The Reggie Evans Bad Basketball Basketball Hall of Fame 2023 inductees

The Minnesota Timberwolves’ new President of Basketball Operations was previously the architect of the Denver Nuggets. He drafted Nikola Jokić at 41st overall, then paired him with Jamal Murray and drafted Michael Porter Jr. at the end of the lottery. If you don’t count Jokić, Connelly’s prowess in drafting contributors out of the second round was still unparalleled. Almost immediately after landing the Timberwolves job though, the incompetence that’s permeated throughout that front office infected him as well.

His magnum opus was trading four first-round picks, a pick-swap, defensive stopper Jarred Vanderbilt and Walker Kessler in exchange for Rudy Gobert. Not only was Gobert an abject disaster, but his personality disrupted the chemistry and bubbled up at the tail end of the season. He also lost a step from his prime as a three-time Defensive Player of the Year. The T’Wolves were swiftly eliminated by the Nuggets in the first round en route to their NBA title. To top it off, Connelly decided to sign Naz Reid to an extension but is now stuck with three bigs. This was the worst type of legacy-altering year for Connelly.

Dillon Brooks’ descent from locker room leader to outcast once the final buzzer sounded on Memphis season. Brooks has always marched to the beat of his own drum, but this season he appeared to dive off the deep end and bought too much into his own hype. Not only did he become one of the league’s least efficient scorers after his jumper abandoned him, but Brooks’ low moment was providing bulletin board material to LeBron James by calling him old. By halftime of the ensuing game, Memphis trailed by nearly 30, and Brooks was ejected for aiming a thinly veiled low-blow slap at James’ midsection. In Game 4, Brooks’ matador defense proved costly when he abandoned his positioning in front of James, as the Lakers forward drove the line to tie the score at the end of regulation in Game 4. Wherever he winds up next, it would benefit him to focus more on the game than the theatrics.

The Naismith Hall of Fame has its Curt Gowdy Award for broadcast inductees. We may have to award Kendrick Perkins, the Rick Barry Bad Basketball Broadcasting Award for nuking the NBA MVP discourse. After his playing career, Barry transitioned into an existence as an unlikable color commentator, who once demeaned his broadcast partner Bill Russell’s “watermelon grin” during the 1981 Finals.

Likewise, Perkins’ lazy analysis has always been shrouded by his savvy use of aphorisms from time to time. Yet, he’s gained prominence because of his stature on First Take and ubiquity throughout the Worldwide Leader’s studio shows. In the year 2023, Perkins played his part in poisoning the debate waters over the 2023 NBA Finals debate by implying that Nikola Jokić’s two MVP awards were a result of his racial makeup. In reality, Jokić was the NBA’s leader in Player Efficiency Rating in 2021 and 2022, just like every MVP since 2013. For what it’s worth, Joel Embiid barely finished second in PER to Jokić this season. The last year featured a series of moments that made you realize Big Perk was just phoning it in.

The All-Star break made Dunder Mifflin’s Warehouse Hoops Classic look like the ‘84 Finals. Not only was the Black Super Bowl played in Utah, which may have the dullest nightlife of any NBA city, but the Game was a complete boondoggle. We’ve seen All-Star Games where guys goof off in the first half, but eventually, stars clamp down and play for pride. That transition never happened. Whether it was the result of the draft occurring right before tip-off or the stars caring less than ever, but jogging around and staging an impromptu dunk contest for 48 minutes was a bit much. Most of the national audience abandoned the game by halftime for good reason.

Giannis only played about 15 seconds due to injury and James was in Cancun mode for his 19th All-Star appearance. Everyone followed suit. Afterward, reception of the All-Star Game was unanimously critical, led by Michael Malone labeling it the ‘worst game ever played.’

Kyrie topped his own reputation as the NBA’s most untrustworthy teammate. Just as the Brooklyn Nets appeared to be making a title push, Irving abruptly asked out right before the trade deadline. Irving’s 180 left Kevin Durant in a lurch, but Irving’s field vision has rarely extended too far outside of himself.

He stuck a knife in LeBron James’ back late in the 2017 offseason, dipped out on Boston, and then frustrated the Nets by refusing to get vaccinated during the 2021-22 season. Once he arrived in Dallas, Irving had a downwind effect on the Mavericks’ winning percentage. Reportedly, he’s also gone around Dončić in recruiting James to Dallas despite being an unrestricted free agent. We didn’t even get around to his tacit embrace of an antisemitic video. He’s the bad basketball triple-double king.

Ime Udoka began the season as the NBA’s hottest coaching commodity. Then, his value diminished dramatically after Boston suspended him for the season due to an inappropriate relationship with a member of the Celtics organization. Fast forward to May when Udoka accepted the Houston Rockets job despite several vacancies on benches that were closer to contending in Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. Udoka went from fumbling an unbelievable situation between a long-term relationship with Nia Long, a primo job entrenched as the Boston Celtics head coach with a young core coming off an NBA Finals berth to a daycare teacher responsible for instilling a system into one of the league’s discombobulated, but a talented collection of young talents.

Sheppard was only general manager of the Wizards for five seasons, but prior to that, he wasted two decades as Ernie Grunfeld’s lieutenant. Sheppard is responsible for a portion of Grunfeld’s failures but doubled him up by drafting inexplicably poorly in the lottery throughout his tenure.

It’s been obvious for years that this Wizards team was going nowhere fast with an injured John Wall and a star guard in Bradley Beal who never moved the needle. None of his draft picks panned out in Washington as starters. Rui Hachimura, Corey Kispert, Deni Avidija, and Johnny Davis are a jambalaya of minutes eaters who failed to create any traction for the Wizards. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he awarded Bradley Beal with another extension. Sheppard was still trying to salvage a .500 season, perhaps in an attempt to save his own ass. Now the Wizards are stuck in a teardown mode and staring at the relatively barren 2024 draft.

Unlike Steve Ballmer, former Suns owner Robert Sarver has actually overseen some great basketball in his two decades of NBA ownership. For years, Sarver was known as a loudmouth, obnoxious team governor who thought his pocketbook gave him more expertise. He reportedly made it a habit of humiliating coaches or players by delivering pointers on how they could improve execution in front of the team. However, his undoing was the NBA inquiry that ended before the season began.

Sarver’s racist and misogynistic behavior outlined in the report exposed someone who was spiraling out of control but led to a one-year banishment. After initially refusing to sell the team, Sarver ultimately relented to pressure from the league office, players and even then-Suns point guard Chris Paul. Sarver’s ouster paved the way for a loudmouth owner who actually does have expertise in the sport and the arrival of Isiah Thomas’ influence, despite his history of sexual harassment while serving as the head of the Knicks’ front office. The cycle continues.