Tanking in the NBA Doesn’t Look So Attractive Now, Huh?
Up until last night, tanking for higher draft position in the NBA remained the most ideal scenario for fans of teams not good enough to win a championship. Sure, regular-season records don’t lock in draft position like they do in the NFL or MLB, but it’s still better to take that chance. So why would anyone in their right mind not embrace the tank-or-title approach? Heck, let’s watch this amazing video of a tank set loose in the streets of San Diego for no particular reason:
While watching this clip, you realize it could be symbolism for many NBA fans. For a long time, people ran wild with the idea that you could lose as much as you want and be rewarded with the top pick or at least a top-three pick. But those in charge recognized the opportunity to halt the rampage, and halt it they did. With flattened draft lottery chances for the first time this year, the result was the New Orleans Pelicans getting the top pick (and thus, Zion Williamson) despite a 6-percent chance of doing so and the Los Angeles Lakers landing the fourth even though they only had a 2-percent chance of at least that good of a pick.
Meanwhile, the Bulls will pick seventh for the third year in a row. The fact that they landed Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. the first two years means little to many fans right now. And they don’t have a lot of faith that John Paxson will make the right call if he trades the pick, which he admits he is open to doing. So with point guard identified as their biggest need and Darius Garland likely to come off the board after the Phoenix Suns pick him sixth, it appears they’ll have to settle for Coby White, who while talented, won’t change the franchise.
I hate to say I told you so, but I’ve been bracing for this as far back as the winter. I even felt the need to tweet this piece out again yesterday to try and prevent people from being too upset. I was accused of being a troll, though that comes with the territory of writing for a known Bulls blog. I wasn’t trying to be contrarian, but rather making the point that given everything the Bulls have done and gone through the past few years, would you have expected anything less?
But that’s not why I’m saying any of this. What I want to know is after last night, why would anyone still want their team to race to the bottom? Even if you still have a better chance of getting one of the top picks, if not the top, why risk the disappointment of going through an awful season, only to end up much further down than anticipated and with a role player you likely can’t build around? The NBA wanted less of an incentive for losing, and that’s what it got.
The only reasonable thing is to do what you likely were conditioned to do the moment you became a sports fan, which is to root for your team to win. I’ve done it throughout the rebuild, even though I anticipated losing. Rooting for a loss simply is too unsatisfying for me. And as we’ve just learned, it doesn’t always give the results you want, which now has a greater chance of happening now than before.
I’ll be fine to endure tweets like this:
And yes, I realize if I respond, I’ll get responses that can be personal:
But if we can accept that losing today for a better tomorrow won’t necessarily work anymore, perhaps that anger can properly be directed at the Bulls themselves for putting themselves in this spot to begin with. Though a return to the playoffs may not be far away, people only want to know if they’re a championship contender. The Bulls have to use their resources to get back in that conversation. Basketball hell suddenly is more blurry, so why not aim for a high playoff seed instead of simply getting to the postseason?
There’s no question this will be an adjustment for fans who only cared about where their team would pick in the draft and doing what it took to get to or near the top of the board. When you haven’t seen many banners added to your rafters for a generation, you become used to one method of fandom, and suddenly, you have to rethink that. The only advice I can offer is root for results, not ping pong balls. After all, who wants to be remembered as someone who went all out with a tank?
