For 11 years -- from the 1987-88 season to the 1997-98 season -- the Chicago Bulls won at least 46 games per season. But it's quite possible that the post-Jordan Bulls teams will not even win more than 46 games over the first three-year period (1998-1999 through 2000-2001 season) since then. On Saturday, the Bulls mustered their first back-to-back wins in almost a year!

	Nick Van Exel played on some brutal teams with the Nuggets.

So clearly, in the last three years, the franchise has gone from six-time champions to three-time chumpions. The first seven years of the 90's will easily be recognized as one of the greatest dynasties of all-time. The Bulls teams that finished up the decade and entered the 21st century will easily be recognized among the worst teams in NBA history.

But they aren't the worst. We decided to delve into where these Terri-Bulls rank all-time. Here's the Futile 13, and we picked that number because the Bulls, despite being an embarrassment, didn't make the top 12. Here's the list of the worst teams (over a three-year span) in sports over the last 30 years. In order for a team to qualify, the franchise had to have a horrible record for three consecutive seasons and -- to be fair -- expansion franchises received a five-year exemption.

The Unlucky 13

1. Dallas Mavericks
1991-92 to 93-94 seasons, 46-200 (.187)
Record by year: 22-60, 11-71, 13-69
Key players: Rolando Blackman, Fat Lever, Derek Harper, Jim Jackson
The Skinny: The Mavericks had little chance to shine after forward/center Roy Tarpley (who scored 20.4 points per game during the 90-91 season) got dismissed before the season for violating the league's Anti-Drug Agreement. The team started the 1991-92 season at 7-9, but only mustered 15 more wins in the final 66 games. The 92-93 team started the season 4-57 and it took until Game No. 62 to win their fifth game. Had Jimmy Jackson not been signed for the final third of the season, the Mavericks wouldn't have had a chance to get into double digits in the win column. The 93-94 season wasn't much better as the Mavericks managed to win one less game -- two -- at the midseason point. Jackson and Jamal Mashburn averaged 19.2 ppg each, which allowed the Mavericks to call themselves a professional team -- barely.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1985-87 seasons, 8-39 (.170)
Record by year: 2-14, 2-14, 4-12
Key players: Jimmie Giles, James Wilder, Steve Young, Steve DeBerg
The Skinny: For the first three years in the history of the franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won 15 percent of their games. Ten years later, the team seemingly was back in the same place. Head coach Leeman Bennett took over for Tampa Bay's inaugural mentor John McKay to start the 1985 season. Bennett's orange and red only won 5 games in 39 attempts (including seven preseason games) during his two-year tenure. The lowlight came in his first season when the playoff bound Jets decimated his Bucs 62-28. The Bucs only beat one team that finished the season with a better than .500 record during the three-year period.

3. Washington Senators/Texas Rangers
1971-73 seasons, 174-301 (.366)
Record by year: 63-96, 54-100, 57-105
Key players: Frank Howard, Jeff Burroughs, Denny McLain, Toby Harrah
The Skinny: Ted Williams' last two years as manager weren't as good as his first two seasons. That's a pretty tough statement, considering that in Williams' second season his Senators went 70-92. The 1971 team had an ace in Denny McLain, who was traded from Detroit after he was suspended by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn the previous year for carrying a pistol. But McLain went 10-22 for the Senators in 1971. To make matters worse, outfielder Curt Flood left the team after 13 games in order to pursue his antitrust case that was before the Supreme Court. After the 1971 season, owner Bob Short moved the team to Arlington, Texas, and the team only got worse.

4. Quebec Nordiques
89-90 to 91-92 seasons, 48-159-33 (.269)
Record by year: 12-61-7, 16-50-14, 20-48-12
Key players: Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Joe Sakic, Ron Tugnutt
The Skinny: The 1989-90 season was probably as ugly as it could get for this franchise, even though the team certainly had decent talent. The Nordiques, at one point, had one win in 18 games and got their 10th victory in Game No. 57. Joe Sakic had 102 points, but the netminders for the Nordiques allowed the opposition to score a club record of 407 goals. The team finished the season with a measly 31 points -- 33 less points than the next worst team. The next two seasons the Nordiques improved, but still finished in the cellar of the Adams Division.

Brazile gets defensive

On paper, the 1982-84 Houston Oilers (No. 5 on the Futile 13) were an atrocious team. Simply refer to the five victories in 41 attempts. But for one man who played on all of those teams, it was a different story. "I believe that we had what it took to win games, it just wasn't our time," said Robert Brazile, the Oilers linebacker who went to the Pro Bowl in 1982. "We had the ingredients for the cake, but we never put it in the oven." Brazile said that the team was better than its record indicated, as three of the Oilers five wins came against quality opponents. "We lined up with those teams that had won it like Pittsburgh and we beat them," he said. "Player for player we really matched up. For those five games that we won, we were often beating the best. We weren't beating homecoming teams. We were beating Super Bowl contenders when everybody counted us out before the game even started."

