As of July 2019, which is the historically worst NBA franchise?

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this was inspired by this post on the washington wizards/bullets all time scorers: 100% NBA STATS 2018/19

it made me think bc this is a franchise with an nba title! and theyve been hot garbage as a franchise for decades.

this is tough bc there are teams like the wiz and the cavs and the kings (back in the 50s!) etc have all won titles but have spent many years being garbage. then there are teams like denver who've never even been to the finals but have been consistently ok.

im automatically eliminating all repeat nba champs by default EXCEPT for the knicks bc executive decision. so no celts, lakerz, dubs, bulls, spurs, sixers, pistons, heat, or rockets. also not including defunct franchises for obv reasons.

only including previous nba team names in the poll options bc nj americans is such a terrible team name.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
charlotte hornets (bobcats) 6
la clippers (buffalo braves/sd clippers) 5
sacramento kings (rochester seagrams/rochester eber seagrams/rochester pros/rochester royals/cincinnati royals/kansas c 4
minnesota timberwolves 3
atlanta hawks (buffalo bisons/tri-cities blackhawks/milwaukee hawks/st louis hawks) 1
indiana pacers 1
washington wizards (chicago packers/chicago zephyrs/baltimore bullets/washington bullets) 1
brooklyn nets (ny nets/nj nets) 1
utah jazz (new orleans jazz) 0
toronto raptors 0
portland trail blazers 0
phoenix suns 0
oklahoma city thunder (seattle supersonics) 0
new york knicks 0
new orleans pelicans (charlotte hornets sr./new orleans hornets) 0
cleveland cavaliers 0
milwaukee bucks 0
memphis grizzlies (vancouver grizzlies) 0
dallas mavericks 0
denver nuggets 0


Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 00:26 (five years ago)

numbers 4 u: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_franchise_post-season_droughts

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 00:29 (five years ago)

also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_all-time_NBA_win-loss_records

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 00:32 (five years ago)

could have be a dm

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 00:36 (five years ago)

haha broski im not sure its a runaway for minnesota at all! mostly bc they havent been around long enough/have time to make up for their first three decades.

the kings and hawks have both not won a title in over SIXTY YEARS. the suns and clippers have not won a title ever after a combined century in the nba.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 00:46 (five years ago)

yet somehow Suns are #7 in win/loss

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 01:23 (five years ago)

right? and jazz are #5 with no rings as well.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 03:29 (five years ago)

Lots of contenders here, but I voted charlotte. They have fewer years in the league than many other contenders, but have had not one outstanding season ever. With no prospect of change in sight.

A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 03:38 (five years ago)

frankly not a bad choice given their bleak outlook

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:09 (five years ago)

Brief glimmer of hope aside, I’m going with the Kings, who have been good at basketball for like 5 years of their history.

mott the hoopleheads (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:16 (five years ago)

my heart says the clips

Clay, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:24 (five years ago)

excellent choices

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:25 (five years ago)

like they were a joke for most of my life and I’m gonna ding them for sterling xp

Clay, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:26 (five years ago)

what if they win the chip in 2020 tho?

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:30 (five years ago)

2020 hasn’t happened yet! but yeah obv they’ve been on the upswing for a bit

Clay, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:32 (five years ago)

theyre near the basement for all-time win pct yet theyve been a kind of relevant team now for like 8 years now? *checks basketball reference* ah, playoffs 7 of last 8 years

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:38 (five years ago)

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/

this is so wild, just decades of bootyflakes, then larry brown shows up to coach a season and a half and they make the playoffs in back to back seasons for the first time since they became the clippers. larry brown was like a private equity company buying up shitty teams, fixing up their management, and then leaving.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:40 (five years ago)

larry brown coached NINE different nba teams and took all of them to the playoffs

all of them

except the knicks

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:42 (five years ago)

he went to the bobcats after that and managed to get them to the playoffs (first round sweep) in his second year there. what a fuckin legend.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:43 (five years ago)

"memphis grizzlies" always makes me lol

Vape Store (crüt), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 04:55 (five years ago)

nba's nicknames are beyond fucked up and random because of franchise relocation

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 05:00 (five years ago)

"utah jazz" been going strong for 40 years now with the classic salt lake mardi gras themed team colors

Clay, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 05:05 (five years ago)

it was better when they just had a big ass mountain on their jerseys, it was at least geographically representative of their locale

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 05:08 (five years ago)

Who can name the all-time leading Nets scorer without looking it up

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 14:26 (five years ago)

Timberwolves, Wiz, nuHornets. It’s funny looking at that list and seeing how many teams with less than 2 titles actually had a ton of success. So many great suns, bucks and mavs teams that are just forgotten because they didn’t get a chip.

Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 14:52 (five years ago)

he went to the bobcats after that and managed to get them to the playoffs (first round sweep) in his second year there. what a fuckin legend.

― Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Monday, July 22, 2019 11:43 PM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

he's still the only coach to win a title in the nba and ncaa, i think

lion king 2: the gift and the curse (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 14:54 (five years ago)

Who can name the all-time leading Nets scorer without looking it up

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, July 23, 2019 9:26 AM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

kerry kittles?

lion king 2: the gift and the curse (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 14:54 (five years ago)

yeah I voted for the Bullets, ahead of the Clips but the Clips have been decent for long enough now that they don't qualify. I'm old enough to think of a bunch of these teams as perennial playoff teams (Hawks and Suns for instance) even if they've sucked for a long while now. But the Bullets have been awful since I started paying attention to hoops in the mid 80s, with few exceptions. voting on """feelings""" rather than stats obv

L'assie (Euler), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 15:05 (five years ago)

It's..... Brook Lopez

Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 19:37 (five years ago)

i thought dr. j would be higher, but he only played 3 seasons for the nets.

the bullets/wiz have not had a 50-win season since '78-'79, which is the longest current streak, i think.

circles, Wednesday, 24 July 2019 14:44 (five years ago)

could have be a dm

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, July 22, 2019 5:36 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol...

also.. voting for the wolves

big city slam (Spottie), Wednesday, 24 July 2019 16:45 (five years ago)

Bobcats/Hornets have a 3-12 playoff record over 15 years

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Thursday, 25 July 2019 15:50 (five years ago)

is...is that bad?

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Thursday, 25 July 2019 16:20 (five years ago)

one playoff game a year average!

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Thursday, 25 July 2019 16:34 (five years ago)

one playoff win every 5 years, yikes

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Thursday, 25 July 2019 16:35 (five years ago)

That bullets team with Howard, Webber and Muresan was probably the most exciting young team in the league for a moment

Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 25 July 2019 22:14 (five years ago)

I'm not looking at stats, the correct answer is the Timberwolves

let us win something, anything

brigadier pudding (DJP), Thursday, 25 July 2019 22:35 (five years ago)

Five years ago the Clippers would have been the runaway 'winner' of this contest.

A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 25 July 2019 22:51 (five years ago)

I guess Memphis has been successful enough to take them out of the running, but the Vancouver Grizzlies were the worst team in North American pro sports:

"In six unflattering seasons, the Grizzlies won only 28% (101–359) of their games—the lowest winning percentage for a franchise in NBA history. They never made the playoffs, never produced an All-Star and never fully connected with the community."

https://www.si.com/nba/2016/02/17/vancouver-grizzlies-memphis-mike-bibby-shareef-abdur-rahim-david-stern

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Friday, 26 July 2019 02:13 (five years ago)

Steve Francis sulking when he got drafted by Vancouver was one of the best moments in NBA Draft history.

Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 27 July 2019 13:15 (five years ago)

was it tho

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Saturday, 27 July 2019 14:44 (five years ago)

Clippers have the overall worst history I'd say, although the NBA should probably get rid of 6-8 clubs and move the rest either to NY, LA or Miami.

Got to give props to the Jazz and Pacers for being in markets that no one wants to play within that are generally somewhat competitive over the decades even if rarely in a championship chase. That said, the Pacers were pretty bad in the 70s and 80s until Reggie got there, they have been decent or better most seasons since that including having what could have been their best club blown up in the malice in the palace. Snyder has brought back that 'get the most out of what you got' to the Jazz that they seemed to have with Jerry Sloan, who of course had two hall of famers for years.

earlnash, Monday, 29 July 2019 00:38 (five years ago)

my gut answer is the kings

ciderpress, Monday, 29 July 2019 00:45 (five years ago)

after careful consideration im gonna say clippers bc 49 years without so much as getting to the 3rd round is unconscionable. at least minny has done that even though they havent done much since and hadnt done much prior.

this changes next year, probably.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Monday, 29 July 2019 01:03 (five years ago)

altho kings get honorable mentions for the record number of location and name changes.

https://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/SacramentoKings/history/RochesterSeagrams/Ebers1933.jpg

https://i.cdn.turner.com/nba/nba/teamsites/images/legacy/kings/Kings-History-Seagrams.jpg

terrible

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Monday, 29 July 2019 01:08 (five years ago)

Relative to what should be possible it's the Knicks

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 29 July 2019 01:34 (five years ago)

i took a recent past / forward looking view and voted charlotte. it's just....nothing.

call all destroyer, Monday, 29 July 2019 01:39 (five years ago)

Yeah, Charlotte doesn’t even have a narrative worth a toss. Clippers and Kings have highs and what ifs; Charlotte is a never was

EZ Snappin, Monday, 29 July 2019 01:41 (five years ago)

i have pleasant memories of the 92-97 Hornets as being a really fun team which may date me. Zo! Johnson! Muggsy! Glen Rice! Mason! Vlade! They had a moment.

