Sound the alarm on these 5 grossly underachieving NBA teams

Golden State Warriors no longer look like an elite NBA team

The 2021–22 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors are having problems early in the new NBA season, mustering a 4-7 record despite having a healthy roster and all five starters returning from last year’s championship team.

The Warriors’ defense stinks, and their rebounding is not much better. Golden State is 29th out of 30 NBA teams in opponents’ points per game (120.6 ppg). They rank 23rd in the league in rebounding (41.3 per game) and have an unproven and inexperienced bench. Except for Andre Iguodala, the team’s bench is comprised of one player with more than four years of NBA experience (JaMychal Green, with eight).

Golden State knew it was risky going into the season with so much inexperience on the bench, but here we are. The starting five’s single-season price tags come out to $155 million, which left GM Bob Myers little-to-no money to invest in a bench.

Minnesota Timberwolves can’t figure out how to play together

The Wolves had one of the splashiest NBA offseasons in recent memory, pushing all their chips to the middle of the table to bring Rudy Gobert to Minnesota.

Gobert started off really well for the Timberwolves, pulling down a mind-boggling 54 rebounds in his first three games with his new team. But since then, Gobert has been wildly inefficient and Head Coach Chris Finch is having to get creative with his lineups.

During the team’s ongoing losing streak (Oct. 30-Nov. 9) in which they’ve lost five of their last six games, Gobert has been down bad: -10, -14, -13, and -6 against San Antonio, Phoenix, Milwaukee and Phoenix (again), respectively.

These guys aren’t playing well together at all. Anthony Edwards knows it. The fans know it. Even Devin Booker knows it, as he savagely pointed out in one of the Suns’ recent games against Minnesota.

If the Timberwolves continue down this path, they may need to explore the trade market to find some role players that will fit into the team’s roster more seamlessly.