76ers haven't read the memo on Tanking, or maybe they've decided to play fair.

So it's been almost a whole week into the NBA season and I haven't been happier in a while, but the biggest story is not about Miami picking up where they left off, or Derrick Rose turning the Bulls into a wonder team, but in fact the Philadelphia 76ers confusing everyone by winning their first three games, including derailing the two teams mentioned above who would be regarded as title contenders, with the help of new rookie sensation Michael Carter-Williams. In his first career NBA game, he posted an incredible stat line and was one steal away from recording a triple-double, and being only the second player in history to have a triple-double on debut besides Oscar Robertson. Anyway, i'm not here to rave about MCW or Philly, but rather to talk about a serious issue in the NBA, tanking.

Tanking refers to a team stopping giving their full effort to increase their chances of landing a future star by receiving a better pick in a draft. So why this year? "It's simple, the 2014 draft class is touted as the best since 2003, which produced LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony." (The Roar, 2013) This year's coming draft is stacked with future stars including our own Aussie star Dante Exum, who resides here in Canberra, and Andrew Wiggins, the star who everyone is projecting to be the no. 1 pick next year. "Riggin' for Wiggins" has become a term heard more frequently as the beginning of the season has started, and will only be heard more and more. There are a few cellar dweller teams who know they have no chance of winning the title this year, or even coming close, but if they were to lose, they have a higher chance of getting Andrew Wiggins via the draft lottery. There is incentive of landing a future superstar, but is it fair to the fans and the game that a team should attempt to deliberately lose for a season? This detracts from the idea that on any given night, two teams play as hard as they can in order to win the game and please their fans. I wouldn't want to go to a game where the Utah Jazz are playing and they decide to rest a healthy Gordon Hayward, who is my one of my favourite players on their team and one of their up and coming best players, because they don't need to win, it's just simply not good for the game. It creates a feeling of disbelief within the players, it "discourages effort, players and coaches feel that no one is counting on them to win, so they disengage." ( Bleacher Report, 2013) In an email exchange, Malcolm Gladwell talked of the issue, stating "you simply cannot have a system that rewards people for losing" comparing it to moral hazard. In an anonymous survey held recently, one GM of a team admitted to tanking this year. "It's tough for us to compete with that", talking of the contenders and the big market teams signing players in free agency, "a high lottery pick is all we have." (Yahoo, 2013). I would want to stay anonymous too.

Anyway, back to Philly for a second. This is the team according to "Bill and Jalen's NBA Preview" on Grantland, (which i watched religiously and still watch) who were destined to have the worst record this season, and were obviously tanking. They barely improved their team over the offseason or even attempted to/ This could still happen, it's sport so they could lose every one of their 79 games left in the season. Or maybe the players have taken it upon themselves to play as hard as they can every night because, like most people, they do not like to lose. This is what I would like to see, as an avid fan myself. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is against the idea as well, he said "I don't know if some teams have thought of that, that's not something we would do." (Complex.com, 2013) He currently owns the Charlotte Bobcats. They poured out a massive amount of money, $13 million a year contract on Al Jefferson, (not saying it wasn't deserved) but a team who was tanking just wouldn't do that. Last year, Kyrie Irving, a young up and coming star for the Cleveland Cavaliers was injured and it helped their chances in the lottery, because they lost without him playing, and sure enough, they landed the no 1. pick in this years draft. "The NBA is a league in which a rising young star's injury brings a team closer to it's short term goal." (Grantland, 2013)

Speaking of the lottery, Henry Abbott says that "essentially the best run teams are getting penalised while the worst run teams are rewarded." (True Hoop, 2012). It's no secret that tanking becoming a more pronounced issue within the NBA. Other sports have even begun to talk about it, in an article by the Buffalo News, that focuses on tanking in the NHL, it even refers to the NBA and how the problem could be solved. The team with the best record who doesn't make the postseason should get the highest draft pick. (2013) This would mean that the teams who may try to make it to the playoffs and could potentially fail have still made a concerting effort to make it to the postseason. This means that incentive is created for every team to attempt to get past the regular season, which means more competitive games on a nightly basis, which means more fans, which means a better sport overall. I think it's a great idea and the guys at Bleacher Report (my favourite sporting website) seem to have a similar line of thinking. Khan says that the two lowest seeds from wither conference have problems winning anyway so he thinks that teams could potentially even mini tank the last couple of games to snag that top lottery pick, so he says that we should expand the lottery to the 7 and 8 seeds as well, giving teams more intent to strive to make the post-season. (2013)

On the other hand, it can be argued that tanking can be good for the league, "positively impacting team positioning for the postseason, therefore increasing revenue in the league".( Bleacher Report, 2012) I still don't agree with it, and when the day comes where all 30 teams are trying to win each and every night, the sport will be much better for it. 


References:

Yuscavage, C (2013). Michael Jordan not a fan of NBA tanking games. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.complex.com/sports/2013/11/michael-jordan-not-fan-nba-teams-tanking. [Last Accessed 3rd November 2013].

Gleason, B (e.g. 2011). NHL, NBA could put a stop to tanking. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.buffalonews.com/columns/bucky-gleason/nhl-nba-could-put-a-stop-to-tanking-20131031. [Last Accessed 4th November 2013].

Khan, E (2013). How to solve the NBA's tanking problem. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1754160-how-to-solve-the-nbas-tanking-problem. [Last Accessed 3rd November 2013].

Cherin-Gordon, S (2013). The Myth of Tanking and why it has no place in the NBA. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1723628-the-myth-of-tanking-and-why-it-has-no-place-in-the-nba. [Last Accessed 2nd November, 2013].

Simmons, B (2009). Gladwell-Simmons, Part II. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090513/part2. [Last Accessed 3rd November 2013].

Abbott, H (2012). Tanking is the tip of the iceberg. [ONLINE] Available at: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39318/tanking-is-the-tip-of-the-iceberg. [Last Accessed 2nd November, 2013].

Koremenos, B (2013). Solving the real problem with the NBA's tanking epidemic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/54121/solving-the-real-problem-with-the-nbas-tanking-epidemic. [Last Accessed 4th November 2013].

Dwyer, K (2013). One NBA general manager admits to tanking the 2013-14 season, anonymously. [ONLINE] Available at: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-
lie/one-nba-general-manager-admits-tanking-2013-14-192122473--nba.html. [Last Accessed 4th November 2013].

Pybus, M (2013). Why are so many NBA teams tanking in 2013-14?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/11/04/why-are-so-many-nba-teams-tanking-in-2013-14/. [Last Accessed 3rd November 2013].

Scaletta, K (2012). Is 'Tanking" Really Bad for the NBA?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1153502-is-tanking-really-bad-for-the-nba. [Last Accessed 2nd November, 2013].