One Thing Left To Do... Win It “It’s a good thing we signed them early,” the general manager of one team said about his fellow league execs. “They’ve been pretty loyal, haven’t they? That was one thing left to do, win it.” Just a couple of weeks ago, New York Knicks president of basketball operations Phil Jackson was confident. “We have to move to the playoffs,” he was quoted as saying. He insisted that his team’s slow start was “a little blip on the radar” and that the “process” would pay off in the end. But if Knicks fans knew what their general manager was telling reporters was just “a little blip,” they would have been in an uproar. As it turned out, Jackson wasn’t just exaggerating when he vowed he would make the playoffs. After trading Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to the Denver Nuggets and losing their best player (and arguably their coach) in Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks are now officially in “rebuilding mode.” But the Knicks are not alone. With the season only 10 games old, there are 11 teams that appear to be on the verge of doing the same thing. The New Jersey Nets (2-6) look to be the most dire of all the teams, as they are now the second-worst team in the East. Nets president of basketball operations Rod Thorn doesn’t seem to be as optimistic as his former colleague. Thorn revealed that he hoped for and expected the Knicks to be “very good this year.” But when it became apparent that this would not be the case, Thorn decided to “move on.” The Nets also have decided that they are ready to rebuild. A lot of people wanted them to give Jeremy Lin a chance before the season, but there is just no way the Nets are going to sign him after the way the Knicks used their first-round pick this year. It has been reported that the Nets want to move the #3 pick as well. But this season has already been an interesting one. The Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves are also a few teams that have decided that rebuilding is the right move, but with the season already half over, they are still winless. In fact, there are actually 14 teams that don’t have a victory so far this season. That is an increase of six teams from the same point last year. With 10 games remaining, eight teams don’t have a single victory this year. Of course, a lot of these teams aren’t really rebuilding but more are just in a bad spot. Teams like the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings were all expected to be contenders in this season, but all of those teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention. The Minnesota Timberwolves and New Jersey Nets were looking to make their playoff run last season, but are now in full-blown rebuilding mode. Brooklyn is looking to deal its stars in order to get something back, but the Timberwolves are more in the same boat than they were last season. In other words, they just aren’t very good. Many of these teams have had their hopes crushed by the start of the season. When the Los Angeles Lakers put up their second-best start ever in franchise history, many thought that it meant they would be a force in the West for a while. But those hopes were quickly dashed when they went on a skid and have fallen even further in the standings since then. Other teams like the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies have tried to ride their young and developing talent to championships, but both teams seem to have thrown in the towel this season. The Grizzlies have already started a total teardown, while the Clippers are planning to make big trades for more young talent. It doesn’t help that the Boston Celtics, who have always been a great team in the past, have already called it quits and are looking to move their stars to rebuild. The team is definitely looking to rebuild, but as we learned from the 2010-2011 season, simply trying to compete at the same level is hard. It will likely be difficult for this Celtics team to even make the playoffs, let alone compete with the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. Right now, there are only three teams that can realistically compete for a championship this season: the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat. But all of those teams are old and getting older. The Heat has already made two huge splashes this offseason with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James and the Pacers should be ready to compete for a championship this season. The Chicago Bulls have done their part in making it difficult for teams to challenge for championships. Derrick Rose, the MVP of last season, has struggled through injuries and illnesses, but he will likely be fully recovered in time for the start of the NBA season. With two superstars now in the fold, the Bulls are looking to have a special season, much like the Lakers did last year. But it would be foolish to underestimate the Denver Nuggets. Anthony would have made the Nuggets much better last season and it seems that they are still committed to trying to compete for a championship this year. But for that to happen, Carmelo Anthony would have to play out of his mind for his entire tenure in Denver, which seems highly unlikely. The Utah Jazz is another team that was considered a title contender, but they are no longer contenders this season. The Jazz is actually still playing pretty well with some of the younger players playing well and it might not even be too late for them to still compete for the title. But right now, it just doesn’t seem very likely. The Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz may still be strong contenders. This season has just been an unfortunate setback for both of them. Golden State hasn’t played particularly well lately, but they do have the depth to compete with the Clippers, Thunder and Spurs. The Jazz may still have some things to prove to us before they are done this season. But right now, they still seem to be out of the race. The New York Knicks could come back at any moment, but at the moment they are still in the same boat as all of the other teams. The Mavericks and Hawks are two teams that have won just one game this season, but they could still surprise people with a late-season turnaround. So, 14 teams have already lost their first-round picks. That is already two teams more than last season. Of course, we’ve seen some more of those teams get swept away, but there are only 12 wins so far in this dreadful season, so we may see more teams struggling this season. It was looking like many of these teams would be contenders last season and it might be too late for many of them to contend this season. But the 2011-2012 season has already shown a few teams to be willing to embrace change and for those that haven’t, the clock is ticking. It seems like these teams will still have to fight and claw in order to see the rewards. It seems to be too late for many of these teams.