From Dennis Velasco,
Your Guide to Basketball.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Enough with those annoying overachievers, time to shine a light on some slackers. Heading into the stretch run of the season, which team has underachieved the most to date?

Nick: I'm going to be a homer on this one and say the Denver Nuggets. Last season they posted an honest 44-38 record before getting bounced postseason-style in five games against the Clippers. Since that day the Nuggets had a very busy summer and continued their shuffle during this regular season. A season-ending injury to Kenyon Martin hurt, but the emergence of Nene as a serious low-post presence has been the equalizer (if there is one) for this season.

They brought in Allen Iverson, Carmelo has led the league in scoring since about day two, but they just have not found a way to improve. Everything on paper looks like an improvement, but the Nuggets will be lucky to match last year's win total this season. They may be more dangerous come playoff time this year, but without any defense they pose little to no threat once again in the seventh or eighth seed out west. It's a shame too, because owner Stan Kroenke has done his job bringing the best available names to the city of Denver, but the Nuggets just have not gotten it done.

Atma Brother #1: Even if the Clippers make the playoffs in the mighty West as a 7th or 8th seed, they are easily the most underachieving team in the league. The Clip show was supposed to be a top 4 or 5 team in the West this season. Instead they're just a big mess that's being exposed by the likes of the perenial Pacific Division doormat Golden State Warriors. Think stingy owner Donald Sterling regrets finally breaking out the checkbook for this band of underachieving drama queens?

Dave: Among the teams at the top of the standings I think most people expected the Bulls to be better than 3rd in their own division. Of the middle-range teams, Denver clearly has more talent than wins and is probably the definitive answer to this question though Sacramento is close behind. It’s hard to say that many of the lowliest teams are underachieving. Most of them are just not very good. I guess even though nobody expected the Celtics to be that good they’re certainly exceeding their expectation of badness.

Ryan: Vince "Wince" Carter of the Nets. This pick could be showing my bias because I'm a Raptors fan and love to rip on him any chance I get, but there's no way that a team with Kidd and Carter should be under .500 heading into the home stretch of the season.

Dennis: I think it's the Nuggets and Clippers for the reasons given above by Nick and Atma, respectively.