NBA - Tanking Games?

[(B)]

Tanking games? If only NBA's bad teams were that good


It's easy to see how fans of the Memphis Grizzlies and just about every team in the NBA's Atlantic Division could get the wrong impression.

Short of a confession, though, there's still no way to prove a team is tanking games. Remember that as the clunkers pile up during the last dozen or so regular-season games remaining on each team's schedule.

Conspiracy theorists love this time of year because the draft matters way more in the NBA than in major league baseball, even more than in the NFL, and more this year than most. It's one of the deepest in a while and likely will be topped by Ohio State's Greg Oden and Texas' Kevin Durant, two guys who need seasoning but could dominate for a decade.

With only five players on the floor, nearly all the league's championships have been won by teams that locked up one or two of the best, and most of those come to town as one of the first six players taken in the draft. Less obvious is whether it's really worth losing games to get there, and if so, how many.

Evidence of teams not giving -- how to put this? -- their all in recent days is scattered all around. The Bucks, languishing near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, shut down two of their best players, Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva, rather than risk letting nagging injuries become chronic ones. Last week the Celtics, who are looking up at the Bucks, left all five starters on the bench as they blew an 18-point lead to lowly Charlotte.

"I was not throwing the game, or anything like that," Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

"I've heard all those questions. Honestly, I got to the point early in the fourth quarter and I turned to the coaches and said to them, 'We are either going to win or lose with this group."'

Not to be outdone, Charlotte played New Jersey a few nights later already minus two injured starters and decided to sit two others, Gerald Wallace and Raymond Felton, for good measure -- and lost.

Conspiracy theorists immediately began arguing whether: a.) Wallace and Felton sat because they needed the rest; b.) Bobcats part-owner Michael Jordan ordered the benchings to improve his own team's chances of losing and thus gaining an extra pingpong ball in the lottery; or c.) since those same Nets are fighting the free-falling Knicks, among others, for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East, Jordan did it because of a lifelong grudge against Knicks coach Isiah Thomas.

It didn't help matters when Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle earlier this week he had a plan that would keep teams from losing intentionally.

"I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. I would say to take away any possible conflict of interest, everyone should have an equal chance at the top pick all the way down. That way there would be absolutely no question by anybody about anything.

"If it's better for the game, they should do it," Van Gundy added. "I never quite understood why losing is rewarded, other than (for) parity."

But parity is precisely the point.

There's not a business in the land that wouldn't jump at the chance for a do-over every year, but only pro sports makes it a point to grant that wish. Unfortunately, few of those wishes pan out.

Even with a lottery pick, chances of drafting a player who blossoms into a Magic Johnson, Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal or Dwyane Wade are slim. Research by ESPN.com concluded that even a five-game drop in the standings improves a team's chances of landing the top pick in the lottery by only a few percentage points. Few enough, anyway, that it would make a difference "only about once every two decades."

The NBA has explained the math countless times and tweaked the draft rules nearly as often to take away even that incentive. Originally, drafts were based on territorial rights, then the top pick awarded to the winner of a coin flip between the worst teams. After widespread accusations of tanking in the months leading up to the 1984 draft -- the top five picks in order: Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Jordan, Sam Perkins, Charles Barkley -- the league put one envelope for each non-playoff team in a basket and drew out a winner.

The following year, with Patrick Ewing as the top prize, commissioner David Stern pulled the Knicks envelope first and set in motion a rumor that persists to this day -- that the Knicks envelope was stuck in a freezer just before the selection so he'd have no trouble finding it. After the Magic landed O'Neal and Penny Hardaway with the top picks in successive drafts, the NBA tried weighting the lottery so the worst teams' chances improved by giving them more pingpong balls in the hopper.

A lot of good that will do the Knicks. They've played just well enough to stave off Thomas' firing, but since the reprieve, they've dropped six of their last seven heading into Wednesday's home game against Cleveland. Because the Knicks agreed to swap first-round picks with the Bulls in the deal that brought Eddy Curry to New York, they could fall into the lottery and wind up drafting in Chicago's position -- likely somewhere above No. 20 -- instead. But they're certain to have competition.

No less a conspiracy theorist than Dallas owner Mark Cuban saw this coming. Back in January, he asked on his Web site, blogmaverick.com, "Could it be that if the division continues to win at the same percentages that only the Knicks will (have) an incentive not to tank the season and win the division by default?

"Of course," Cuban added, "the chances of any of this are slim, right?"

Right.

[AYHJA]

Oh I have no doubt that teams that suck are blowing games...The lottery only fluxes the chances marginally, and that's if that shit isn't rigged from the get go...

[Lost Ghost]

I don't understand how...as grown ass men...who dominated their prospective sport when they were young and all through highschool and college....get to a point when they lose a desire to compete...

it's beyond me how these guys would actually want to lose. I understand the principle behind it...but I think it's ridiculous.

Van Gundy's theory is even more retarded though....that wouldn't fix anything at all...

[(B)]

^Indeed^

but i doubt the players really want to lose...this stuff is coming from owners and management...

...and what pisses me off (if it's true)...is Michael Jordan

the greatest player in the history of the game...tanking games?

tarnish probably isn't the right word...but it's the first word that comes to mind.

[AYHJA]

MJ managed to skate through the league without having that image tarnished, but there's little doubt now that he got away with shit that would have had another superstar (like Kobe,lol) on the proverbial NBA cross...Whipping teammates asses, punk'n 'em, MAD late night creeps on wifey...Maybe Mike is a little more of a realist now that he's not playing anymore...

[trashtalkr]

I hate the tanking of games. I understand why they do it, but I hate it.

With what LG said... I think there are players who lose the desire to compete. I'm sure that there are tons of players in the league who are only in it for the money. They really don't care if they win or lose. Also, if you've been on a losing team for quite a while, you get tired of losing. You would think that it would cause them to compete harder, but I think it makes them just drag and lose the desire to play.

[radioforme]

i agree with the getting used to losing theory...in baseball, the pirates have had losing seasons for more than a dozen years in a row. a couple of their former players (jason kendall, brian giles) got sick of it and got so used to it, that they figured the situation was hopeless.

as for jordan....maybe he was betting on his team to lose. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

i'd hate to think one of the fiercest competitors ever would allow his team to put forth a crappy effort.

[footballdude]

as long as Jordan was winning championships, which he was, he could get away with anything! If he whooped on a teammate, he probably had a good reason to, or at least we'd like to think so :laff:

Kobe on the other hand, rode Shaq's coat tail to greatness, and everyone knows this, and until he wins being the main man, he wont get the respect that MJ got

Anyway, I think the lottery's great! Especially this offseason. Maybe Boston and Memphis were that bad, either that or they were tanking on purpose. But it's great to see them not get the rights to Oden or Durant. Though the Celtics made some great moves afterwards, I'll give 'em props for that.

[AYHJA]

Kobe on the other hand, rode Shaq's coat tail to greatness

Im' sorry, come again..? :?:

[ruffriders23]

Teams are there to entertain the fans... plain and simple! They are not there to win titles, get higher picks, or sign Greg Oden. Tanking games is cheating people out of their hard earned money.