Biggest NBA Player and Team Disappointments This Season

Optimism abounds at the outset of every NBA campaign. The 82-game grind has a way of suppressing that for both teams and players.

There's a sliding scale of expectations, but it's probably fair to say the Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons have all struggled to live up to theirs.

By a similar token, a few players haven't quite lived up to their own individual standards. Nagging injuries could be to blame for the difficulties of Gary Harris or Eric Gordon. Discontent seems to have weighed on Dewayne Dedmon. A steeper-than-expected learning curve led to a slower-than-expected start from Mike Conley.

Whatever the reasons are, all of the above likely fell short of where they thought they'd be back in September and October. Some might even think the same of names like Nicolas Batum (his production pales in comparison to his salary), Terry Rozier (ditto), the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks or Phoenix Suns. But their results don't deviate too far from reasonable preseason expectations.

There's time for turnarounds for the Nets, Sixers, Gordon and Harris, but we'll still break down what went wrong (at least so far) for everyone.

Brooklyn Nets

Al Bello/Getty Images

Kevin Durant was never expected to play in 2019-20. Expectations were relatively tempered by that fact alone. But after the Nets went 42-40 last season, the switch from D'Angelo Russell to Kyrie Irving understandably had some looking for improvement.

Instead, Brooklyn is on pace for four more losses than it piled up last season. And the much-celebrated combination of general manager Sean Marks and head coach Kenny Atkinson is no more.

"The Nets are mutually parting ways with coach Kenny Atkinson," ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on Saturday. He went on to explain the seemingly out-of-the-blue move further: "Sean Marks and Atkinson had several conversations and the sense had been that a change was inevitable and both sides decided that there was no sense waiting on it. Both had felt that Atkinson and Nets had run course together. They have maintained a close relationship."

Nets Daily's Anthony Puccio, who reported, "[Some] of the players wanted him gone," offered something of a postmortem.

"Kenny Atkinson is the reason why the Nets are in this position," Puccio wrote. "He implemented a blue-collar identity into the culture and deserved a shot with the stars. Built something from nothing. The Brooklyn Nets have not practiced what they preached re culture. Atkinson will be coveted."

Now, Brooklyn was thrown a couple of curveballs. Certainly, it shouldn't be faulted for Kyrie's multiple injuries and the fact he only played in 20 games before he was shut down for the season following shoulder surgery. But that doesn't clear the organization of the "disappointment" label. 

To go from one of the feel-good stories of the league to one of its biggest question marks over the course of one season—the one that followed the signing of Irving and Durant—almost feels like more than a disappointment.

Mike Conley

Omar Rawlings/Getty Images

The last few weeks nearly saved Conley from consideration here. 

Over 12 games since his return to the Utah Jazz's starting five on Feb. 1, Conley has averaged 16.8 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 threes while shooting 44.6 percent from downtown. His season-long box plus/minus has crept above average, and he's starting to look like the player for whom Utah traded multiple rotation players and picks.

Prior to this stretch, though, Conley's time in Utah could be generously described as a struggle.

From the start of the season through January, he averaged 12.6 points while shooting 37.7 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three. He was conspicuously absent for most of the team's best stretch of the season, in which it won 19 of 21 games during December and January. And over the course of the season, the Jazz's net rating has been better with Conley off the floor.

"I think you need a Ph.D. to play here," Conley said of learning head coach Quin Snyder's complex system back in November. “They didn't tell us that before we came. ... It's just a lot of terminology, a lot of things that are different words than most of the rest of the NBA, which is great once you learn them all. Nobody really knows what you're saying because you are speaking a foreign language than the rest of the league—which is brilliant."

In addition to getting healthy, Conley now seems to have the language down.

It may not be fair to have expected that sooner, and Utah is still on pace for a win total in the mid-50s. But the slow start from the point guard making $32.5 million has still led to a bit of disappointment.

Philadelphia 76ers

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

FiveThirtyEight's Oct. 6 projection for the 76ers had them winning 58 games and posting a plus-6.9-point differential. They had a league-best 27 percent chance to win the title.

Fast forward to now, and the projected win total has dropped to 50. The point differential is now plus-2.8. And the title chances stand at 10 percent.

