Our writers took at look at which of last season’s lottery teams have done better, and worse, than expected.
Each season, a few teams do better or worse than expected. Teams that do surprisingly well often come out as feel good stories, particularly when those teams haven’t known a lot of success in the past. For the disappointing teams, many tend to look at them as the continuation of a trend, in the sense that we shouldn’t be surprised they didn’t meet expectations — they’ve always been bad. Still, the surprise either way always leaves one speculating as to why, and this week, our writers looked at which team surprised them the most, and why.
Josh Cornelissen – Charlotte
Charlotte Hornets – When Michael Kidd-Gilchrist tore his labrum in October, I lost my faith in this Hornets team. A squad trying to play defense with Big Al Jefferson at center needed an elite wing defender to be good, and now Charlotte was without one. With Nic Batum coming off a down year, Jeremy Lamb never having an “up” year, and a questionable bench, this team has no viable route to the postseason in my eyes.
Gabriel Allen – Charlotte
Zach Reynolds – Phoenix
The Suns were not expected to make the playoffs in 2016. With a stacked western conference, expectations were similar to years past: Be competitive, but likely fall short. To say the Suns have been bad is an understatement. The most recent lottery picks have been slow to develop, and the big money acquisition of the summer (Tyson Chandler) isn’t helping to add tallies in the win column. The Suns are in a good position with (potentially) three first round picks coming in 2016, but the team might need to start over. Again.
Daniel Coughlin – Phoenix
The West is a dangerous place to live. Much like the wilder West of a time now gone, the guy with the most guns wins. Unless your guns hate being your guns or break. The Suns did a good thing, trading Marcus Morris. But, they did a bad thing in keeping Markief Morris. That was a total disaster. It cost them a coaching staff. It cost them morale. And it caused lots of conflict. Further, they dealt with the frustration of having an ex-Sun, Isaiah Thomas, get off to a great start this season in Boston, becoming an All-Star. And more, there were murmurs that Brandon Knight and Eric Bledsoe should probably not play together as it sounds like Bledsoe does not share guard duties well with others. When the injuries started to strike, it was all she wrote for the 2015-16 Suns. With egg on face, the front office was forced to resort to public mea culpa. And that doesn’t even factor in their swing and miss on LaMarcus Aldrige that turned into the God-forsaken albatross about their contractual necks in the form of Tyson Chandler on a four-year deal. The Suns weren’t all that great last year, but Brandon Knight was a revelation. Their 39-43 record left them just six games out of the playoffs. This year, they sit at 18-49. They are 16 games behind the 8-seed right now and that gap will likely widen. But it isn’t all bad! The Suns still have Knight and he is still good. Better news: they have Devin Booker and he’s really, really good.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
