To Tank or Not to Tank by Girish Mirchandani

 In addition to the playoff race heating up as winning teams are trying to lock up their best seed possible for home court in the playoffs in the NBA, there is a lot of talk these days about tanking. It can also be described as losing on purpose to get the best draft pick or simply put, throwing games. These include the non-potential playoff teams like the Kings, Bulls, Mavs, basically the bottom of the barrel. This past week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released the following statement about tanking on a memo with USA Today Sports:

“We have been careful to distinguish between efforts teams may make to rebuild their rosters, including through personnel changes over the course of several seasons, and circumstances in which players or coaches on the floor take steps to lose games…

"The former can be a legitimate strategy to construct a successful team within the confines of league rules; the latter -- which we have not found and hope never to see in the NBA -- has no place in our game. If we ever received evidence that players or coaches were attempting to lose or otherwise taking steps to cause any game to result otherwise than on its competitive merits, that conduct would be met with the swiftest and harshest response possible from the league office."

So, Tankers (let’s refer to them that way now) are now on alert.  The integrity of the game is being questioned by teams putting out losing rosters to get into the race for prized rookies like DeAndre Ayton (Arizona), Michael Porter, Jr. (Missouri), or Luka Doncic (Europe).  So, what should losing teams do that want to be relevant again and draft a potential star?

Before we explore what teams and the NBA should do, let’s ask the most basic question, Is tanking a viable strategy?  Sure, you can make the case that last year’s Rookie of the Year was a late 2^nd round pick by the Bucks (Malcom Brogdon, 36^th pick in the draft).  Blake Griffin, Karl Anthony-Towns, and Ben Simmons (Clippers, Timberwolves, and Sixers respectively), were the first pick in their draft and these players turned the franchise around.  The anti-tankers can look at Steph Curry, one of the biggest impact players to turn a franchise around and say he was picked 7^th, hence having a lower pick helps. If you look at the NBA in the last ten years, the average rookie of the year was picked third.  Tankers know that losing can help you get the franchise back to prominence by securing a top pick.  Remember, LeBron was the number one pick in his draft.  Can you imagine if the Cavs picked second and drafted Darko Milicic that year ( http://bit.ly/1J7xzGG)  ?

Teams that want to win know that intentionally losing is their best way out of purgatory.  So how do you solve this problem?  Adam Silver can fine teams but there could be a backlash from owners, Plus, how do you really enforce this? Some of this is obvious with a team like the Bulls who are sitting 2 starters right now but what about the Kings?  Do they get fined for every game for having a mediocre product?  What if a player is really injured and a team gets fined?  It could get ugly. 

The solution is a simple one in my opinion.  The NBA should employ an NIT style tournament for the non-playoff teams. The best records play the worst teams (this would encourage winning) in a single elimination game like March Madness. The winner of the Tankathon (we can come up with a better name), gets the 1^st pick. 

However, what if a team like the Pistons that is a borderline playoff teams gets the top pick and ends up winning the tournament.  Is that fair?  Not really, but at least teams will have an incentive to play hard.  And instead of a lucky ping-pong ball bounce, the top pick will get decided by winning.  And if I am a fan, I can get excited about that.  More importantly, the integrity of the game is restored.

Charging Forward by Girish Mirchandani

When the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to the Wolves this past summer, the consensus was the Bulls struck a bad deal.  Jimmy is a 3 time All-Star, plays both ends of the court, and he was just hitting his stride. Words like tanking (losing to get a top draft pick) were thrown around the city of Chicago when describing the state of the Bulls and the focus was on the 2018 NBA Draft.  No one really knew if the pieces the Bulls received would pan out.  Can Kris Dunn become the point guard of the future, can Zach Lavine come back successfully from a torn ACL, and does rookie Lauri Markkanen belong in the NBA?  The future seemed dim for the Chicago Bulls.

Today, the Butler deal looks like it was a great move by Bulls organization, led by President John Paxson. Kris Dunn is starting to break through and has shown the ability to take over games. Markkanen is a top 5 rookie…even LeBron was gushing over him.  Zach Lavine looks like he is coming back to his old form and dueled with Butler the other night.  Lavine scored the final Bulls 8 points in the last minute in a victory over Minnesota and is showing his ability to be a closer—he also had the winning steal and bucket tonight against the Magic.  Dunn, Markkanen, and Lavine are 3 core pieces that the Bulls can build around. Having young athletes to build a team around is promising.  The Bulls have potentially 2 future All-Stars (Lavine and Markkanen) and Kris Dunn could turn into one.  2^nd year pro Denzel Valentine is also coming along and showing signs of improvement, he is looking more like a versatile utility player off the bench.

In this upcoming NBA draft, the Bulls could potentially land 2 lottery picks (their own plus the Pelicans pick).  The 2018 draft looks strong with potential franchise players and if the Bulls can pick up at least another high-quality starter, they might be back quickly.  There are questions about LeBron staying in Cleveland after this season, and outside of Boston and Toronto, the East looks wide open. The Bulls can be relevant again and their young core could grow up quickly to give the city of Chicago something to get excited about. 

Some other NBA thoughts:

Koby Altman did it.  The rookie GM transformed a lethargic team to one that is young, vibrant,  and motivated.  I know it’s only been a couple of games but the Cavs look like Eastern  Conference champs again…Can Houston really take on the Warriors in a 7 game series?  I am not sold on them.  Paul and Harden have never battled in a playoff series together.  It will be a fun series if they make it to the Western Conference finals and they look like the only real threat, but would anyone really bet against the core of Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Green?…If Gordon Hayward can come back, the Celtics team will be really good and fun to watch….I really hope the Sixers make the playoffs.  The process took way too long, and they are a fun team. Embid is great for the NBA and he exudes joy every time he is on the court.  And Ben Simmons is the real deal…The Knicks are in trouble. Coming back from an ACL injury is tough and Porzingis was playing at a high level.  The Knicks only really have one star in Kristaps.  They need another star as a hedge and potential compliment if @kporzee comes back healthy…That’s all for now.  Thanks to all my loyal fans…all 2 of you.