General Managers around the NBA pretend that tanking doesn’t exist. Instead they use a different word as if “tanking” is one of those dreaded curse words we can’t let children hear, so we use a safe word like “rebuilding.” You can consider me a deviant because I refuse to water down my vocabulary, I’ll call it what it is: TANKING.
Is tanking a bad thing? Can it be eliminated? How? These are all great questions, and virtually impossible to answer. So let’s try to.
First let’s define tanking. Are coaches telling their players to lose? No. Are players trying to lose? No. Are GMs trading away good players to get draft picks or clear cap space, thus leaving them with inferior talent to play the games? Ask the 76ers. Oh, they wouldn’t answer? Ok, I will. Absolutely teams are tanking.
The problem with tanking is that it seems to happen with small market teams who get good draft picks every year. Then their players leave or don’t pan out, and they go back to the draft. Some teams like Portland, Oklahoma City, and Golden State have gotten really good teams out of building through the draft. However, teams like Utah, Milwaukee, and Cleveland? Not so much. These teams have bad players and upset fans who have to watch their bad team lose games. However, if they keep buying tickets, that’s their choice. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of a good pick or that the pick will equal a great player, so it could just be a repeated process after a great player you drafted decides to take his talents elsewhere.
Can we eliminate tanking? No. But, can we at least make it less appealing? Maybe. One way to do that would be to create more parity around the league. The Western Conference is clearly superior to the Eastern Conference. If, the league could make them more even, maybe we have less need to tank. How? A draft wheel is one option where there’s less incentive to lose. They could lower the salary cap which would eliminate the “Big three” idea because teams couldn’t afford multiple stars. They could do away with the Conferences and have the playoffs take the best sixteen records leaving the worst fourteen with guaranteed lottery picks. If all else fails and crisis ensues, clear the slate of every team and have a draft of current players all going to new cities with new contracts. Ok, maybe that’s too far. But, there could be ways to get fewers teams trying to lose.
Bottom Line: Until there is a way to force teams away from tanking, it will happen. Building a team from the draft is still a great way to build a winner for teams who can’t buy one, so teams will still try to do it. Some will just fail, and keep tanking until they fire another GM, hit on their picks, or the team leaves the city. In the meantime, we still have something to talk about.
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