5 NBA Teams That Won't Be Contending for a Title Anytime Soon

The NBA is an incredibly competitive experience that is both mind-blowing and entertaining for the fans, but what happens when fans of a particular team do not have much to cheer for?

Rebuilding is a brutal, yet sometimes necessary state of any NBA franchise, and while we may know such an era is a process and investment for the future, it is difficult to endure. This is especially true when a particular team does not have a clear cut direction for their future.

Sometimes, a team knows it's rebuilding but takes a longer than anticipated time to do so. The absolute worst is when a team is tanking while refusing to admit it needs to rebuild, wasting precious time that could have been spent searching for a cornerstone to build upon.

The reason why players compete and we cheer them on is because of championship aspirations. The pursuit of an NBA title should be the end goal for every organization and its fans.

It is why we suffer through rebuilding processes, roster upheavals and personnel blitzes. A championship is everything, which is why it becomes excruciatingly difficult to stand idly by when a team is neither contending for one nor presenting a clear blueprint to contend for one in the future. 

And at the risk of disappointing more than a few fans of specific teams, let's take a look at five NBA franchises that will not be contending for a title anytime soon.

Detroit Pistons

Let's be honest, there are more than just choppy waters ahead for the Detroit Pistons organization, who finished 30-52 last season, and are poised for an even worse finish next year.

Right now, Detroit is a team that has openly been rebuilding but has not established a clear cut rhyme to any of their reasoning.

Richard Hamilton and his bloated contract are being shopped and key players Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince are free agents, and it remains unclear as to what the organization will do with either of them.

Stuckey averaged averaged a cool 15.2 points and 5.2 assists per game last season, but in a thin point guard market he is likely to draw interest from plenty of other teams. Will the Pistons match a substantial offer the restricted free agent gets from another team, or in the interest of saving payroll instead of face, will they let him go?

Prince is a versatile swingman whose veteran presence could prove invaluable in the locker room, but his price tag could prove to be a little high for Detroit and he may opt to finish out his career with a contending team.

Additionally, the Pistons' selection of Brandon Knight with the eighth overall pick in this year's draft wasn't exactly embraced. Is the point guard out of Kentucky supposed to serve as Stuckey's replacement or is he just another guard in the arsenal?

Knight is not viewed by many as true point guard material. His shooting is stellar, but his ball-handling is questionable, not a quality you look for in a floor general.

Then we have Ben Gordon, who will earn $11.6 million next season and has not lived up to the high hopes Detroit had for him when they signed him. Last season he averaged 11.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, mediocre stats at best.

It also became evident he was a liability on defense. Yet amidst all this, the Pistons would rather shop the veteran Hamilton, who is good for more points per game at 14.1, even though he is five years Gordon's elder.

Detroit once proved that a team could win a title without a bona fide superstar. And in a sense they are the same type of team, one still without a proven superstar, minus and near-future title hopes. 

Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns, largely due in part to the presence of Steve Nash, are an interesting enough team to watch, yet their rebuilding process or lack of admittance to one, has no clear path to it.

Channing Frye and Marcin Gortat are two solid frontcourt performers, yet they should serve as only the beginning to the process.

Their selection of Markieff Morris, especially with his brother Marcus still available, was questionable at best, and Aaron Brooks is a solid enough point guard, but he isn't going to be making any All Star appearance in the near future, especially behind Nash.

And speaking of Nash, what are the Suns playing at by refusing to shop him? His expiring contract is a very valuable asset that could be used to acquire any number of players who would fill one of their voids.

Sure, the Suns could let his contract come off the books and make a play in free agency, but that may prove difficult with Josh Childress' bloated contract. However, if they move Nash, there may be teams willing to take on Childress' contract as well.

Or why not move him to the New York Knicks, who would be willing to part with an expiring contract in Chauncey Billups as well as an asset in Iman Shumpert, whom Phoenix is very fond of and would serve as a valuable pillar for the future?

Yes, I'm completely aware that Vince Carter's $18 million contract is also coming off the books next year as well, giving the Suns some serious cap room to play with, but what is going to be their pitch in free agency?

Frye and Gortat are solid young players, but they are not going to convince the likes of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard and players of that caliber to come to the Suns.

Additionally, the Suns are at a disadvantage because of the smaller market they play in.

With the emergence of the "big three" concept, you would be hard-pressed to find a star willing to bolt to a small market team without another star to play alongside.

Phoenix needs to move either Carter or Nash to get that player that is bound to make a major impact as well as catch the attention of prospective free agents.

Could this all still happen? Sure, but as of right now, the Suns do not seem to have a plan to climb back to the top.

They have their spots where the outlook seems promising, but they also have aspects of their team that are confusing.

It seems as if they have refused to admit they need to enter a rebuilding process, and for a team that was contending for an NBA title less than two years ago, this is extremely troublesome. 

Cleveland Cavaliers

We all remember when Dan Gilbert proclaimed that the Cleveland Cavaliers would win an NBA title before LeBron James would, and while fans would love to believe in this, it has got to be fairly difficult at this point.

The Cavs are coming off of a 19-63 season and the new face of their franchise, Kyrie Irving, was a widely-criticized selection in this year's draft.

Cleveland may be a relatively young team, but what direction are they going in? The Cavs have not sidestepped rebuilding notions, but their path back to contention is going to take much longer than fans would prefer.

Irving showed some promise while at Duke, but many thought the Cavs would have been better served selecting Derrick Williams, the prolific swingman, out of Arizona. And selecting Tristan Thompson with the fourth overall pick has almost been universally dubbed a mistake.