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 29 July 2019 01:56 (five years ago)

All those guys except Muggsy peaked elsewhere.

EZ Snappin, Monday, 29 July 2019 02:01 (five years ago)

i have pleasant memories of the 92-97 Hornets as being a really fun team which may date me. Zo! Johnson! Muggsy! Glen Rice! Mason! Vlade! They had a moment.

― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Sunday, July 28, 2019 9:56 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this team is covered by the current pelicans in the poll.

call all destroyer, Monday, 29 July 2019 02:34 (five years ago)

and tbf it was a really fun team but the current charlotte franchise doesn't get credit for it

call all destroyer, Monday, 29 July 2019 02:34 (five years ago)

the name switcheroo is confusing for assessment purposes, but yeah, the old hornets now pelicans has some flavor that charlotte bobcats-now-hornets do not have. NO hornets had baron davis for a second and then chris paul/david west teams before ant davis.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Monday, 29 July 2019 02:36 (five years ago)

iow they were always kiiiinda interesting?

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Monday, 29 July 2019 02:37 (five years ago)

don't forget about the starter jackets

circles, Monday, 29 July 2019 03:06 (five years ago)

oh, we're just talking about the charlotte bobcats then? yeah, them for sure.

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 29 July 2019 03:24 (five years ago)

first inclination and vote: atl

alomar lines, Monday, 29 July 2019 05:13 (five years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 00:01 (five years ago)

i thought the hornets officially got their team history back from the pelicans but yeah if you start with the bobcats then the past 4 years are their peak which uh

ciderpress, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 00:12 (five years ago)

new charlotte pretending like they have old charlotte's history is like when fresh prince changed moms on us and expected us not to notice

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 01:08 (five years ago)

that was really weird I don't think I really appreciated how weird that was at the time

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 01:18 (five years ago)

The new Becky on Rosanne syndrome

EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 03:11 (five years ago)

it was very weird but nobody pays attention to charlotte so nobody noticed

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 03:28 (five years ago)

anyway i voted for the kings because i'm not entirely convinced the hornets are the bobcat or whatever and they've been around in their current incarnation for too short a period of time to make a "historical worst" determination

Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 03:32 (five years ago)

you know what this thread made me think about that i haven't thought of in years? that joe smith deal where the t-wolves got penalized 4 first round picks right when they most needed help for kg.

circles, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 03:39 (five years ago)

do ppl in minnesota still curse kevin mchale's name? bc i would.

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 04:08 (five years ago)

The Kings were robbed in 2002 WCF though so I couldn't vote for a team that put themselves in a position to win it all. It's between the Timberwolves and the Hornets for me. Hornets look like they will have a rough, rough season this year so I will go for them.

tashted the milk of human kindnesh - an' it's a lot of Fermillac (fionnland), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 06:34 (five years ago)

our local sports talk station did about an hour where they went through players that were still on the board when the Wolves drafted, and players that were available in those years we didn't have picks. it was staggering.

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 14:07 (five years ago)

wolves win (lose) for drafting TWO point guards before curry in the 09 draft

big city slam (Spottie), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 16:04 (five years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 31 July 2019 00:01 (five years ago)

Truth.

EZ Snappin, Wednesday, 31 July 2019 00:07 (five years ago)

lmao who picked the pacers, compupoooooooost?

Carisis LaVerted (m bison), Wednesday, 31 July 2019 00:07 (five years ago)

Voted Clippers because even in their CP3 period of being good, they were one of the more unpleasant-to-watch good teams in recent memory. This year obv may change things. Charlotte a worthy winner, and they are primed to be truly ghastly this year.

Surprised to see Wizards with only one vote!

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, 31 July 2019 03:00 (five years ago)

guess besides the title, they've had a few memorable teams/players in the last 20 years. mediocre but not the worst

Jeff Bathos (symsymsym), Wednesday, 31 July 2019 03:04 (five years ago)

nine months pass...

thinkin abt this thread and thinkin i shoulda voted minny :/

methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Friday, 8 May 2020 15:41 (five years ago)

yah i think i got it right

Spottie, Friday, 8 May 2020 17:21 (five years ago)

2020 hasn’t happened yet!

― Clay,

well here's a sentiment i wish i could post in perpetuity

Clay, Friday, 8 May 2020 20:54 (five years ago)

lol i thought the same thing

methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Friday, 8 May 2020 21:17 (five years ago)


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