2019 NBA Awards Season
The Official 2019 Worst Team All-NBA
Forget First Team All-NBA — who were the NBA’s five worst starters for the 2018–19 season?
The 2019 NBA regular season concludes today, and everyone and their mother is tallying MVP votes and picking First Team All-NBA rosters. But what about the guys at the other end of the spectrum? We have First, Second, and Third Team All-NBA, but what about 4th Team or 12th or 23rd? And what about 30th Team All-NBA, the worst starters in the entire league?
Anyone can spin their way out of an NBA rotation by being spectacularly terrible. Fine, not anyone; only 530 men played at least one minute in the NBA this season (shouts Yante Maten, John Holland, and Tyler Davis), and all of them miles better at basketball than anyone who will read this. Still, it takes a special kind of awful to soak up minutes all season while stinking up the joint.
Two simple rules limit our options. First, no rookies allowed. They’re not supposed to be good yet, and it’s no fun ragging on 19-year-olds, no matter how atrocious Kevin Knox and Collin Sexton have been this season. Second, we’re instituting a minimum of 1200 minutes played or 41 games started. That means guys who started half the season or played heavy bench minutes.
Everyone’s fair game, but only five can be the worst of the worst. Which five players make up the official 2019 Worst Team All-NBA?
Point guard — Rajon Rondo, Lakers
They weren’t the worst team in the league, but no 2019 Worst Team All-NBA team would feel complete without at least one Los Angeles Laker. Rajon Rondo will have to represent himself and all of his veteran teammates. On the surface, the numbers make this look like just another classic Rondo season: 9 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds a game. He even had a triple-double!
Dig a little deeper and you’ll see just how damaging Rondo was. For a guy brought in to set up his younger teammates, Rondo finished the season with a terrible 100 offensive rating. The Lakers were 7.9 points per 100 possessions worse than their opponent with Rajon Rondo on the court, and Lakers lineups with Rondo were 9.4 points per 100 possessions worse than any other lineup without him (*cough* Alex Caruso). Rondo had an abysmal 47% true shooting percentage, third worst among all qualified players.
The crazy part of all of this is that Rondo got to play half of his minutes with LeBron James! LeBron makes everyone look better. This is the guy that has turned Matthew Dellavedova and Timofey Mozgov into mega millionaires. And somehow Rondo had just a 104 offensive rating in 602 minutes with LeBron this season. The very presence of LeBron means easy buckets for everyone, and yet Rondo averaged the longest shot distance of his career.
Of course, the offense was ostensibly the good part for Rondo. The defense and intangibles were what really earned him a place on the Worst Team. Even national TV Rondo couldn’t save him this time. Rondo was abysmal on defense this year. He might have tried even less than LeBron. Rondo had a 110 defensive rating with or without James, the worst in his career and far cry from the high-end defender he once was. Rondo had the lowest steal rate of his career, and he was an absolute turnstile on the perimeter. You probably also remember images of him pouting on the end of the bench or throwing his younger teammates under the bus.
It was a disastrous season all around for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Rajon Rondo was just one of the many reasons, and far from the top of the list. He’ll have to represent his squad here.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS Kris Dunn, Bulls Dennis Schroeder, Thunder Dennis Smith / Emmanuel Mudiay, Knicks
Shooting guard — Avery Bradley, Clippers
Congratulations to Avery Bradley, now the two-time defending worst shooting guard in the NBA. First thing he’s defended successfully all season.
Bradley was traded from Detroit to the Clippers last season, and he was terrible on both teams. Despite that, L.A. signed him to an extension and started him 49 times this season to disastrous effect. Bradley played 30 minutes a game for the Clippers. He averaged just 8 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists a game with abysmal shooting numbers. Bradley shot 38% from the field, including a horrific 42% on twos.