5. Houston Oilers
1982-84 seasons, 5-36 (.121)
Record by year: 1-8, 2-14, 2-14
Key players: Earl Campbell, Archie Manning, Robert Brazile, Warren Moon
The Skinny: The Oilers teams of the early-80's featured some Pro Bowlers in Campbell and Brazile, but the team clearly had trouble with its signal callers. No Oilers starting quarterback during this stretch threw for more touchdowns than interceptions in a season. In 1983, the Oilers went 2-14 and lost all four games in the preseason for a total of 2-18 (.100 win. pct.). However, the team showed it could at times play with the best, as it managed to pull out three of its five wins against division champs and Super Bowl contenders like Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

6. Los Angeles Clippers
1997-99 seasons, 41-173 (.192)
Record by year: 17-65, 9-41, 15-67
Key players: Lamond Murray, Maurice Taylor, Eric Piatkowski, Lamar Odom
The Skinny: Bill Fitch and Chris Ford couldn't do anything to help these teams that were filled with young players and very little decent veteran talent. The Clips were good at starting their seasons with horrific starts -- particularly in 1997 and 1998, seasons in which the team averaged one win in the first 16 games. In 1998, the team began the strike-shortened season by losing their first 17 games and never made it to double digits in the win column.

7. Pittsburgh Penguins
1982-83 to 84-85 seasons, 58-162-20 (.283)
Record by year: 18-53-9, 16-58-6, 24-51-5
Key players: Doug Shedden, Randy Carlisle, Mike Bullard, Mario Lemieux
The Skinny: The Penguins of the early-80's were incredibly young and overmatched. The 83-84 team had an 18-game losing streak and finished the season with just 38 points. But the team's horrific performance has to be qualified by their lack of motivation towards the end -- in order to get Mario Lemieux as the No. 1 pick. With Lemieux scoring 100 points and winning Rookie of the Year in the 84-85 season, the Penguins dramatically improved.

8. Oakland Athletics
1977-79 seasons, 186-299 (.384)
Record by year: 63-98, 69-93, 54-108
Key players: Mitchell Page, Vida Blue, Dave Revering, Rick Langford
The Skinny: Once free agency came along, A's owner Charlie Finley became particularly good at selling his players. In 1977, Vida Blue and Rick Langford (who lost 48 games in those three years) lost 19 games apiece. During the three years, no one hit .300, smacked more than 25 home runs or knocked in more than 80 runs. Finley managed to get cheaper and cheaper each year by refusing to pick up the high-priced veterans and filling his roster with young, inexpensive talent. In 1979, the team's worst season, only two players on the roster were over 30.

9. Denver Nuggets
1996-97 to 98-99 seasons, 46-168 (.215)
Record by year: 21-61, 11-71, 14-36
Key players: Antonio McDyess, Nick Van Exel, LaPhonso Ellis, Eric Williams
The Skinny: The Nuggets didn't get off to the worst start, as they actually finished ahead of San Antonio, Boston and expansion Vancouver in the 96-97 season. But the following season, the franchise had to struggle to tie the Mavericks' futile mark of 11-71 -- tying the record by winning an impressive two of their last six. Towards the end of the season, former Nuggets hero Dan Issel was hired as VP and GM and did little for the team's immediate future. Mike D'Antoni coached the Nuggets in the 98-99 season, despite having no professional coaching experience in the USA, and appeared to have the Nuggets on the right track. He was, of course, fired before the 99-00 season.

10. Buffalo Bills
1984-86 seasons, 8-40 (.167)
Record by year: 2-14, 2-14, 4-12
Key players: Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Chris Burkett, Robb Riddick
The Skinny: Throughout the three-year period, the Bills only won one game in 23 tries on the road. The team also tried three coaches in as many years: Kay Stephenson, Hank Bullough and Marv Levy. In 1986, the team was much better than their record showed as they lost by an average of 3.5 points per game.

The Rest of the Worst
No. 11 Atlanta Braves, 1987-89 seasons, 186-295 (.387)
Record by year: 69-92, 54-106, 63-97

No. 12 Tampa Bay Lightning, 1997-98 to 99-00 seasons, 55-163-38-7 (.289)
Record by year: 17-55-10, 19-54-9, 19-54-9-7

No. 13 CHICAGO BULLS, 1998-99 to 00-01 seasons, 46-169 (.210)* [projected]
Record by year: 13-37, 17-65, 16-66*

Darren Rovell, who is a staff writer for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.