It’s not easy being an expansion team, and nobody knows that better than the Atlanta Dream. After falling to Detroit on Sunday night, the Dream’s record fell to 0-15 at press time, the worst start in WNBA history.
Though the team cannot help but be disappointed in the slow start, I am here to reiterate the old cliché: Nothing lasts forever. Think about it – in their first years of existence, the Florida Marlins (1993) and Arizona Diamondbacks (1998) won just 64 and 65 games, respectively. Florida then won a World Series title four years later, and Arizona needed only three to be crowned champs.
Let’s take a look at some of the more unfortunate teams in years past that ended up picking up the slack soon afterwards.
ROUGH START
1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers – The Sixers had maintained a solid level of success since moving to Philadelphia in 1963 until this horrid season. Like the Dream, the 76ers started the year 0-15 and ended up losing their final 13 games of the season as well. Philly finished the year with an abysmal record of 9-73, the worst in NBA history. But thanks to the later additions of Doug Collins and Darryl Dawkins, Philly went 46-36 three years later and won consecutive division titles in the following two seasons.
1976 Tampa Bay Bucs – You may already know that the Bucs went 0-14 in their inaugural season. They also went 0-12 to start the 1977 season, meaning the franchise lost its first 26 games. When asked about his team’s execution, head coach John McKay replied, “I’m all for it!” Luckily, McKay’s comment did not lead to an actual execution because behind quarterback Doug Williams, the Bucs reached the NFC Championship Game in 1979.
1980-81 Winnipeg Jets – Not ALL hockey is good in Canada. In their second season as an NHL franchise, the Jets went 30 games without a victory in a stretch that lasted from Oct. 19 through Dec. 20, 1980. With a final record of 9-57-14, the Jets posted just 32 points; in contrast, the Stanley Cup-winning New York Islanders finished with 110 points. No matter. Winnipeg improved tremendously the following season, going 33-33-14 (80 points) to finish third overall in the conference and earn a playoff berth.
1988 Baltimore Orioles – It’s hard to imagine a team with two Hall of Famers and a former MVP being known as a bunch of losers, but even Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray and Fred Lynn could not stop the O’s from starting the season 0-21. The Orioles scored one or less runs in 10 of those losses. Things were much different in 1989, however: Baltimore led the AL East for much of the season and ended up missing the division title by just two games at 87-75.
1989-98 Prairie View A&M football – Who would have known that a loss to Langston University on Nov. 4, 1989 would spark an 80-game losing streak – the worst in college football history – for the Panthers? The streak finally ended on Sept. 26, 1998 against … Langston. For the record, this one we are definitely hoping the Dream do not duplicate – but in 2007, they achieved their first winning season since 1976 (7-3).
NINETIES TO NOW
1990 Atlanta Braves/Minnesota Twins – By season’s end, Atlanta suffered its seventh consecutive losing season, finishing 65-97 and last in the NL West. The Twins had a better record (74-88) but also finished last in the AL West. The following year, however, both teams shocked the world by playing in a classic World Series that lasted seven games. And let’s just leave it at that; the final result was irrelevant, OK?
1992 District 5 a.k.a. Mighty Ducks – In Emilio Estevez’s first game as head coach for the ragtag peewee hockey team, District 5 lost 17-0 to the Hawks. But after much coaching, laughter and love, the team – renamed the “Mighty Ducks” – eventually reached the playoffs and beat the Hawks on a penalty shot in the championship game. (Yeah, it’s a Disney movie but whatever, I was 10 years old at the time; it was pretty cool back then.)
2001-02 Jacque Vaughn – This is a stretch since it was one player rather than a team. Still, Atlanta Hawks fans went absolutely nuts watching Vaughn start the season shooting 0-for-22 from the floor, the most consecutive misses to start a season in history. The good news? Vaughn ended up averaging 6.6 points per game that season, a career-high.
2002 Detroit Shock – And this may be best of all. When the Dream lost their 14th game, it broke the original record of 0-13 that the ’02 Shock originally set (the 2006 Chicago Sky matched that mark as well). What happened the following season? The Shock went on to win the 2003 WNBA Championship, beating the Los Angeles Sparks in three games.
So don’t fret yet. In this wild world of sports, anything can happen. Don’t forget: the Boston Celtics were just 24-58 last year.
Arapoglou can be reached at tarapoglou@scoreatl.com.
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