Remember when Avery Bradley made All Defense 1st Team literally three years ago? He had a 115 defensive rating for the Clippers, though that was arguably not as bad as his 93 offensive rating. He was equally terrible on both ends, and yet he kept starting all season until L.A. finally dumped him on the Grizzlies at the trade deadline.
They finally got rid of Bradley in part because they landed a capable replacement in rookie Landry Shamet. Shamet hasn’t been much better on defense, but he’s hitting 46% of his threes with a 120 offensive rating, scoring three more points per game in fewer minutes than AB. The Clippers went 25–24 with Avery Bradley, outscored by 2 points per 100 possessions with him on the court. Then they traded their best player, Tobias Harris, and replaced Bradley with a rookie and have gone 22–10 since, with Shamet-fueled lineups outscoring the competition by 5.5 points per 100.
Bradley has shot a little better and is scoring 16ppg for Memphis, still somehow starting every game. Maybe he’ll even trick the Grizz into keeping him around next season and he’ll contend for a third consecutive Worst Team appearance. And hey — shouts to the Boston Celtics, who started our Worst Team backcourt together just four years ago. Mothers, don’t let your sons grow up to be former Celtics.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Lakers Tim Hardaway Jr., Knicks & Mavericks Austin Rivers, Wizards & Rockets
Small forward — Andrew Wiggins, Timberwolves
But Avery Bradley isn’t the only player to make back-to-back Worst Team All-NBA. Bradley and Andrew Wiggins were actually my cover photo for last year’s piece.
Andrew Wiggins is the 2018–2019 LVP. Against all odds, he is somehow having the worst season of his career. Oh sure, the counting numbers disagree. A good publicist would tell you Wiggins is averaging the most rebounds and assists per game in his career! Of course, that’s still a measly 4.8 boards and 2.5 dimes per game. To wit: there have now been 20 seasons over the past half a decade where a player averaged at least 16ppg with fewer than 5rpg and 2.5apg. Wiggins has 5 of those 20 seasons.
Andrew Wiggins is the king of empty points. And he’s not even always good at that. Wiggins had seven games this year with 10 or fewer points. That includes an absolute doozy of a line on November 24th against the Bulls. Wiggins went 0-for-12 from the field. He played 29 minutes and didn’t score a single point, recording just 1 assist, 1 rebound, and a turnover. Only two other players in NBA history have ever been so futile with such an empty box score, and at least David Wesley and Gerald Wilkins recorded a steal.
Wiggins shot 49% from the field this year. Wait — no — that’s his true shooting percentage. He made only 41% from the field. Wiggins finished with a 100 offensive rating and a 115 defensive rating, both somehow the worst in a storied inefficient career. His -3.1 BPM is his worst ever, too. He had a negative on-court rating despite playing next to Karl-Anthony Towns all season, and KAT is posting a 28/13/4 since the All-Star break. That 100 is the second worst offensive rating of any player with 2500 minutes played this year, and at least Justin Holiday got traded for two second-round picks. The Timberwolves would be lucky to get a peanut butter sandwich for Wiggins.
Wiggins did do one good thing this year: he missed nine games. The Wolves had a winning record without him. Now they just need to wait out the rest of his $147-million max extension, which just kicked in this year, and they can send him back to Canada for good.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS Kent Bazemore / DeAndre Bembry, Hawks Justin Holiday, Bulls & Grizzlies Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Nets
Power forward — Jabari Parker, Bulls & Wizards
Jabari Parker was assigned to the G-League four times last season. Somehow, the Chicago Bulls decided that player was worth a $20-million contract last summer, bringing Parker home on a big fat contract.
Parker was horrendous. He shot under 50% from the floor and made an awful 31% of his threes. The Bulls were 10.7 points per 100 possessions worse than their opponent with Jabari Parker on the court. He had a 100 offensive rating with Chicago and a 113 defensive rating, both the worst of his career. Parker has never been any good on defense, but he didn’t even try this year.
