Sinking Ships: Tanking in the NBA

The following video is going to highlight the Spurs and their bench more than talk about the Sixers, but pay attention to the score.

The official meaning for the word ‘tank’ does not have anything to do with sports. You will not find the most common use of the word in any official dictionary. However, when you search for the definition on Google, it gives the official definitions, but incorporates the ‘slang’ definition, as well. The definition basically says exactly what the Philadelphia organization has been doing for the last 3 years which is basically losing on purpose. Now, when you tell non-sports fans about this concept, the first thing you will almost always hear is: Why would a team want to lose on purpose? This is important to recognize because the fact that this question comes up speaks to the fact that tanking goes against our very nature as human beings and therefore there might be something fundamentally wrong with it.

This is how tanking happens in sports: particularly in the NBA. In the NBA, you either want to be the best or the worst, as crazy as that sounds. The reason for that is that if you are the best, you can win a championship. If you are the worst, you have a better chance of getting the first pick in the NBA Draft, where the best college basketball players get selected by NBA teams. If you are just alright, then you’ll make the playoffs most likely but we all know that you’re not winning the championship because you’re just not the best and you’re too good to get a high pick in the draft so you’re basically stuck there trying to provide false hope of a championship to your fans and no future pretty much. An example of a team like this would have to be the Atlanta Hawks from around 2007-2011. They were good and had some good records to show for it, but they weren’t knocking LeBron out of the playoffs and the fans knew this because they would have decent attendance, but most of the fans were rooting for the other team. Many people thought that this was because you have so many people from other states that move down to Atlanta, but that might not be the case because we saw how excited the fan base could be when they feel they have a legitimate chance to do something in the playoffs last year and to a degree this year, as well.

Other leagues have drafts, as well. However, tanking isn’t as big of a problem in the other leagues due to the nature of the sport. I had an argument over Christmas with my cousin. He was born and raised in Jamaica, as almost all of my family was, as a HUGE soccer fan. When he came to America, he started to follow basketball a little bit more and decided to become a LeBron James fan. So, he saw all The Decision mayhem and he saw him go back to Cleveland, as well. Basically, as a soccer fan, he was used to seeing superstars join each other’s teams and dominate so he said he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. My position was that basketball is a different sport by nature so you can’t compare the two and that there’s something to be said for being THE reason why you win a championship in a sport where one guy can change the whole direction of an organization. It was a long argument. That being said, it is true that one or two guys can single-handedly change the whole direction of a franchise in basketball and it is hard (not impossible) to say that about football, or soccer, or hockey, or any other team sport. This is why there is more parity in the other sports, as well. Therefore, the moves being made by a team’s front office in other sports are almost always about improving the win percentage in the next season. In the NBA, who’s beating LeBron and whoever else is on his team? Notice, over the last 20 years, it’s almost always the same handful of teams winning the championship. The Bulls won 6 in the 1990’s. Kobe has 5, Wade has 3, the Pistons, Celtics, Mavericks and Warriors (to date) won one, and Duncan has 5. That’s all in the last 17 seasons, but there’s 30 NBA teams.

So now, you have the NBA draft. In other sports where tanking isn’t as common, the rules of the draft are very similar to the NBA. However, this might not be common to say, but the NBA Draft rewards tanking. Tanking is illegal in the NBA, but it’s hard to enforce a rule when you can’t really prove that a team is breaking it. The 76ers have come the closest in NBA history to show without a shadow of a doubt that they are tanking. I have never met an athlete in my life that has played a game with the intention of losing. Although, it has happened.

It is the front office that makes roster changes that directly hurt the team. Philadelphia has done nothing but make losing changes and here’s a list of them. The worst trade of all was trading away their most promising rookie in a long time who people thought they were tanking for in the first place. Now, all Philadelphia does is lose. They consistently get high draft picks though and this what they want. Is this wrong or just how business works in the NBA.

This can’t be right. That initial first reaction when you explain tanking to someone is what let’s you know that. First of all, I’m a Knicks fan and my team tanked last year and this year we look pretty good and are improving every game. I feel for the Philadelphia fans. They have tanked for so long that losing is a habit over there and it might take them a while to shake it. There must be a way in which Philadelphia can look at other teams or other leagues for guidance on how to develop a good team. The fans don’t deserve it and the city doesn’t deserve it. After all, this legend played there.

The Stephen Curry Effect

Did you see some of the shots that this man was taking? He did whatever he wanted out on the court.

For those who are not in tune with popular culture in America, this is Stephen Curry. He is the greatest shooter of a basketball that the planet Earth has ever seen and I am not exaggerating as you can see from these highlights from a game earlier this season. There have been many great shooters in NBA history, but Stephen Curry stands out. His shooting prowess has caught the eyes of the sports world and really all of America as the NBA All-Star Voting results from last season showed.

