NBA 2018-19: 3 Biggest let downs so far

All NBA teams and players have certain expectations when heading into a new season, fans and critics begin discussing what they think will happen almost as soon as the previous seasons end and over the offseason pressure and expectations build up all the way to the new season.

Whilst some players and franchise surprise everybody by taking their game to a new level out of nowhere, like Toronto Raptors' Pascal Siakam, not everyone always hold up to their high standards set by fans, media and internal management.

As we're now roughly a quarter of the way through the new season, we can begin to see the trends in the NBA that will most likely carry on throughout the season. So today, we take a look at the three biggest disappointments so far in the 2018/19 NBA season.

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#3 Brandon Ingram

Los Angeles Lakers v Denver Nuggets

With the arrival of LeBron James to the franchise, the Lakers went into the season with higher expectations than they've had since the great Kobe years.

Many believed that due to the Lakers failing to sign another big free agent to partner the great LeBron James, that Brandon Ingram would be looked at as the clear second option and that he would take another huge step after increasing his output in a season-best outing last year.

While the Lakers have gotten better and better as the season has gone on, the surprise has been that Ingram has still failed to show any real consistent improvements from last season. Ingram has become an unimpressive three-point shooter this season dropping from 39% to only 33% and gotten worse in points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks despite having similar minutes. The only thing statistically Ingram has improved on is limiting his turnovers per game, moving from 2.53 per game to 2.44.

At the start of the season many believed that Ingram was the only "untouchable" player to trade away to help out LeBron lead the Lakers to another title, but after a disappointing start to the season opinions are starting to change on the 21 year old forward.

#2 Boston Celtics

Chicago Bulls v Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics were credited as an almost shoe-in to win the Eastern Conference now that LeBron James had moved out west. After taking the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, without their two stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, the expectations were that with these two they should walk through the east with ease.

Unfortunately for Celtics fans, they have struggled to get it going to begin the season and have been battling .500 for the majority of the season so far. Brad Stevens has failed to find a successful way to involve all their stars into one lineup and has resulted in the Celtics having one of the worst offensive ratings in the entire NBA.

Their inefficiency and inability on offense has resulted in them already losing heavy ground to Eastern Conference rivals, the Raptors, Bucks and 76ers.

#1 Houston Rockets

Georgia Tech v Georgia

In many eyes, the Houston Rockets were one game away from becoming NBA champions last season. If it were not for the untimely injury to Chris Paul forcing him to sit for game six and seven of the Western Conference Finals, many believe the Rockets would have gone all the way to win the title.

That is why they have been such a disappointment so far this season sitting second last in the Western Conference with a 9-11 record. The Rockets went for a "home-run" when signing multiple time All-Star Carmelo Anthony to their roster making a big three of Melo, Harden and Paul, yet it blew up quickly as after 10 games together they parted ways admitting it was a failure.

Without Trevor Ariza or Mbah a Moute, the Rockets are continuously struggled defensively this season and taken a huge step backward from their heights last year.