Parker told SLAM magazine earlier this season: “They don’t pay me to play defense.” The Bulls decided not to pay Parker at all, exiling him to the bench after 39 games and eventually jettisoning him from the roster in a trade for Otto Porter’s Massive Contract. Parker has a $20-million team option for next season. Yeahhhh, Washington’s not picking up that option.
Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker were drafted with the first two picks in the 2014 NBA draft, just ahead of Joel Embiid. Five years later, they’re headlining the All-NBA Worst Team. If we did a 2014 redraft, Wiggins and Parker would be drafted somewhere between never and ERROR DOES NOT COMPUTE.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS Harrison Barnes, Mavericks & Kings Markieff Morris, Wizards & Thunder
Center — Marcin Gortat, Clippers
Somehow the Los Angeles Clippers are headed to the playoffs despite having two starters on the Worst Team All-NBA squad. Not sure if that means Doc Rivers should get a raise or a pink slip.
The Clippers traded Austin Rivers for Marcin Gortat last summer. Both players were so terrible for their new clubs that neither even made it to the trade deadline, and both made this article (Rivers as a dishonorable mention). Gortat was supposed to be a replacement for DeAndre Jordan. He wasn’t.
Gortat started 43 games but played only 751 minutes, mostly a placeholder until the Clippers could get Montrezl Harrell onto the court. For those 751 minutes, Gortat made a tidy $13,565,218 this season, the final year in a fat 5-year $60-million contract the Polish Hammer signed in 2014.
Gortat’s defense fell off a cliff this season. The Clippers lineup were an entire 9 points worse with Gortat on the floor than when he was off. And remember — this is a playoff team! Los Angeles somehow went 25–22 with Gortat as a starter. Fourteen of those losses were by single digits. Imagine how good they could’ve been if they just never started Gortat in the first place.
DISHONORABLE MENTIONS Robin Lopez, Bulls Alex Len, Hawks
6th Man — Josh Jackson, Suns
It wouldn’t be a proper Worst Team without at least one member of the Suns. Normally it’s unfair to put young players on a list like this. Jackson is only 22, after all, and he’s still just a sophomore. But Jackson was possibly worse than Kevin Knox this season, and Knox just posted one of the worst rookie seasons of all time, yet Jackson still had a worse win shares per 48 minutes rating at -0.04. That’s right; for every 48 minutes played, Josh Jackson cost the Phoenix Suns 1/25th of a win. And this team only has 19 wins to start with!!
Basketball Reference gives players a Game Score that rates overall player performance. Josh Jackson had 12 games this season with a negative game score. He had six games with as many turnovers as points and five with as many fouls. Jackson posted a -9.3 on-court rating this season. He shot 42% from the floor and and posted a 92 offensive rating and a 114 on defense. Remember how Jackson was going to be a 3-and-D guy? He averaged less than one steal and one block per game.
But Jackson had to come off the bench, you say… Maybe that hurt his numbers! Spoiler alert: it didn’t. Jackson started 29 games for the Suns. Phoenix went 4–25 in those games. His ratings plummeted even further to 86 on offense and 116 on defense. No player in NBA history has played that many minutes in a season with worse offensive and defensive ratings.
As a starter this season, Josh Jackson posted a horrifying -16.7 on/off rating. That’s -16.7 per 100 possessions. I’ll do the math for you. Every six possessions the Phoenix Suns had with Josh Jackson as a starter this year, they were an entire point worse than with anyone other than Jackson in the lineup! This is a team that’s started five rookies this season, plus Dragan Bender, Ryan Anderson, Isaiah Canaan, and Kelly Oubre. They were a dumpster fire for the umpteenth straight season, and yet they were still one point worse every six possessions starting Josh Jackson. That is… astounding.
Congratulations, Josh Jackson. You can only go up from here. We hope.
DISHONORABLE MENTION Terry Rozier, Celtics Tyreke Evans, Pacers Evan Turner, Blazers
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Thanks to Basketball Reference as always.