All basketball fans know that when a basketball star captivates the hearts of America, people tend to emulate them while they are playing basketball. Particularly, fans tend to emulate them. Particularly, young fans tend to emulate them. We all know someone who thought that they were Allen Iverson and we all know people who still think that they are Kobe Bryant (this may or may not be to the detriment of your team whether on a recreational court or during an organized game). Basically, NBA stars change the way that the sport of basketball is played here in America and internationally and if you don’t think that NBA stars change the way that basketball is played internationally, just look at Stephon Marbury. The emulation increases when the star wins an NBA championship and when the player’s stature is more closely related to that of somebody that doesn’t play in the NBA than somebody that does and Stephen Curry is 6’3”, 190 lbs, and won the NBA Championship last season.

But the Warriors won the championship though…

Despite Charles Barkley saying it in a very interesting way, many people who are well-respected in the professional and collegiate basketball community share the same opinion that Charles does about jump shooting teams. Many people feel that if you just shoot the basketball like crazy (especially from the 3 point line) that you cannot succeed in the NBA and many other levels of basketball. But the Warriors won the championship though…

No disrespect to the Golden State Warriors. They do more than just shoot the basketball. They are one of the most intelligent teams in the league and they play very underrated defense. However, you cannot deny the fact that their offense is concentrated primarily on the 3 point shot with the king of threes running the offense: Stephen Curry. So now when you consider the success that Stephen Curry has had, the fact that he makes it look effortless, and the fact that most guys are near his height so most guys aren’t too small to attempt Stephen Curry-esque shots, you realize that a lot of people are going to try and emulate him. It’s a given. But, not everybody can be Stephen Curry. You can’t shoot like him. If you’re reading this and you can, I will probably see you on Hoop Mixtape or Ball is Life pretty soon. So what kind of effect is Stephen Curry having on the NBA? Enter Mark Jackson…

It’s interesting that Mark Jackson is the one that is saying that because Mark Jackson is the reason that the Warriors are good. He was their coach for a few years and took them from a team with a below average record to a team with one of the best records in the West in a very short time span. An argument can be made that Steve Kerr took them to another level and Steve Kerr was the guy who replaced Mark Jackson, but at the time that he was fired, he was doing a very good job and the players loved him. So with all that love that exists between the coach and his former team, it’s surprising that he said that. However, two things have to be acknowledged. 1. Mark Jackson did not mean those comments maliciously and meant that Stephen Curry is indirectly and unintentionally hurting the game. 2. He may have a point.

Yes, this top ranked high school player is 7 feet and still opted to shoot the three after he broke the defender’s ankles although he kind of had the lane (or could make a lane at that height in high school). The fact that he was able to break his ankles at that height is impressive. If you have 7 footers looking for threes, you’re definitely going to have 6 footers pulling them like crazy. Is Stephen Curry to blame for this though?

The NBA is changing and Stephen Curry and the Warriors are the face of that change. The 3 point shot is the most dangerous shot in basketball. A series of 3 point shots can cut into a big lead in seconds. The Warriors have mastered this. Stephen Curry has become the best player in the league in the eyes of many. Everybody wants to be the best but, can you really blame the man for doing what he does best and what works for him. The incredible passing and floor leadership is very evident in the video in the beginning of this post. However, like Mark Jackson said, people don’t notice that though, they notice your biggest strength. Kids aren’t going to look to emulate Stephen Curry’s defense, footwork, or leadership too often. What is undeniable is that many people are going to try and get the 3 point shot to work for them like it does for him because of height comparisons.We cannot deny that Stephen Curry has effected the game dramatically and the basketball world will feel this effect for years to come.

But if you are going to shoot a lot of threes? Don’t do this.

Parity in the NBA: Super Teams and the Eastern Conference/Western Conference Beef

(This was originally written in December of 2014. Does it still apply this season?)

Who remembers The Decision? LeBron James single-handedly put the NBA on hold for half the summer of 2010 and the eyes of the sports and, even the entertainment world, were all tuned into ESPN on July 8, 2010. He had almost every NBA fan on edge that night because the speculation about where he was going to go was all over the place. I remember that day. I was home all day with nothing to do but watch ESPN. It was as if his free agency was a marathon. The team that was in first place would change from week to week, day to day, and even hour to hour. However, on July 8, 2010, the race started to heat up, the team in the lead was changing every minute, and the finish line was near. At one point, the Bulls were the team that was in the lead. At one point, the Knicks were in the lead and there was talk about a team with new superstar addition Amar’e Stoudemire and LeBron James being a possible tandem. As a 15 year old Knicks fan, I couldn’t be more excited at that point. However, around an hour or two before The Decision, Chris Broussard, whose claim to fame was during this summer covering free agency, started to report that sources were telling him that LeBron was probably going to choose Miami. I couldn’t believe it. Chris Bosh had agreed to sign with the Heat at this time and I never thought that I would see three stars in their prime, and arguably the top two players in the game, join together to play on the same team. It was almost unheard of in the NBA. Yet, everything was still relatively up in the air and Knicks fans like me, Cavaliers fans, Lakers fans, Bulls fans, and basically all NBA fans could still be optimistic. Then, this happened.

