Philadelphia 76ers

Record: 35-37
Overall ranking: 206th, 3.692 points below average
    The 1958-1959 Syracuse Nationals rank as the most hard-luck team in NBA history by this standard: the POST formula tabs these Nats as the most dominant team to finish with a losing record.
    Syracuse finished the 1958-1959 season with an average point differential of +4.0 points per game, but somehow posted s 35-37 overall record. By comparison, the Nationals’ 1954-1955 NBA championship team had an average point differential of +1.4 points per game.
Syracuse struggled in close games, and also had the misfortune of playing in the tougher Eastern Division. East teams had four of the top six records in the eight-team NBA. The East finished the season with an aggregate record 30 games better than the West.
    Past and future seasons further exposed the Nationals’ losing record during the 1958-1959 campaign as a fluke. Syracuse went 41-31 during the 1957-1958 season and 45-30 during the 1959-1960 campaign – with far less impressive average point differential numbers. The 1958-1959 Nationals pushed the eventual league champion Boston Celtics to seven games before bowing in the Eastern Division finals. No fluke loss there. Three of Syracuse’s losses in the East finals came by 20 points or more.