This was the largest comeback in Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats franchise history as the team erased a 24 point deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 108-106. Kemba first hit the huge game tying 3 with 1.6 seconds remaining in the 4th and his clutch play continued into OT as he went one on one against Brandon Knight and stepped back for the game winning mid range jumper.
With the start of the NBA season quickly approaching I started to wonder what the best and the worst team will be for next season in terms of win-loss. Last year the 30 teams finished as such:
Rk Team Overall 1 San Antonio Spurs 62-20 2 Oklahoma City Thunder 59-23 3 Los Angeles Clippers 57-25 4 Indiana Pacers 56-26 5 Houston Rockets 54-28 6 Miami Heat 54-28 7 Portland Trail Blazers 54-28 8 Golden State Warriors 51-31 9 Memphis Grizzlies 50-32 10 Dallas Mavericks 49-33 11 Chicago Bulls 48-34 12 Toronto Raptors 48-34 13 Phoenix Suns 48-34 14 Brooklyn Nets 44-38 15 Washington Wizards 44-38 16 Charlotte Bobcats 43-39 17 Minnesota Timberwolves 40-42 18 Atlanta Hawks 38-44 19 New York Knicks 37-45 20 Denver Nuggets 36-46 21 New Orleans Pelicans 34-48 22 Cleveland Cavaliers 33-49 23 Detroit Pistons 29-53 24 Sacramento Kings 28-54 25 Los Angeles Lakers 27-55 26 Boston Celtics 25-57 27 Utah Jazz 25-57 28 Orlando Magic 23-59 29 Philadelphia 76ers 19-63 30 Milwaukee Bucks 15-67
It wasn't until looking at this information today that I realized just how awful the Bucks season was last year due to injuries, lack of stars, and arrests among other things. This year however I think they can do better than their 15-67 record, maybe even crack above 20 wins something which the Philadelphia 76ers won't be doing this season. Last year the 76ers had a bunch of guys who could barely play basketball mixed in with a some more veteran players who could such as Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes who now all play for different teams. Sure the 76ers have MCW, Noel, and Embid who are talented players but they simply don't have any older guys who can help them win games as apposed to just put up stats. The 76ers are tanking in order to get high draft picks in hopes of one day competing for a title and whether you like the tanking strategy or not you at least gotta give it to the teams GM Sam Hinkie for going all in on the "we gotta be reallllllyyyy bad so we can get good mentality" because this 76ers team is BAD.
The worst team exists in the east but now lets head to the west for the best team of next season, which also happens to be the best team of last season as well. Yes hot sports take here the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs will have the best record in the league next season. As I wrote in my NBA Playoff Predictions post for the West it was my opinion that the Thunder would be the best team in the Conference and likely the league but with Durant set to miss the first few weeks of the regular season OKC's record will slip at least marginally which will be enough for the Spurs to be able to hold the league's best record once again.
So to summarize these will be the standings for next season :
1. San Antonio Spurs
2-29. Other teams
30. Philadelphia 76ers
