The Worst Teams in Basketball - Eastern Conference

Unlike the National Football League, the National Basketball Association does not have a whole lot of parity. From year to year, you can usually take the last 8 teams standing in one post-season, and end up with 5, 6, or 7 of the same ones in the following season's Elite 8.

That is good for those teams on top, because it is a sign that there is not as much turnover in their league, so that if you're good one year, barring injury, the chances are that you will be good the next year. It usually takes something very drastic to turn a good team into a bad team in one season.

However, for the bad teams, this lack of parity is scary. Often, most bottom feeding teams lack talent because of salary cap issues, bad markets, or unlucky draft lotteries. Thus, some teams are bad, and remain that way for years and years to come. Such as these Eastern Conference teams, which seem to be at the bottom of the Eastern Standings year after year, along with some of this season's newly acquired bottom feeders.

Veteran Bottom Feeders

New York Knicks (14-35) - As a fully disclosed Knicks fan, this pains me. The team of my youth that was so great at playing defense, executing on offense, and bring the people of Madison Square Garden to their feet during the 90's has now been turned into the joke of the media. The offense is lackluster, the players don't try, and the Coach is a tad bit delusional. The sad thing is that usually when you have a bad team in big market, you usually can see better days ahead because of all the money and resources the team has to invest into building a better team. But with Jim Dolan and Isiah Thomas at the helm, the only horizon fans can see is the Division I basketball conference.

Charlotte Bobcats (18-31) If you have never been in the playoffs as an organization, then no matter how few years you have been in the NBA, you still will be typecast as a veteran looser. The Bobcats actually have some young talent, but every year we say that they just go out there and look young, and on very few occasions do they ever look talented. Perhaps, MJ, and whoever else is running the show over there, will come to the realization that if you want to win games, you have to have at least one All-star caliber player. And no, Gerald Wallace does not count.

New Bottom Feeders

Miami Heat (9-39) Just as we had presumed prior to the Superbowl that Boston had sold its soul to the devil in exchange for the great sports organizations, the Heat fans must have done the same thing in 2006. Their Heat sold the longstanding future of the organization in exchange for an aging Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq and the Devil delivered on their promise and hung up a banner in the rafters, but now the future is looking bleak the Heat are headed for the lottery only two years after winning the NBA championship. I guess there is some parity in the NBA.

Philadelphia 76ers (20-30) - For years the Sixers were carried by Allen Iverson, but over the past 2 seasons, they just weren't able to move forward so they sent AI packing last year. Now they have a new AI (Andre Igoudola) and while he is promising young talent, he is no substitute for the old AI. The 76ers are now carried by a bunch of young players whose names I couldn't tell you if I were looking at the roster. And with their GM status on rocky status, it is hard to imaging this organization getting any better anytime soon.