16. Indiana Pacers
Aside from the Philadelphia 76ers, the argument could be made that the Indiana Pacers have been the most disappointing team in the Eastern Conference. After making it into the Eastern Conference finals last season, and returning Bennedict Mathurin from injury, the hope was that this Pacers team could take another step forward this year. However, at least do the first quarter of the season, that has not been the case for Indiana. In fact, they've been much more inconsistent to start this season than they were at any point during the second half of last year.
Because of their inconsistency so far this season, you can't help a question what the future is going to look like for this team. Specifically, there have to be some concerns surrounding the inconsistency of Tyrese Haliburton so far this year. To make things even worse, this is a team that is only going to go as far as other dynamic duo can take them. Right now, the duo of Haliburton and Pascal Siakam is just not very good. And neither are the Pacers.
15. Minnesota Timberwolves
Even after making the Western Conference Finals last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves clearly didn't believe that their core was good enough to take the next step to breakthrough to win the championship. That much was clear when the Wolves decided to trade Karl Anthony-Towns on the eve of training camp a few months ago. While it was moved that the front office believed needed to happen, I'm not sure where that has left this team overall. The more this team continues to struggle the more it appears that the Wolves are in the midst of a "gap season.
But for a team that is led by one of the best rising young superstars in the league, Anthony Edwards, that's not exactly where the franchise wants to be. If the team wants to sell Edwards on the future, taking steps back is not exactly the path to take. At least for now, that appears to be what the Wolves are doing at the moment. This is not the same team that made the WCF last season and I'm not sure if they'll be able to turn the corner on their struggles at any point this season. There has to be real concern for the Wolves at the moment.