He shook the NBA. At the time, the anger in Cleveland was what the media focused on and rightly so. However, a lot of NBA fans felt led on and angry at him for the whole television special, not to the extent of Cleveland fans but still angry. The Heat automatically became perennial favorites to win the championship. They did not get off to the start they wanted, but still ended up with a top seed in the East and ended up in the NBA Finals. Then, something interesting happened.

They actually lost. The NBA Super Team lost. And this is important to highlight as well, a Western Conference team once again won the NBA Championship. The Heat did go on to beat the young, up and coming, yet inexperienced Oklahoma City Thunder team and then if it weren’t for this shot the Heat would have lost in arguably the best Finals series’ of all time.

The Heat were on the top of the world and changed the NBA in a sense by showing a different way of winning. Not winning through developing a team through the draft, but winning through free agency. They were on top of the world and looked on paper and on the court unstoppable. Then, they lost by a record margin in the most recent NBA Finals and LeBron has gone back to the Cavaliers and started up a new Super Team with two young stars in Kyrie Irving, who was already in Cleveland, and Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The way the Spurs played in the NBA Finals to win the championship as well as the way the team was formed made just as much of a statement as the Heat’s championships two years before. They became America’s team for a period of time because of their ball movement and lack of superstars. Sure, they had players who were stars at one point in time and an aging star who was playing like he was 10 years younger than he was, but the scoring was so balanced and they were so connected on defense that you got a sense of team and not stars. Their championship made just as much of a statement in the NBA as the Heat’s championships two years before. Not just about how to play the game of basketball, but about the Western Conference, as well.

The Spurs let people know that the fundamentals of the game that worked in the era of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain still work today. Ball movement and good team defense still works. Good scouting and drafting, whether it be overseas or late in the draft, still works. Not only does it work, it works against anyone even juggernauts like the Heat. Both the Heat and the Spurs changed the NBA because the Spurs gave small market somewhat less attractive teams hope and the Heat gave large market teams in big cities a blueprint to success. Not only that, but the Spurs showed the NBA that any team can be beaten no matter who is on your team. These NBA Super Teams are not a threat to parity to the NBA. However, in the eyes of many, conferences are.

Yes, it is true that I just said teams like the Heat are not a threat to parity in the NBA, but they might be a threat to parity in their own conference. For most of LeBron James’ tenure on the Heat, there was one maybe two teams that were considered competition to them in the Eastern Conference. Now on the Cavs, the same seems to hold true in this early NBA season. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference…

That was the first and arguably toughest round for the Spurs in the 2014 playoffs. It went 7 games. That team almost didn’t make the playoffs with THIS RECORD. They were good enough to give the eventual champions a run for their money in the playoffs, but were barely good enough to even make the playoffs. It is well known in the amongst NBA players, fans, general managers, and coaches that the Western Conference is the stronger conference of the two meaning that the Western Conference has the better teams and if you go by the team overall records, it’s hard to argue against that. Meanwhile, the Heat and Pacers who were the top two seeds played sub-.500 teams in the playoffs. These two teams were so much better than everybody else in their conference that it was disturbing meanwhile 50 wins in the Western Conference does not guarantee you a playoff spot. Personally, I thought that a Western Conference team was the only team that can beat the Heat in the playoffs, but I thought that a lot of Western Conference teams could beat them. When the Knicks were struggling last year, I didn’t totally give up on them because they still had a chance to make the playoffs and almost did with a 37-45 record. Things like this have caused many to call for doing away with the conference system which has been a part of the NBA for years altogether. However, the strength of conference moves in cycles. In the Jordan era, the Eastern Conference was an extremely strong conference and although Jordan ruled the 90’s, his championships did not come easy. So, maybe getting rid of the conference system is an overreaction to a system that will fix itself in time; but, this is bad.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been accused of tanking the last two years to get good draft picks, which they have. However, they are playing at such a low level that many find it unacceptable what front office has done to their team. However, what they can’t be accused of is not planning for the future. They can go for free agents and try to rebuild that way, but have decided to go with rebuilding through the draft and only time will tell if these two seasons were in vain. What cannot be underestimated is the role that the conference that they play in plays into their rebuilding. If the conference remains this weak, maybe even the slightest improvement can get them into the playoffs where anything can happen. Will they ever have a chance to win a championship in the near future with the high level that these Western Conference teams play at every night? Who knows. Can they win with no superstar and good drafting? Who knows. Coaching was not mentioned one time in this blog post and that is representative of the general underappreciating of coaches in the NBA. However, coaching is key to championships in the NBA. When all is said and done, success in the NBA does not begin and end with the amount of stars a team has. Super Teams/Big Threes are not as big of a threat to parity as once thought, but the conference system might be. Who knows.