Fansided

Every NBA team’s worst iteration ever

By Rich Kraetsch

BOSTON - NOVEMBER 20: Guard Chris Herren and coach Rick Pitino's expressions on the bench reflected their loss against the 76ers. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON - NOVEMBER 20: Guard Chris Herren and coach Rick Pitino's expressions on the bench reflected their loss against the 76ers. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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Pete Maravich, of the New Orleans Jazz is shown here dribbling the ball in action against the New York Knicks.
Pete Maravich, of the New Orleans Jazz is shown here dribbling the ball in action against the New York Knicks. /

Utah Jazz (1974-75, 23-59, -7.30 SRS)

When a franchise makes 20 straight playoffs like Utah did from 1984 to 2003 you’re limited in the number of truly horrible individual teams. Sure there have been ups and downs along the way for the Jazz but it’s hard to get much worse than the team’s debut season: 1974-75.

The New Orleans Jazz began the 1974-75 season as the NBA’s newest expansion franchise. Desperate to make a splash right away, New Orleans traded two first-round picks, three second-round picks and a third-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for star Pete Maravich. “Pistol” Pete has played college basketball at nearby LSU making him an ideal fit for the new franchise in New Orleans. The picks were no doubt valuable to a new franchise but establishing a strong foothold with a local legend was top of mind for the fledgeling franchise.

In another move to shore up the local awareness of the new Jazz team, New Orleans hired Louisiana Tech head coach Scotty Robertson as the franchise’s first head coach.

Things were in place. New Orleans had shored up their team with local connections, a star player and a coach to led the new franchise to the promised land.

Yeah, not quite. New Orleans lost their first 11 games finally winning the franchise’s first game on November 10 (a one-point victory of Portland). 15 games into the season Robertson was launched, replaced by Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor on an interim basis. Baylor lasted only one game before former Lakers head coach Butch van Breda Kolff was brought in. New Orleans was 22-44 under van Breda Kolff, certainly better than with Robertson but not exactly what New Orleans was expecting in their first season.

Dead last in the league in offensive rating despite playing with the NBA’s highest pace. Even on a per-game average they were at only 101.5.

Those numbers give New Orleans the second-lowest points per game average of any team with a 105+ pace and makes them the worst scoring team in history with a pace above 109—their 101.5 average is over five points less than the next closest team.

Maravich played well his first year in New Orleans but his scoring average dipped to 21.5 after averaging 24.3 during his four seasons in Atlanta. The Jazz roster was very shallow behind Maravich as only Nate Williams, Aaron James, Louie Nelson and veteran Jim Barnett managed to score in double figures on the year.

New Orleans had one of the league’s worst turnover percentages and coupled that with low overall shooting percentage numbers — the result: a league-worst -7.85 Margin of Victory.

The Jazz won six in a row in late February to get their season towards a level of respectability but overall it was too little, too late. New Orleans finished the season a pathetic 23-59 with a league-worst -7.30 SRS.

Over 40 years later, those are still franchise-worst marks.

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