For a tropical storm to be classified, the center of circulation has to be closed. There are tropical waves that can be just as strong as tropical storms but are not classified because they are lacking a center of circulation. If the NHC classified anything that had winds meeting the requirements of classification, we'd have every strong summer storm deemed a "tropical storm."

Its having a hard time developing because it is moving so quickly. When a storm moves quickly (there are rare exceptions) it is very hard for the system to consolidate itself. For example think of boiling water. When the gas is released as the bonds in the water molecules break, the atoms expand and move around very quickly. But as soon as the temperature providing that energy is gone, the atoms slow down and consolidate back into the liquid form of water.