Who Is The Biggest Disappointment From The 2010s?
Today I will be finding the biggest disappointments from the 2010s.
Throughout the 2010s, lot of things that were supposed to happen did not. Some draft picks never panned out and they disappointed their expectations. Free agent signings for All-Star level players never worked out and the team disappointed. Some players that were supposed to win rings during the 2010s never got one. Today I will be finding some of the biggest disappointments from the 2010s.
Most Disappoiting Draft Pick
There have been some pretty disappointing draft picks from each draft, and some have been worse than others. I have previously said that Anthony Bennett was the biggest draft bust of all time, and he was drafted in the 2013 NBA Draft, so obviously he would be the biggest disappoitment, but I won’t include him in this list.
So, the biggest draft disappointment other than Anthony Bennett is.. Evan Turner. Turner was selected #2 overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. Turner has a great college career with Ohio State, and was supposed to be the big thing in the NBA. But, that never happened. Turner only started averaged more than 10 points during the 2012-13 season. During the 2013-14 season with the 76ers, he was averaging 17.4 points. Then he was traded to the Indiana Pacers where he dropped off. Turner went to Boston for a couple seasons where he played ok, a few seasons with the Blazers with were medicore, and now he is playing in Atlanta where he is averaging just 3.3 points. He has only played in 19 games this season and does not look to be in Atlanta’s long term plans. So a once promising guard who looked like he might be a solid scorer, fell off mightily and now might be out of the league following this season.
Other candidates for the most disappoiting draft pick would be Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who was the #2 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Wesley Johnson who was the #4 overall pick in the 2012, or Jabari Parker who was the #2 overall pick in 2014.
There were lots of draft busts during the 2010s to put it lightly.
Most Disappointing Team
Lots of teams came into the 2010s with contending outlooks. Some teams looked to start a new era with new players, and other teams looked to start from stratch and build their way up. But, I would have to say that the OKC Thunder were the most disappointing team from the 2010s.
The OKC Thunder started the decade with 3 of the best young players in the NBA as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden were just starting to develop into elite players. The Thunder made the 2012 NBA Finals and made the series with the Miami Heat competitive, but they lost 4-1. But the future was bright. All they had to do was keep their young nucleus. But, they paid Serge Ibaka instead of Harden and they shipped him off to Houston.
But they still had Durant and Westbrook. They were still going to be contenders in the Western Conference. In the 2012-13 season, the Thunder went 60-22 but they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2nd round of the playoffs 4-1. Russell Westbrook injured his knee against the Rockets in the first round and was unavailable for the 2nd round. So injuries derailed a promising season for the Thunder.
In the 2013-14 season, KD won MVP and the Thunder went 59-23. They reached the Western Conference Finals but lost to the eventual champion in the San Antonio Spurs in 6 games. This Spurs team was very good as they beat Miami in 5 games in the NBA Finals. So, no shame in losing to one of the all-time great teams.
In the 2014-15 season, the Thunder went 45-37 because of injuries to Kevin Durant and they missed the playoffs completely.
In the 2015-16 season, the Thunder went 55-27 and reached the Western Conference Finals against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. The Thunder led 3-1 in the series and then they collapsed as they lost in 7 games. After this season, Kevin Durant decided to leave for the Warriors because a championship in OKC was not going to happen.
The 2016-17 season was where Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double and won MVP with the Thunder, but they lost in the first round to the Houston Rockets in 5 games because of a lack of roster talent.
In the 2017-18 season, Westbrook got some help with the roster adding two All-Stars in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, forming a big 3. But the 3 never really meshed well as they finished the season 48-34. The faced an underdog Jazz team in the first round, and rookie Donovan Mitchell cooked the Thunder all series long as the Jazz won the series in 6 games.
In the 2018-19 season, the Thunder ditched Melo and it was just Westbrook and newly re-signed Paul George. George was putting up MVP numbers all season, but he ran into a shoulder problem during the 2nd half of the season. The Thunder started to collapse in the standings and finished the season with a 49-33 record, good enough for 6th in the Western Conference. They would face the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard. Well, that didn’t go well, did it? The Thunder lost 4-1.
The Thunder then traded George and Westbrook and had a new era of Thunder basketball. With Chris Paul, SGA and Dennis Schroder along with Steven Adams and Danilo Gallinari, the future is bright for the Thunder.
But the 2010’s Thunder were very disappointing. They failed to capitalize on Harden, Westbrook, and Durant when they were together. They failed to use Durant’s MVP caliber play to even reach the Finals again. And after KD left, the Thunder failed to find success with Paul George and Westbrook. The Thunder now have a bright future going into the 2020s, but the 2010s were filled with missed opportunities for the Thunder.
It’s pretty clear that the Thunder have been the most disappointing team from the 2010s.
Free Agent Signings/Trades
Lots of big free agents moved throughout the 2010s, and some big trades happened as well. Some of these trades worked out great, but other were disasterous.
Worst Free Agent Signing: Amar’e Stoudemire to the Knicks (2010)
The Knicks were trying really hard to get some of the big-name free agents like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh to come to New York to try and start contending again. Unfortunately, none of these guys came and they gave a max-contract to Amar’e Stoudemire. But Stoudemire had a bad history of injuries, but was still given the massive contract.
Stoudemire played well in his first season with the Knicks and even had Carmelo Anthony as a teammate. Sadly, Stoudemire would rack up injuries that would ruin his career and the Knicks would look like fools for giving him a max contract.
2010-11 Season: Stoudemire played 78 hames
2011-12 Season: Stoudemire played 47 games
2012-13 Season: Stoudemire played 29 games (0 starts)
2013-14 Season: Stoudemire played 65 games (21 starts)
2015-16: Out of the league with Miami
Worst Trade: Celtics Trade KG and Paul Pierce To The Nets
In the prime of their careers, both KG and Paul Pierce were great players and All-Stars each year. In 2008 they won a ring together with the Celtics. But in 2013, their best days were behind them. The Celtics knew this and were looking for a trade. And they found one.
The Celtics sent KG, Paul Pierce, and NBA champion Jason Terry to the Nets in exchange for:
Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Kris Joseph, Keith Bogans, 3 first round picks (2014, 2016, 2018), plus the rights to swap first round picks in 2017.
Out of context, two Hall of Famers for this? This is nothing. Enter context.
KG was was 37 at the time, and Paul Pierce was 36. And Jason Terry was not 2011 NBA Finals Jason Terry anymore. Those first round picks were unprotected. If the Nets were horrible, then the Celtics could really cash in with high draft picks.
In 2016, the Celtics selected Jaylen Brown #3 overall. Brown is now averaging 20+ ppg for the Celtics and is one of their best two-way players.
In the 2017 NBA Draft, the Celtics got the #1 overall pick. They traded down to get Jayson Tatum at #3. Tatum is just an All-Star averaging 23.6 points this season. Nothing great.
The 2018 First Round Pick was used in the Kyrie Irving trade. Now Irving did not work out for the Celtics, but the Cavs used the Nets pick. The pick ended up being #8 overall and they selected Collin Sexton.
So, the Cavs and the Celtics have mightily improved from the Nets woes.
This trade is going to keep getting worse as Collin Sexton, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown continue to improve.
Other candidates for the worst trade are the James Harden trade from OKC to Houston, the Pacers sending Kawhi Leonard to the Spurs, and the Dwight Howard trade featuring 4 teams, and absolutely nobody won that trade.
What do you think? What is the biggest disappointment overall from the 2010s? Leave any comments on anything you would change about this list.
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