There is a new buzzword in basketball: “tanking,” defined as the art of losing, or being bad now to be better in the future.
Yes, tanking means trying to lose. Not exactly an approach associated with professional sports, or sport of any kind, but a phenomenon that’s become especially prevalent in the National Basketball Association this year, despite cries of indignation.
Why has this “epidemic” of trying to lose happened? Because teams want to win. In the NBA, tanking is one of the most effective team rebuilding strategies out there, and it’s keeping the league exciting for fans of even the most hopeless ”“ at least on paper ”“ franchises out there.
So how did all this come to be?
Tankapalooza, as the 2013-14 season has come to be known, comes about from the fact that basketball, perhaps more so than any other team sport, can be dominated by a single, great player. One player can completely change the fortunes of an NBA team, and shift the power structure of the league itself.
That star system is just the nature of basketball. Look at LeBron James, selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers as the first pick in the 2003 NBA draft, who took that team from being the worst in the NBA to a finals appearance in just four years. When James left for Miami, the Cavs went from having the best record in the league in 2009-10 to having the worst in 2010-11. That’s an extreme example, as LeBron is a once-in-a-generation talent, but it just goes to show what one man can do.
In this June’s upcoming NBA draft, there look to be several franchise players capable of making a major positive impact right away, to the point where many are saying this is the most talented and deepest draft class since LeBron’s, and perhaps one of the top-five best classes ever.
So how do you get your hands on one of those prized assets, those game-changers? You have to have a high choice in the draft. How do you get that? By having as bad a record as possible.
So NBA teams with no obvious hope of contending any time soon have done their best to guarantee their rosters not only are not good enough to make the playoffs, but have one of the worst records in the league. That, in turn, ensures the best chance of getting a high draft pick in the lottery, which is weighted so that the team with the worst record has the best pick.
One note: It’s important to remember that tanking is done by the people in the front office, not by the players or the coaches on the court. No one, credibly, would suggest that professional players would attempt to lose, and no coach in his right mind would ask them to. The trick to tanking is having a roster so devoid of talent that even a team with players giving 100 percent will still lose.
While many teams have gone down the tanking route this season, the most obvious example of this incentive to lose is the Philadelphia 76ers, who this past off-season traded their best player for a draft pick, and this February traded two of their best remaining players for draft picks, prospects and cash.
The gutting of the roster led to the 76ers losing 26 straight games, which put the 76ers in prime position to get one of the top draft picks in June ”“ and hopefully a future star.
With that rookie, plus the young pieces that Philadelphia has assembled over the past year, the 76ers will have a great chance to turn around their fortunes and become one of the best teams in the league. The heartache suffered this season by loyal fans could quickly turn into exhilaration.
Contrast the 76ers’ plan with those of NBA teams like New Orleans and the New York Knicks, who went the other direction and tried to load up their current rosters by trading away future picks and signing so-so players to big contracts. Due to injuries and just plain bad play, both those teams will miss the playoffs this season, and have mortgaged a future for a present that is in itself terrible. They may win more games this season than the 76ers, but the team in Philadelphia, unquestionably, is much closer to the ultimate goal of winning a championship.
In other words, in many cases, tanking is a much more effective plan than doing everything possible to win now, and it’s been going on for quite some time. If the profitability of the NBA, its attendance numbers and television ratings are anything to go by, tanking hasn’t adversely affected the league yet.
New Englanders only have to look in their own backyard to see examples of this, as the Boston Celtics have often been at the forefront of the tanking effort. Think of 1997, when the Celtics’ tanked their season and ended up with two picks in the lottery: The team had a 36 percent chance at the top pick and the consensus selection ”“ a forward out of Wake Forest named Tim Duncan.
San Antonio ended up with the top pick, however, and Duncan, who has led the Spurs to four championships and is still going strong 17 years later; in short, the exact kind of legendary player teams tanking this year are hoping to get.
Boston has again gone down the tanking route this season, trading away aging stars last summer, but is still competitive ”“ twice beating the two-time defending champions Heat while also accumulating one of the worst records in the league, meaning a high draft pick and a future star are likely coming in June.
Most importantly, the tanking strategy and the debate around it has also kept the Celtics in the headlines and in the thoughts of the New England sports fan, not an easy accomplishment for a terrible team in a market that now expects championships.
As the Celtics example shows us, tanking ”“ or the “T word,” as new NBA commissioner Adam Silver refers to it ”“ is not some serious issue that must be resolved. It’s a legitimate blueprint that makes the NBA unique, and it’s a ray of hope that means even in the darkest of times, fans of the worst teams can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Writer Cameron Dunbar on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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