Tanking – I don’t understand what the problem is

Tanking has been making the rounds lately.  Mark Cuban was fined by the NBA for talking about it.  I am not sure what the problem is with “tanking”.  It is a strategy to put yourself in what you perceive is a better situation to build your team.  All teams decide on different paths they can take to success.   Is the path they decide to take right or wrong?  That is a difficult question.  It would depend on what your definition of success is.

Definition of Success

For some teams the definition of success is to make money.  For some teams it is going to be to win games. Other teams it will be to win championships.  The definition of success may also change depending on who you ask.  For an owner it may mean making a profit for the coach and players it may mean making a lot of money.  Many people say that the definition of success is winning championships.

The question become then what does it take to create a winning team.  Just like the definition of success the way to get there is going to be different for everyone.  It is a subjective idea on how to get to the end goal.

We have had it pounded into our heads that winning is the only objective.   There are times when winning can actually hurt your team rather than work toward your end goal of truly winning.  I do not disagree that the long term goal is to win.   But this is where the idea of tanking comes in.

Tanking for the Win

Lets say that there are 6 really good players in a Basketball draft that would truly have the ability to make a huge difference on a team.  We are going to use basketball in all our examples here because it is what is in the news right now.  The same principle could be applied to any sport.  In each season in the NBA 16 teams make the playoffs.  In any scenario it is always better to make the playoffs than lose even if there is zero chance of winning the championship.  Of course if you make the playoffs the chance of winning the championship is mathematically not zero but in reality the bottom 6 seeds have almost no chance of winning the championship.

An 8 seed has played in the championship series once.  The 1999 Knicks that lost to the  Spurs in the series 4 – 1.   The lowest seed to win was the 6th seeded Rockets in the 95 Championship series.

So with 30 teams in the NBA and 16 teams making the playoffs that means that 14 teams each season are on the outside looking in.   Those teams are put into a lottery to see where they will actually pick.  The lottery is supposed to limit the amount of tanking that those teams do in order to try and improve their changes of getting a better pick in the NBA draft.  This is not always the way that it works.  I get that people think that teams should always try to win.  For the most part I think that players always try to win.  That is great that they do.  But really in certain situations it is not in your best interest to win.

Where you Pick Matters especially if you don’t make the playoffs

Lets get back to the 14 teams in the NBA that do not make the playoffs.  They are not getting the extra home games they are not getting the extra revenue.  This is a problem in several ways.   You are already a failure for not making the playoffs.  Now lets say that you are the first team out.  So you are team 17 in the league.  How close were you to making it?  Were you one game two game or more out of the playoffs?    Now what do you need to make your team better.   You need a better player to get you over than hump.  Maybe now you are not getting that extra revenue to find a better free agent.  Since you finished 17th you are now the last team to pick before the playoff teams pick in the draft.

There are 6 really good players in the draft.  The players are have the potential to be a difference  maker.  Since you finished 17th you have almost no shot to move up in the draft.  It could happen but unlikely.  You don’t have that extra revenue to get the free agent.  This is the second year in a row that you have finished one team out from the playoffs.  You decide to take the strategy of tanking so that you get get into those top 6 picks to get that difference maker.  I don’t see the problem with this.  Really what is the difference between finishing 17 and getting a good but not great pick when you could tank get a better pick and possible give you the chance to finish 16th or above.

You must win or at least try

According to accepted unwritten rules of sports you must try to win in every single game.  I get that and it makes sense.  It would not be much fun to attend games where neither team was interested in winning.  While tanking is basically planning to lose it is not the long term strategy of the team to lose every game from here to eternity.   It is a strategy to try and better the team to get back to the long term goal of winning.

Does tanking work?  Maybe but it is very difficult to tell.   I know a lot of people don’t like it but at least the team is trying something in order to get a bit better.   Having a few bad seasons to get better draft picks to build a team and then make the playoffs is worth it if it works.  As with any way of building a team there are risks.  The player could get hurt, or just turn out to not be that good.

If you really have a problem with your team tanking you are in control.  Don’t go to or watch their games.  If you vote with your dollars they will change the way they do things.