5 Worst NBA teams of the 21st century
As there are teams that break records at the upper end of the NBA rankings, a few have done the same on the other end of the spectrum. In the same season that the Golden State Warriors went on a historic 73-9 run, the Philadelphia 76ers also recorded one of the worst runs in the 21st century.
Several factors come into play when considering the worst teams. However, we have opted to use the most straightforward metric - winning percentages. It is a no-brainer as it will be bizarre to rank a team above others even when they fail to win games.
From injuries to lack of chemistry to poor coaching, a team could have an awful run for either of those reasons. The Warriors had a horrid 2019-20 NBA season with a 15-50 run. In their case, Kevin Durant's departure in the 2019 offseason and injuries to Klay Thompson & Stephen Curry were the main factors that led to their poor run.
On that note, let's look at the five worst NBA teams of the 21st century.
#5 Chicago Bulls - 2000-01 season
The Chicago Bulls, in their 2000-01 NBA season, still had not figured out a way to move past the Michael Jordan era. However, they finally started to embrace their rebuild as 8 of the 16 players who say decent minutes were rookies.
At the end of the season, the Bulls had a 15-67 run that resulted in a .183 win percentage. The team was led by head coach Tim Floyd, who was in his third season and successfully won 45 of 214 games as the Bulls' head coach.
They finished dead last in offensive rating with 97.2 and were 27th of 29 in defensive rating (107.3). For a team that held the record for the most wins in a single season with their 72-10 run during the 1995-96 NBA season, they were outrightly horrible a few years later.
To date, that counts as their worst run in Chicago Bulls history, excluding the shortened 1998-99 NBA season. Despite having the worst record, they still couldn't catch a break in the 1999 NBA draft lottery as they ended up with the fourth pick.
#4 Atlanta Hawks, 2004-05 season
Inefficiency was the order of the day for the 2004-05 Atlanta Hawks team as they had several high-volume players that lacked productivity. They failed to get into any sort of winning run under their first-year head coach Mike Woodson.
The Hawks' poor performance was encapsulated by their last-place ranking in both offensive and defensive ratings. They ended the 2004-05 NBA season with a 13-69 run and .159 win percentage.
The Hawks crowned their poor 2004-05 season with another horrible mistake by passing up on Chris Paul in the 2005 NBA draft. Although it is easier to point that out now, seeing how both players turned out in the league, Paul still looked more of a winner at the time.