly "old." By ESPN's count, the team ranks No. 10 in age, clocking in with an average of 29 years old. The main issue arises from the way they've attempted to renovate on the fly.
"What has to be noticed here, unlike very few teams, what we’ve done, is we can’t rebuild here," Yankees president Randy Levine told the press, per Kevin Kernan of the New York Post.
Essentially, what he means is that the Yankees are always attempting to win, adjusting their roster along the way. That doesn't usually work, and as baseball's paradigm shifts, this club will have to further evaluate that strategy.
Whether they reach postseason action or not, the Yankees could benefit from hitting the reset button. Look at the New York Mets. Tireless trades and scouting over the years propelled them into the 2015 World Series and set a strong course for the future.
Needless to say, it will be fascinating to see how the Yankees plan on returning to the top of the American League.
Aston Villa
8 of 10
What in the world happened to Aston Villa? The club was decisively relegated from the Premier League this season, prompting manager Eric Black to demand a rebuild, as Paul Wilson over at the Guardian reported.
Sitting dead last in the standings, Aston Villa has barely been able to stay afloat. They've won three games this season compared to 24 losses.
This relegation isn't a huge surprise. Villa did finish No. 17 out of 20 last season.
All this tells us is that the reset button should be smashed to pieces with a hammer. It's time to retool this club and find a way to compete once again.
If the improbable run by Leicester City to the top of the Premier League has shown us anything, it's that positive change can happen quickly. Aston Villa should take notes and find a way to emulate that formula.
New Orleans Saints
9 of 10
It's time for the New Orleans Saints to get in there and alter the direction of this franchise.
The great Drew Brees is now 37 years old. As the engine of head coach Sean Payton's offense, Brees' time could be dwindling, which means this offense will need to undergo a massive transition.
New Orleans has been an exciting team dating back to that memorable 2009 Super Bowl win. But the last two seasons have resulted in identical 7-9 records.
This team has to find an identity past the shores of mediocrity.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported that the Saints could be hunting for an heir to Brees' throne if the opportunity arises in this year's draft. That's a good start, but it's important to remember their defense also surrendered a league-worst 29.8 points per game in '15.
Change on both sides of the ball needs to come soon, or the Saints will linger around the 7-9 mark forever.
Brooklyn Nets
10 of 10
The Brooklyn Nets decimated themselves by dealing a gauntlet of picks to the Boston Celtics in exchange for an aging Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in 2013.
Once perceived as a blockbuster deal, the star-studded swap has since resulted in the slow demise of this Brooklyn franchise. Chris Forsberg and Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.com broke down the ramifications of the deal for the Nets: "But Brooklyn was unable to win a championship, and currently finds itself in a massive hole because of its old win-now, big-spending, star-chasing strategy."
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has also publicly admitted it's time now to tear down the wall and start with a blank canvas. "I have to look at the reality and make a change if things are not going in the right direction," he told the press.
A total reset is needed. That means the entire roster has to be purged in favor of fresh bodies—including moving current centerpiece Brook Lopez.
All stats and information via Sports-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.
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