The offense is a mess, sitting at 17th in points per 100 possessions. It's a slightly better 13th in half-court situations, but even that doesn't exactly inspire dreams of title contention. That's where many expected Philadelphia to be.

Spacing is one of the key issues. The Sixers are middle of the pack in three-point percentage, and they rank a disappointing 19th in threes made per game. The lack of shooting from three from the biggest names—Al Horford, Joel Embiid (a combined 33.4 percent from deep) and Ben Simmons—has Philadelphia among the game's most congested attacks.

"Like I say from time to time, you don't know what you're getting," Embiid told reporters in February. "I don't know if I'm getting into the game and if I'm getting the ball or not. Spacing is an issue. Sometimes we play fast, sometimes we play slow."

If Philly can't figure out what it is before the postseason, a run toward a title may sputter out early.

Coach Brett Brown did make some kind of a move toward a new identity when he sent Horford to the bench in early February, but injuries to Embiid and Simmons delayed analysis of that lineup change.

In terms of top-end talent, there still aren't a ton of teams that can overwhelm the 76ers. If everyone is healthy and playing within the right rotation—Philly is minus-1.3 points per 100 possessions when Embiid and Horford share the floor, compared to plus-9.9 when Embiid is on the floor without Horford—the Sixers can make some noise.

But the confidence index has taken plenty of hits over the course of this season.

Dewayne Dedmon

Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

After averaging 10.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.3 threes, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in just 25.1 minutes per game in 2018-19, Dewayne Dedmon signed a three-year, $40 million deal with the Sacramento Kings.

He looked like exactly the kind of three-and-D center Sacramento needed to pull big men away from the rim, creating more room inside for De'Aaron Fox's slashing.

Just over two months into the regular season, things were going so badly that Dedmon publicly demanded a trade, earning him a $50,000 fine.

To that point, Dedmon was averaging 4.8 points and shooting 22.9 percent from three, a whopping 15.3 points lower than his 2018-19 mark.

Things haven't gotten much better since his move back to Atlanta, either. His steal percentage and block percentage have both ticked up, and the net-rating swing with Atlanta is positive, but he's still shooting just 20.7 percent from three over eight games with the Hawks.

If he can't figure out how to get back on track as the kind of rim-protecting, floor-spacing 5 he was looking like pre-Sacramento, it'll be tough for Dedmon to find a significant role over the last two years of his contract, especially with Clint Capela now in town.

Chicago Bulls

Gary Dineen/Getty Images

All the pieces seemed to fit together so well for the Chicago Bulls.

Tomas Satoransky was the kind of fundamentally sound, low-usage 1 that would allow Zach LaVine to dominate possessions. Otto Porter Jr. appeared to graduate past his three-and-D classification with 17.5 points and 2.6 threes in his first 15 games with the Bulls in 2018-19. Lauri Markkanen looked like a modern, floor-spacing big. Wendell Carter Jr. had the potential to be a Swiss Army knife 5.

Porter missing 51 games didn't help, but so much more than that has gone wrong for Chicago.

Going back to the FiveThirtyEight projections cited for Philly, the Bulls had a 53 percent chance to make the playoffs back on Oct. 6. They were expected to push for 40 wins.

Entering Sunday's slate of games, Chicago is on pace for 27 wins and has a minus-3.2-point differential.

Markkanen is shooting 33.7 percent from three. Carter's box plus/minus is actually worse than his rookie mark. Porter, again, has only appeared in 12 games. Satoransky's 32.3 three-point percentage is nearly five points below his career mark.

LaVine, averaging 25.5 points and 3.1 threes while shooting 38.0 percent from deep, is perhaps the only bright spot from that group.

The general lack of success was under a magnifying glass in February, when Chicago hosted All-Star Weekend.

"By the end of a hellish three days that saw the team savaged on the national stage by exasperated fans and the media's most prominent basketball voices, executives of the once-proud franchise were compelled, as a means of curbing the backlash, to leak information about plans to shake up the front office," The Ringer's Jake Malooley wrote. "There were ultimately more notable performances by the Luvabulls cheerleaders than any actual Bulls."

Rookie Coby White has since provided reason for optimism, averaging 25.8 points and shooting 42.9 percent from three since the All-Star break. Kris Dunn's defense deserves praise (even though he's out long term with a knee injury).

But in a season that should've ended with a run at a playoff spot, the Bulls should have had more than silver linings.

