I promised not to whinge about tanking, but here goes: Unless you're getting Anthony Davis, you might as well play with a modicum of competitive spirit. There's no real difference between, say, the fourth pick and the ninth pick in this year's draft. Is it really worth throwing away games and pissing off ticket holders to slightly improve your odds of bringing Thomas Robinson to town?
The sports-rational answer is yes — NBA teams can only signficantly improve when they pick up a great player. But I'm not convinced that (a) tanking for the no. 1 pick really improves your odds of landing the best player in the draft, or (b) even if your team improves, the fortunes of your franchise will follow suit. For every Oklahoma City, there's an Atlanta — a perennially decent team with exciting players that nobody really gives a **** about. If you're willing to tank a quarter of the regular season because you think your front office can replicate Oklahoma City's magic, let me remind you of the following facts:
A. Nobody really understands the NBA draft. The idea that a GM could reliably say, "I know exactly how the difference between the no. 4 and no. 6 picks will play out" is absolutely ludicrous.
B. If the Sonics had the first pick in the 2007 draft, they would have taken Greg Oden (another can't-miss prospect, by the way) over Kevin Durant. If they had the second pick in the 2008 draft, they would have taken Michael Beasley over Russell Westbrook. Yes, the Thunder put themselves in position to draft those players by having truly bad regular seasons, but they still managed to trot Durant out there for every game down the stretch. And while we can all appreciate Sam Presti's skill and patience in running a team, I don't think the success of the Thunder means that every team should conclude that tanking is the only way to build a contender.
C. Durant is a once-in-a-generation talent. Most years, when you have the no. 2 and the no. 4 pick, you end up with Marvin Williams and Shaun Livingston.
D. Lastly, it's frigging basketball. It's supposed to be entertainment. Let's stop talking about the construction of sports teams like we're building an army to go invade China, or that tanking is a necessary sacrifice along the lines of what Jesus gave up for our sins. Nobody knows if Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is going to be Marvin Williams of if he's going to be a super version of Luol Deng. Why defile the competitive nature of the sport for such uncertainty? And if you want to talk straight business, maybe it's worth wondering if your jaded fan base will even care if your team goes from 18 to 38 wins. Atlanta certainly doesn't give a **** what the Hawks are doing. And Warriors fans are still showing up to Oracle.
