NBA - Main

Generally speaking, one year likely isn’t that damaging (in OPs example, Ant was also on a bad team year 1). It’s the sustained losing that kills you, especially when the games get feel meaningless from the jump.

I’d also argue that Orlando wasn’t that bad last year. They had that horrid start (what was it, 5-20) but then were competitive the rest of the year and played like .500 ball and won 34 games (with a few tank games down the stretch to suppress that number).

But who knows. Some dudes come out of bad situations no worse for wear. Other dudes can never shake the bad habits. And the one must also wonder whether the bad habits were the cause of the sustained losing rather than the other way around.