The return of mohawks, boxes, bibs and patterened shirts are proof that the ‘80s and ‘90s are back. In NBA circles, folks are discussing tanking so much that it makes me want to grab my old woofers out of the garage, toss them back in the trunk, fish out a Master P CD and say “Ugh!” all the way to work. Towards the end of every season, fans and sportswriters examine the merits of teams losing games intentionally to better their chances at getting a high draft pick. For general managers, tanking by assembling the crappiest roster of players possible is sometimes a necessary evil. However, players willing to lose on purpose for any reason are worthless and indicative of a team that will never win.
The fact that so many fans and experts are chastising the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics for winning basketball games down the stretch is as absurd. The Knicks, whose roster might as well read Carmelo Anthony and Friends, won consecutive games for just the third time this season by defeating the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks. The victories helped the Knicks surge past the equally awful Minnesota Timberwolves by one game in the race to avoid finishing with the worst record in the league.
Poor Knicks fans are distraught. If they must endure such horrible basketball for an entire season, the least they deserve is the top pick in the NBA draft, right? Well, if we truly were back in the early 1980s, that strategy might make sense. Until 1984, the league determined the draft order similar to the NFL. Draft picks went in reverse order to the teams with the worst records. The only aberration was that the top overall pick was decided between a coin flip between the worst team from each conference. That means the Knicks and Timberwolves would have incentive to finish at the bottom of the pack in their respective conferences. Each would be guaranteed the first or second overall pick.
Following the 1983-84 Rockets’ epic tank job to secure the rights to draft Hakeem Olajuwon, the league changed to a lottery system. In the current weighted system, the team with the worst record has a whopping 25% chance at winning the top pick. Since the lottery system went into effect for the 1985 season, guess how many teams with the worst record have been awarded the number one pick. Basketball’s bottom feeders have only hit the lottery jackpot four times in the past 30 years. Yet every season the fans of terrible teams clamor for their favorite players to throw in the towel a few weeks early.
It’s not like drafting is a science either. For every LeBron James (2003), Tim Duncan (1997) or Shaquille O’Neal (1992), there’s a Michael Olowokandi (1998), Kwame Brown (2001) or Greg Oden (2007). More times than not, drafting first will net a team a quality player, but it’s no sure thing. Oftentimes, the first player taken is not the best player of his class. Some obvious examples are Michael Jordan (#3, 1984), Larry Bird (#6, 1978), Kobe Bryant (#13, 1996) and Tony Parker (#28, 2001). A competent general manager and scouting system is more responsible for building a championship franchise than who wins the magic ping pong ball.
For the Celtics, the argument towards tanking is even more ridiculous. GM Danny Ainge did his best to sabotage his team for the sake of the draft. The “rebuilding” Celtics dealt its two best players, Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green. However, Brad Stevens, the young coaching mastermind figured out a way to get the most out of his table scraps and has led his team to the playoffs in just his second season at the helm. Even with Rondo and Green, preseason polls showed that many picked the Celtics to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. Instead the team is headed to the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league.
The Celtics won’t get a chance to draft in the lottery, but who cares? The confidence boost for a roster of supposed role players is invaluable. The Celtics are building a winning culture. When a team has players who desperately want to win, it’s less likely those players will be looking to the draft for a savior. Instead they’ll be looking for help to get to the next level.
In the 1985-86 season, Jordan suffered a broken foot in the third game of the season and missed 64 games. During his absence, the team flopped and floundered. However Jordan returned despite protests of the front office and led the team to the playoffs. The Bulls were bounced by Bird and the Celtics during the first-round, but not before Jordan scorched the eventual champions for 63 points in Game 2 and established himself as the greatest competitor to grace a basketball court. Things eventually worked out for the Bulls.
Knicks and Celtics fans should be happy to see their teams fighting, scratching and clawing for every win possible. Both teams are filled with young and unproven players. I’d much rather see a young team willing to laying it all on the line and fail than one willing to lay down and accept defeat. It’s nearly impossible to win with players who are comfortable losing. Though championship trophies do not appear to be on the horizon for either team, learning how to play winning basketball is much more important than winning the lottery.
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