NBA GM admits to tanking

[chasen4r1]

I've never been quite sure how I feel about tanking. Seems a bit strange to me that some anonymous GM would admit in such detail to a reporter their plans to tank this year because of a good draft class.

Thoughts?

Also... I'm wondering who this GM is.

OUR TEAM ISN'T good enough to win and we know it. So this season we want to develop and evaluate our young players, let them learn from their mistakes -- and get us in position to grab a great player. The best way for us to do that is to lose a lot of games. This draft is loaded. There are potential All-Stars at the top, maybe even franchise changers. Sometimes my job is to understand the value of losing........

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/9...tank-season-espn-magazine&ex_cid=sportscenter

 

[Warhawk]

Likely Phoenix.

 

[Padrino]

tanking has been an unfortunate necessity of the sport since it expanded to a great many smaller/less desirable markets. that said, this particular GM is one-hundred percent correct in his thought process. the new CBA does considerable work towards protecting a team's assets...

should a given small market franchise tank and come away with a true game changer in the draft, there are measures in place to help that franchise retain such a player. this effectively increases the incentive of all non-playoff teams to lose more games, because they all see the hope of salvation on the other side...

of course, there is no full-proof way to protect a given GM from his own idiocy, so there will still be plenty of cases similar to dwight howard's departure from orlando, a scenario that could have been avoided had their previous GM built a stronger team around howard, rather than throwing big, unwieldy contracts at mediocre supporting talents...

 

[Bricklayer]

Kudos for honesty.

And frankly its just the nature of the sport. There is nothing to be done about it. The NBA has already tried with the lottery system. No other major sport does that. They are all worst team = gets first pick. But in the NBA one superstar player can completely change everything for a franchise, so of course tanking takes place and makes sense. As long as we are not talking about the guys on the court intentionally not playing hard, its just tactics. I said years ago that there is a time to win and a time to lose, and you want to be the best at it no matter which side of the equation you are on. Woulda worked for us too. In fact it was for a spell until the hardcore stupidity kicked in. Reke and Cousins back to back were our tanking bounty. both should still be here. One figures to be our franchise guy.

 

[Turgenev]

While I understand the rationale and appreciate the points outlined by Bricklayer and Padrino- tanking is still a detriment to the sport. Obviously a reality in the NBA but really....

 

[HndsmCelt]

Yup, smart GM's position their teams for long term success. Good coaches and players try to win every game. The two are not in conflict with each other, it only seems that way at a casual glance. Phoenix and Philly are doing everything they can to secure a future with a talent choked draft coming up, while not good for NBA it is a bit unavoidable. Not much worse of a sin than the teams that blow through the salary cap because they can.

 

[Glenn]

It could very well be that we are tanking this season. We gave up our second best talent without a whimper probably with the hopes that a talent better than Tyreke could be acquired. The injury to Landry is very convenient. The team can play hard, be well coached, yet just not have the horsepower to win. The huge problem is that 10 teams are doing the same thing so the race to the bottom will be very difficult. Wouldn't a top 5 pick get us someone who is better than Tyreke and by better I mean one who is athletic and also can fit into a standard offense and defense? Tyreke was a tough fit.

 

[Kingsfan23]

hmmm, by rule anything anonymous or by "sources" I consider made up by the writer.

 

[VF21]

hmmm, by rule anything anonymous or by "sources" I consider made up by the writer.

Not generally. There are times when a writer simply cannot reveal his/her source for the simple reason that if the identity of the source is revealed, they are no longer a source - as they might well be unemployed. You need to vet the writer - if his/her stuff is generally based on fact, their occasional use of an un-named source shouldn't raise flags. If, on the other hand, they can never get a legitimate quote from anyone and are always using the old "sources close to the situation" or other such phrase, they might bear further scrutiny.

 

[Turgenev]

It could very well be that we are tanking this season. We gave up our second best talent without a whimper probably with the hopes that a talent better than Tyreke could be acquired. The injury to Landry is very convenient. The team can play hard, be well coached, yet just not have the horsepower to win. The huge problem is that 10 teams are doing the same thing so the race to the bottom will be very difficult. Wouldn't a top 5 pick get us someone who is better than Tyreke and by better I mean one who is athletic and also can fit into a standard offense and defense? Tyreke was a tough fit.

I dont disagree- in fact have not heard anyone say playoffs are an objective this season. But relative to some of the other teams (eg Phoenix) the Kings promise to be relatively competitive. Also, considering the team has a new everything, the next 82 games should be far from meaningless. I think tanking is a bit more dramatic than what the kings are doing...

...

As tanking is clearly a detriment to the NBA and its credibility, perhaps it is time for change? Maybe scrap the draft or split into two leagues and introduce a relegation system. No doubt these ideas are flawed and one must accept that there will never be perfection...

 

[Section 101]

I dont disagree- in fact have not heard anyone say playoffs are an objective this season. But relative to some of the other teams (eg Phoenix) the Kings promise to be relatively competitive. Also, considering the team has a new everything, the next 82 games should be far from meaningless. I think tanking is a bit more dramatic than what the kings are doing...

...

As tanking is clearly a detriment to the NBA and its credibility, perhaps it is time for change? Maybe scrap the draft or split into two leagues and introduce a relegation system. No doubt these ideas are flawed and one must accept that there will never be perfection...

Shaq picked the Kings to finish 7th in the west. Guess that makes the playoffs an objective this year.

 

[Tetsujin]

Shaq picked the Kings to finish 7th in the west. Guess that makes the playoffs an objective this year.

Sean Cunningham ‏@News10Sean
It should be noted, that 2 seasons ago, @SHAQ picked all 16 NBA Playoff teams correctly, during the lockout shortened season #NBAKings

 

[HndsmCelt]

It could very well be that we are tanking this season. We gave up our second best talent without a whimper probably with the hopes that a talent better than Tyreke could be acquired. The injury to Landry is very convenient. The team can play hard, be well coached, yet just not have the horsepower to win. The huge problem is that 10 teams are doing the same thing so the race to the bottom will be very difficult. Wouldn't a top 5 pick get us someone who is better than Tyreke and by better I mean one who is athletic and also can fit into a standard offense and defense? Tyreke was a tough fit.

Ah but the beauty of the lottery system is that you do NOT have to be the worst team to get the top picks. All the Kings really have to do this season is develop young talent, play hard, keep some cap space open for next season and see what happens. The West awfully talented so I doubt we run much of a risk of ending up in the playoffs .

 

[The_Jamal]

Pretty funny that the two teams(PHX and Philly) virtually everyone accused of "tanking" have started out 2-0. I don't expect it to last, but it's funny how the NBA works out sometimes

 

[Tetsujin]

Pretty funny that the two teams(PHX and Philly) virtually everyone accused of "tanking" have started out 2-0. I don't expect it to last, but it's funny how the NBA works out sometimes

Then again, it looks like Phoenix's best player may have broken his face sometime in the third quarter (Goran Dragic gets injured a lot) so who knows how long that'll last. On the Sixers front, MCM has looked much better than most anyone expected and Spencer Hawes is in the midst of one of his yearly "I think I'm a basketball player!" spurts in which he suddenly decides to rebound (and make his threes). If Noels comes back to them at any point in the season, they could possibly become too good to land Wiggins but still bad enough to get a stud.

 

[jalfa]

the real test for the Sixers will come once they face a team with several quality bigs. today's game against the Bulls, for instance, will be interesting in that regard. also, the fact that most scouting departments haven't a single clue what to expect from that team plays in their favour, imo. they should drop off dramatically some time around December at the latest.