24. Portland Trail Blazers
At the midway point of the season, I'm still not entirely sure what to make of the Portland Trail Blazers. On one hand, this is a team that is already out of the playoff race in the Western Conference and has little hope to salvage this season. On the other hand, there have been some positive signs from the likes of Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe this year. However, the positive signs from those two players do not match the vibes that the team has to have regarding the future of Scoot Henderson.
To be perfectly honest, this team's future always hinged on Henderson's development. The only way the outlook for this team would change tangibly is if Henderson made that big jump. At least so far, that doesn't appear to be happening. If there is any saving grace, it's the fact that he's been slightly more efficient so far this season despite the fact that he's technically been less productive - but that could be due to the fact that he's been relegated to a bench role for the team.
23. Philadelphia 76ers
At some point soon, it may be time to chalk up this season as a lost year for the Philadelphia 76ers. Even as the midway point of the regular season arrives, I'm not sure we're quite there yet. However, the Sixers aren't out of the woods yet. If they want to make the postseason, they still have plenty of work to do. Right now, they're currently sitting outside of the top 10 in the Eastern Conference standings. They're not completely out of it but if they can't shake this injury bug, they may not have much of a chance to recover during the second half of the season.
It's pretty amazing that Joel Embiid has still only played in 13 games so far this season. Without much hope of Embiid being able to remain healthy for the remainder of the season, it's hard to feel any level of confidence for the Sixers. This is a team that will have some big decisions to make after this season and with how this season has gone, nothing will be easy when it comes to the future of this team. Considering the big moves the Sixers made this past offseason, they might have won the argument for the biggest disappointment this year.