Tanking in the NBA

Brief Overview of Tanking

Everyone knows the famous phrase “Trust the Process.” A phrase started by the Philadelphia 76ers when they tanked to the extreme. The Philadelphia 76ers tanked their way to get top draft picks. The idea of tanking is losing on purpose to get a high draft pick and to collect as many assets you can. So the Philadelphia 76ers got four top three picks in four years. With those top picks they selected Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz. At the beginning, everyone said that Sam Hinkie, the GM of the 76ers, was crazy and that he didn’t have a plan. This showed that the way to rebuild in the NBA has changed. Now teams don’t want to be just good solid teams, they view the NBA season more as “championship or bust.” The NBA has a very negative view on tanking; they fired Sam Hinkie and replaced him with Bryan Colangelo. Interestingly enough, a surprising amount of fans in Philadelphia were angry with the NBA’s decision to fire Hinkie. What this showed is that the NBA wants zero tanking going on. The 76ers did push tanking to the limit but, they showed that "The Process" might actually work.

Why Tank?

Now, you look at teams like the Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, and the Phoenix Suns who all have good enough talent to be somewhat competitive, yet are incompetent and choose to lose over possibly just missing the playoffs. Potential playoff teams deciding that being okay isn't good enough. The original thought of having a high draft pick is rewarding the teams that have previously struggled. Tanking essentially manipulates that process so you have the best odds to get the high draft pick. Teams are tired of being stuck in the middle of the pack that they decide to lose on purpose so they can strive to be one of the top teams.

The best example of getting the top draft picks and those guys turning out is the Seattle Supersonics/Oklahoma City Thunder. They drafted Kevin Durant number 2 overall, Russell Westbrook 3rd overall, and James Harden 3rd overall. All three of those guys have multiple All-Star and All-NBA selections and all have been MVP candidates in recent years. The whole reason to Tank is to get guys who you will hope end up having careers like those guys.

What’s the best solution to the problem?

Many have had ideas and proposals to fix tanking. Some think you should flatten out the odds of the number one pick between the three worst teams. The issue with that proposal is that teams would still end up tanking. An idea I like is that you have the bottom 10 teams in the league all have the same odds. Every year it always seems as though those bottom teams have no hope and sometimes can't ever get out of the slump. In the 2016-2017 NBA season the worst team was the Brooklyn Nets who went 20-62 and the 10th worst team was the New Orleans Pelicans who went 34-48. That is a difference of 14 games and is 14 more reasons for a team to make an attempt at winning. If you give NBA teams 16 more opportunities to make a game more competitive they should pounce on that opportunity. This gives no team an unfair advantage in the lottery. This should also even the playing field for a team to potentially get a franchise-changing player on their squad. It would also make the draft lottery a much more exciting event if the bottom 10 teams had the same odds at the number 1 pick. An issue with it, though, is that to get one of those franchise-changing guys depends on a lot of luck. The thing is though is that to get a championship level team or even a playoff team requires some luck. The idea that you don't just have to be bad to get a good pick but, also doesn't screw the bad teams that need those franchise-changing guys. If the NBA wants to stop tanking, this would be the plan to stop it.