Tanking

There is a movie to be made about two basketball teams in a pre-lottery "tank-off."

 

I disagree. I know with certainty that I thought Chris Paul and Deron Williams were the two best players in that draft and should've gone first, and I do recall others with the same opinion.

in particular, the notion that Marvin Williams (who never even started in college) was a no brainer in the Top 2 strikes me as sheer revisionism. I recall PLENTY of voices criticizing that call.

That draft was just another amongst SO many examples of teams screwing up by opting for size over ability.

 

One of the tipoffs of the 1950-51 game-fixing and point-shaving scandal in college basketball came when both teams in some given games were attempting to shave/dump, leading to some supposedly unbelievable 5-minute sequences at the end of games.

 

I wrote a gamer in 1994 that could be the screenplay.

 

Even if the Bucks were trying to tank, they'd figure out a way to fuck it up. It's a case where Milwaukee's small market stature works in the Bucks' favor PR-wise because they never get any run as one of the most rudderless sports franchises of the last two decades.

Andrew Bogut was actually a rare bright spot.

Unfortunately, I think this two-decade era of shit is going to cost my hometown its NBA franchise soon. There is zero enthusiasm to build the new arena the NBA wants or else.

 

Well if your citizenry is so dense as to not snap right to attention and shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to give a free arena to a billionaire, what do you expect?? The NBA will not tolerate such affrontery.

 

When it comes to tanking, I think it's more in subtle ways than actually trying to lose games.

I see the logic, but it is awfully risky to pin your hopes on that. Ask the Portland Trailblazers with Greg Oden.

 

The Minnesota Timberwolves say hello.

 

Too much luck. People in Boston argue about the Celtics tanking....are they/should they etc. A lot of media types thought they were, without realizing that the East was so bad that they had no realistic shot at a top 5 pick. Then you get that top 5 pick and you end up with Jeff Green, or someone like him, and not Lebron or Durant.

It's difficult, if not impossible to built from the middle in the NBA. That leads people to think that tanking is the only other way....but tanking is no sure thing either. The vast barren middle of NBA teams with no present and no future really blows.

 

Jeff Green originally got them Ray Allen. That worked out well for them.

Then they got Jeff Green back for Perkins. That trade probably cost the Celtics a title but in hindsight, it was the correct move long term.

I liked the draft wheel proposal. It makes a ton of sense for a league where losing is rewarded way too often.

 

Well, there's only one thing to do. Win. The. Whole. Fucking. Thing.