Players like Daniel Gibson and Ramon Sessions are promising, yet both play the point guard position, and when you add Irving and veteran Baron Davis to the mix, overcrowded only begins to describe it.

Anderson Varejao is a rebounding machine, but he is not a proven low-post scorer, and while Antawn Jamison can still be effective, at 35, he doesn't have much gas left in the tank. And Thompson is not going to amount to the type of prolific low-post player a team can build around.

Yes, Cleveland is still reeling from LeBron James' departure, and while you have to admire Gilbert's public optimism, you have to wonder if he truly believes it.

Cavalier fans can take solace in knowing that their team is not refusing to rebuild, yet they may lose sleep wondering where the team goes from here.

Does Cleveland have that cornerstone player to build around? Perhaps, in Irving, they do, but many seem to think they don't. And after him there is no one on the roster potentially talented enough to assume such responsibility.

My intent here is not to ridicule the Cavs or the fans, but to call into question their rebuilding tactics. Cleveland certainly wants to become relevant again, but they just don't seem to know how.

While it is unclear whether or not LeBron's personal quest for a title will be short-lived, it is clear it will be quite some time before the Cavs are even near that level again.

If the Miami Heat's quick rise to the final last year was any indication though, Gilbert may want to consider issuing a retraction. 

Charlotte Bobcats

Despite finishing last season with a 34-48 record, the Charlotte Bobcats witnessed the emergence of point guard D.J. Augustin, undoubtedly a plus, but in terms of overall team direction there is no such luck.

Michael Jordan's Bobcats are a relatively young team, and while Augustin seems poised to cross the threshold into superstardom, who is Charlotte going to put around him?

This year, the Bobcats fought to get Kemba Walker, and they succeeded, but it is unclear whether a backcourt of he and Augustin will be effective.

Actually, it is questionable as to if Walker can even be effective as an undersized shooting guard in this league. He has promise, but his production is nowhere near guaranteed.

Gerald Henderson is also a promising guard but is there room for all three of them in the backcourt? Charlotte seems headed toward a Golden State dilemma with three capable backcourt players who can all run the point.

Additionally, while many would hope that the Bobcats took a step in the right direction by selecting Bismack Biyombo, who has drawn comparisons to Kevin Garnett, there is a very real chance he proves to be a bust. He did not impress at his NBA workouts, causing one NBA scout to say that he "played a game of one-on-none and lost."

What is Charlotte's backup plan if Biyombo turns out to be a bust? Better yet, how long does the team give him before they deem him a bust?

The Bobcats cannot wait around forever because while patience is a virtue and a capable big man goes a long way, failure to act can prove devastating.

Just to add more fuel to the fire, Augustin is a restricted free agent next summer and while the Bobcats would sure love to keep him around, what happens if a combination of him and Walker proves volatile?

What if Augustin does not warm up to the idea of playing alongside him? What if Augustin is not impressed with the direction of this team and works hard to find the exit? It seems trivial now, but this could become a very real problem.

Personally, I think that Walker and Augustin should do fine together, but they can only be the beginning, and I do not think Biyombo is ever going to live up to his potential, and the rest of the Bobcats roster is not impressive, nor has the team given any indication as to where they are headed.

Could the Bobcats have a pair of real commodities in Augustin and Walker? Sure, but aside from them the team currently does not have much to boast, and any potential commodity they have to boast that could help them contend is at least three years away from being fully developed.

It's going to be a long wait before the Bobcats and their fan base before they are title contenders.

New Orleans Hornets

The New Orleans hornets cap off this list of teams that will not be contending for a title anytime soon, and as the only squad listed that made the playoffs last year, their appearance may seem a bit puzzling, but you better believe that their inclusion is completely justified.

After a 46-36 finish last season and an impressively hard-fought display against the second-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the postseason, New Orleans should be a team that is headed in the right direction. Unfortunately though, they aren't.

Next season, or rather post-lockout, Chris Paul's drama is sure to spread throughout the basketball world like wildfire, and most, including yours truly, believe he will opt to take his talents elsewhere. Where? The Knicks? The Mavericks? Who knows, but it doesn't really matter.

Even if the Hornets trade Paul and get some kind of value in return for the star point-guard, the only promising replacement was already in their possession, and they opted to ship him off to the Indiana Pacers. I'm speaking, of course, about Darren Collison.

Additionally, both David West and Carl Landry are unrestricted free agents this summer, and it is unlikely that New Orleans pays to retain both players.

West had a career year averaging 18.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, yet at 30, the dollar-pinching Hornets may not offer him the type of contract another team will.

Landry is slightly younger and could prove to be had at less of a cost, but even his 11.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game may get him better money from another organization.

Tell me, how exactly do the Hornets convince Paul to commit long-term if both of those guys walk? Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor and Jarrett Jack are solid players, but a combination of them and Paul isn't contending for titles anytime soon.

The worst part of it all for New Orleans is that the rebuilding process cannot officially begin until the Paul situation is resolved, which won't be until the middle of next season at the earliest.

And once it is resolved, with the almost certain departure of Paul, where does Charlotte go from there? I'm not saying the Hornets will never become contenders, but it will certainly be awhile before they are.

Should New Orleans keep the current group in tact for another season, the playoffs become a realistic goal, but legitimate title contenders is not a title that would pertain to them.

Unfortunately for the Hornets and their fans, it looks as if the team reached its peak for the near-future this past season.

And now it's time to cue their steady, long-lasting decline into mediocrity, or perhaps worse.