Eric Gordon

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

On Jan. 27, Eric Gordon scored 50 points on 14-of-22 shooting and led the Houston Rockets, who were without James Harden and Russell Westbrook, to a win over the playoff-bound Jazz in Utah.

It was that performance that has made the rest of Gordon's season somewhat difficult to comprehend.

Over his other 32 appearances, he has averaged 13.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 35.7 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from three.

Almost half of Gordon's field-goal attempts this season have been of the catch-and-shoot variety. His effective field-goal percentage on those shots is 42.1, a mark that is startlingly shy of the 54.3 average for all catch-and-shoot attempts in 2019-20.

Certainly, the knee problems that necessitated a midseason surgery should be taken into account. That's a pretty important body part for a basketball player, even if his job is primarily about being an outlet for Harden and Westbrook drives.

But even with the built-in and valid excuse, Houston almost certainly expected more this season.

After averaging 16.8 points and shooting 36.4 percent from deep in his first three seasons with the Rockets, Gordon signed a sizable four-year, $75.6 million extension in 2019. The team's net rating was 5.5 points better with Gordon on the floor over that span.

If Houston wants to have a shot at upsetting the Los Angeles Lakers or Los Angeles Clippers in the postseason, it needs Gordon to get back to being that kind of ceiling-raiser.

If defenses are forced to send one of their better players to watch Gordon on the perimeter, they'll have less to throw at Harden and Westbrook. That bona fide third option is almost a requirement for contention.

Detroit Pistons

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

After going 41-41 and making the playoffs in 2019, the Detroit Pistons should have had cautious hopes for a return this season.

Blake Griffin was 14th in wins over replacement player. Andre Drummond was 35th. The Pistons were plus-5.8 points per 100 possessions (84th percentile) when both were on the floor.

Now, Detroit—which had a 51 percent chance at the playoffs in the preseason—is all but eliminated from the NBA's big dance. Drummond is a Cavalier. 

After having perhaps the best season of his career in 2018-19, Griffin managed just 18 appearances before having season-ending surgery on his left knee.

The Pistons are in full-on tank mode now. Markieff Morris and Reggie Jackson both received buyouts. Sixteen players have now started games for this team, and it's currently on pace for fewer than 30 wins.

On the bright side, Christian Wood—passed up by the 76ers, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans—has emerged from this rebuild to look like a franchise cornerstone.

Since Feb. 1, he's averaging 20.8 points and 9.4 rebounds while shooting 53.5 percent from the field and 38.6 percent from three. His season-long box plus/minus ranks in the top 40 leaguewide.

Going from the last guy on the roster to the closest thing to hope is a story worth celebrating, but it can't be the one Pistons fans expected going into this campaign.

Gary Harris

Kent Smith/Getty Images

Gary Harris has perked up a bit of late, averaging 10.9 points and shooting 53.8 percent from three over his last 10 games, but his season-long numbers remain discouraging.

Entering Sunday's action, he was averaging 10.3 points while shooting 41.6 percent from the field and 32.5 percent from three. Meanwhile, one of his backups, Malik Beasley, has averaged 22.0 points while shooting 42.7 percent from three since being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Like Eric Gordon, Harris' struggles could be tied closely to injuries, but that may only change the reason for the disappointment, not the severity.

Right after signing a four-year, $84 million extension, Harris averaged 17.5 points and shot 39.6 percent from three in 2017-18. He looked like an ideal complement to superstar center Nikola Jokic.

His production plummeted in 2018-19, but coach Michael Malone looked at that as a detour rather than the course of Harris' career going forward.

"Gary had a tough year because of the injuries and finding that rhythm and consistency," Malone said after Denver was eliminated from the 2019 playoffs, according to The Athletic's Nick Kosmider. "But in my four years in Denver, Gary has been the picture of consistency."

Unfortunately, whether injury-induced or not, the descent continued into 2019-20, which was supposed to be Harris' opportunity to bounce back.

There's still time, of course. If Denver wants to make a real push against the West's elites in the postseason, Harris will have to find his 2017-18 form (or, at the very least, something close to it).

In many games this season, the Nuggets have found themselves in need of one more spark beyond Jokic and Jamal Murray. For a while, it looked like Harris would be that player for years to come.

Now, it's getting more difficult to see that potential.