This is by Kelly Dwyer: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/The-10-worst-NBA-teams-of-the-last-decade?urn=nba,186739 The list is fine, frankly no one cares to differentiate how bad these teams are: does it really matter if you lose 60 games or 65 games? What's interesting about the list is you can look at how having a bad season turns around the fortunes of a franchise. Was the sucking worth it? 10) 07-08 Knicks: They drafted an Euro after the season who looks like a bust so far, but they also got rid of Isaiah Thomas as coach and GM, brought in D'antoni as coach, a pretty good turn around even though they didn't get much talent in return for sucking. Worth it. 9) 04-05 Hornets: Chris Paul was the pick, worth it. 8) 02-03 Nuggets: Carmelo Anthony was the pick, worth it. 7) 07-08 Heat: Michael Beasley was the pick, obviously that's a questionable pick, it looks like the Heat didn't get too much for their season of suck, not worth it. 6) 07-08 Sonics: Russell Westbrook was the pick. Everyone knew they would stink because of the moving teams issue, worth it. 5) 08-09 Kings: Tyreke Evans was the pick, jury still out. 4) 02-03 Cavs: Lebron was the pick, yeah that one was worth it. 3) 00-01 Bulls: One of Chandler/Curry was the pick, I can't remember who, not worth it. 2) 04-05 Hawks: Marvin Williams was the pick, not worth it. 1) 99-00 Clips: Darius Miles was the retun, not worth it. So overall I'd say 5 teams got their moneys worth out of having a horrid season, 4 teams didn't, and the jury is still out on the last team. Out of the 4 teams that didn't get their moneys worth, 3 could have made it worth it had they made a different draft pick, only the 99-00 Clips were completely screwed, they were in a horrid draft and no player was worth the sucking. My conclusion is that tanking a season has great rewards if you have a good GM.
The 06-07 Celtics lost 18 in a row. The 05-06 Trailblazers went 21-61 and picked Aldridge with the #2 pick.
Jury is still out on Beasley. Maybe he comes back and is the kind of player he was in college. I would have thought the Nuggets, Cavs, and Bulls would have been the top 3. That Nuggets team had no talent(They had Nene as a rookie I believe).
How that Nuggets team is not #1 is shocking to me. That said, I'll always have a special place in my heart for that team. They were beyond horrible and shouldn't have won more than 10 games, but Bzdelik had them playing hard every second of every game. Made it actually somewhat enjoyable to watch.