NBA: Why Tanking Is Just a Part of the Game in the NBA

No one said it better than Herm Edwards.

“YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!”

Winning is the reason for every action in sports.  It’s at least in part the very reason that sports exist.  It’s the intoxicating end that justifies every questionable, flagrant and downright dirty mean. 

Since we’ve been repeatedly conditioned to believe winning is everything in sports, the vitriol that has been spewing forth from the four corners of the Internet directed at NBA teams who are currently
accused of tanking is more than understandable. 

When I say accused, I do so with tongue planted firmly in cheek, as the tanking by teams such as Portland, Golden State and Charlotte has been so blatant Stevie Wonder can see it.  Lackadaisical efforts, offenses that look like they were drawn up by aboriginal eight-year-olds who have never heard of basketball and a rash of mysterious pseudo-ailments that cause players to be out for the season are but three of the flashing neon signs these teams are in full-scale tank mode.

Here’s the problem.

With the current configuration of the NBA system, it’s the smartest thing these teams can do. 

Look, I don’t like it any more than anyone else.  As a Jazz fan, it’s been especially frustrating watching the talented-but-young Warriors play defense with as much enthusiasm and dedication as Dwight Howard practicing free throws.  David Lee being shut down for the season with a mysterious groin ailment had smoke coming out of just about every Jazz fan’s ears.  (If Tim Duncan can be listed as “DNP-Old,” shouldn’t David Lee be listed as “DNP-Blatant Tanking?”)

Utah acquired Golden State’s 2012 first round draft pick as part of the Deron Williams blockbuster trade last year.  The pick is top seven protected, meaning the pick goes to the Warriors if they end up picking in the top seven after the draft. 

Not only would the Warriors end up picking lower if they put forth maximum effort to win, they would
lose their pick altogether. 

Herein lies the problem. 

Can we really be angry at Golden State for tanking when they literally have nothing to gain and
everything to lose by winning?

Everyone who says tanking is an insult to that team’s fans should read that question again. Why is notching a few meaningless wins so fans can feel good for a few hours after the game better for the fans then the team giving themselves the best possible opportunity to land the next Jordan or Shaq? 

The whole reason tanking exists is a concept that I would dare to say most of you are in favor of: parity. 

The draft philosophy of “worst team picks first” was designed with parity in mind.  Without
measures in place to protect the competitive balance of the league, the ever-expanding NBA would run the risk of smaller markets rapidly losing fans and thus money and teams folding shortly after they joined. 

It didn’t take long for the tanking philosophy to be implemented. 

In 1985, accusations leveled against the Houston Rockets, among other teams, prompted league commissioner David Stern to put a draft lottery in place.  The lottery, which is still in place today, determines the top three draft picks by the random drawing of ping pong balls from a machine. 
The worse a team is, the greater the odds they will win the lottery, but even for the worst team in the league, their odds of winning the lottery are only about 25 percent. 

This lottery, Stern hoped, would eliminate tanking altogether.  Why tank when there is no guarantee it will get you anything in the top three, let alone the number one pick? 

Problem solved, right? 

Not exactly.  Teams still tank despite Stern’s best efforts. 

In a nutshell, the problem with the parity model is that it rewards teams for losing.  The ultimate reward for any team in the league is to win a championship, but for those teams who have no chance of making the playoffs, the only incentive they have left to play for is a high draft pick. 

Stern’s model was successful in de-incentivizing losing by not making the acquisition of a top three pick by the tankers a sure thing.  However, it did nothing to incentivize winning.  Stern and the draft lottery just made tanking less attractive; they did nothing to address the fact that it’s still by far
the most attractive option. 

So what is the solution to this problem?  How can the league ensure that competitive balance is maintained and prevent the abhorrent act of intentionally losing? 

Grantland.com Editor-in-Chief Bill Simmons proposed a solution to tanking in this April 2007 column. 
Basically, the top six seeds would be determined as they are now, but the remaining teams would compete in a double-elimination tourney for the last two playoff spots while the top six teams in each conference would have time to rest up for the playoffs. 

This is a fascinating idea, but has as much chance being implemented as 11-foot rims and a four-point line. 

Simmons also mentions altering the lottery so that every team has an equal shot of landing one of the top three picks.  It could be argued that this would be the fairest way to do business, and it would certainly eliminate tanking altogether, although at face value it appears that it violates the NBA credo of
parity. 

But does parity even exist in the NBA?  Can it ever?  Why are teams like the Warriors and Bobcats perpetually in the running for the top pick if there is true competitive balance in the NBA? 

To put it bluntly, it’s because some owners and GMs are absolutely awful at their jobs.  Be it head-scratching trades or gross overpayment of players, these laughingstocks of the league are rewarded with the cream of the NCAA and international crop year after year. 

Why should they be rewarded for being bad at their jobs?  If the league REALLY wanted competitive balance, they should require a basketball-related IQ test to be administered to every coach, GM and owner before they have the chance at running a team into the ground. 

Unfortunately, David Stern could NEVER acknowledge the incompetence of any GM or owner, lest he be subjected to a mutiny by woefully-inept GMs and owners. 

As you can see, there is no reasonable quick fix for the tanking problem that doesn’t harm parity in some way, even if it is only the perception of parity.  Until NBA bigwigs are willing to sit down and seriously look at a dramatic shake-up of the draft process, tanking will continue. 

The best suggestion I can give any fan of a tanking team or a team being harmed by tanking is to simply make peace with it.  It’s a necessary, albeit disgraceful aspect of the NBA as it stands right now and nothing short of a miracle will change that.