Did teams tank this year?

pokerface

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I was reading an article talking about the lottery and ended by saying "Tanking teams got punished" ...like wth? Supposedly the flattened odds were supposed to curb tanking. Did teams really tank or are bad teams just being punished now for being bad? And still being called tankers?!?
 

Proximo

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Yes, the knicks did.

I also think cleveland did in the last 10-15 games as well.
 

Yuma

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I was reading an article talking about the lottery and ended by saying "Tanking teams got punished" ...like wth? Supposedly the flattened odds were supposed to curb tanking. Did teams really tank or are bad teams just being punished now for being bad? And still being called tankers?!?
I think the opposite is true. With the teams that moved up in the lottery, now more teams will look to tank if they are having a hard time making the playoffs. Look at how little chance you need to potentially land a Zion Williamson versus barely making an eight seed and bounced right away.
 

Krangodnzr

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I think the bigger problem is teams like the Lakers and Pelicans tanking near the end of the year. That's worse than a bad team not trying to win. Much worse IMO.

I think the lottery should only include the 5 worst teams.
 

AzStevenCal

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I said when they first changed the rules that it wouldn't stop tanking although it would likely curtail the season long tanking. But it was obvious right away that it would add incentive to the post all star game tankers, and it has.
 

AzStevenCal

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Please tell me how the Knicks tanked.

I heard most of the season that they were intentionally not playing their better players (Kanter for example) and supposedly they were taking out the more effective players late in games they were competitive in. I don't if that last part was actually true but I heard that again on one of the NBA shows yesterday,
 

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As long as the draft order is the result of standings (slightly randomized by the lottery or not) and teams don’t rely on gate receipts as the main driver for revenue, their decisions on whether to play, sit, or trade players will be affected.
 

AzStevenCal

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Yeah.

Bad team =/= tanking

The Suns didn't tank. The Pelicans did. The Lakers did. And the new rules rewards teams like the Lakers and Pelicans to tank.

We didn't actively tank but our play was clearly influenced by tanking decisions in the past - which is often the way it goes once you really tank. But yeah, several teams went into full tank mode after the break.
 

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I heard most of the season that they were intentionally not playing their better players (Kanter for example) and supposedly they were taking out the more effective players late in games they were competitive in. I don't if that last part was actually true but I heard that again on one of the NBA shows yesterday,
I'm guessing that since the media loves New York and the Knicks in particular, they'll say anything to make them look better than they actually are. I.e., if they DIDN'T "tank" they would have had a better record. I think the Knicks stunk and didn't need to tank.
 

AzStevenCal

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I'm guessing that since the media loves New York and the Knicks in particular, they'll say anything to make them look better than they actually are. I.e., if they DIDN'T "tank" they would have had a better record. I think the Knicks stunk and didn't need to tank.

I KNOW they stank but they looked to have the talent (in the East) to do better than they did. There was a point where they had maybe the 6th or 7th worst record and they won an OT game. I remember their fans were irate (some of them anyway) but the Knicks followed that up by losing 26 of their next 27 games and moved from 7 to 1 just like that.
 

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teams 7-14 (worse record) will want to tank once their season starts looking bleak after all-stars. teams 1-6 were already crappy and are fighting to get into the 1-3 range.
 

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I was reading an article talking about the lottery and ended by saying "Tanking teams got punished" ...like wth? Supposedly the flattened odds were supposed to curb tanking. Did teams really tank or are bad teams just being punished now for being bad? And still being called tankers?!?

2 tanking teams benefitted greatly from the new draft system, the Pelicans and the Lakers. The Pelicans sat Anthony Davis and the Lakers sat Lebron. This new system only encourages teams to tank instead of pushing for a playoff spot in late March.

People can try to claim the Pelicans and Lakers didn't tank but what else do you call sitting Lebron and giving up on a playoff berth?

How about the Pelicans sitting Anthony Davis when he still had a year and a half on his contract? Their GM was fired for sitting him and the league told them he had to play X amount of minutes, he played those minutes and would get pulled immediately, no matter how close the score was.
 
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teams 7-14 (worse record) will want to tank once their season starts looking bleak after all-stars. teams 1-6 were already crappy and are fighting to get into the 1-3 range.

That was my initial take that this could happen when the new lottery system came out. I think it's worse now...more teams are involved in tanking and the really bad teams are more out of the loop.

I never knew what the big deal was because good teams dont normally tank because their attendance suffers. Bad teams are already bad and just get a little worse. Now it's like bad teams could stay bad longer....and STILL get called tankers.
 

Yuma

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That was my initial take that this could happen when the new lottery system came out. I think it's worse now...more teams are involved in tanking and the really bad teams are more out of the loop.

I never knew what the big deal was because good teams dont normally tank because their attendance suffers. Bad teams are already bad and just get a little worse. Now it's like bad teams could stay bad longer....and STILL get called tankers.
My thinking is they weighted the lottery too much the other direction even before they picked. Yes you don't want teams to tank, but you also do not want huge move up like what we saw. I think you leave it just as it used to be before the lottery. Now we have the D league. A team cannot get it's act together, it's like the Premier League, they get relegated to the D League and the best D League team moves up. Even if it's only for a year! Talk about not wanting to multi tank year after year! LOL.
 

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I think the bigger problem is teams like the Lakers and Pelicans tanking near the end of the year. That's worse than a bad team not trying to win. Much worse IMO.

I think the lottery should only include the 5 worst teams.

The Suns tanked last year for Ayton. There were no complaints then. Can’t have it both ways.
 

Mainstreet

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I said when they first changed the rules that it wouldn't stop tanking although it would likely curtail the season long tanking. But it was obvious right away that it would add, and it has.

It's done exactly this, give incentive to post all star game tankers.

Since it was so effective in the 2019 draft, it will only get worse in subsequent drafts.

The genie is out of the bottle.

I will be honest, if it hadn't effected the Suns and other teams so much, it would have taken me much longer to feel this way.
 
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pokerface

pokerface

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It's done exactly this, give incentive to post all star game tankers.

Since it was so effective in the 2019 draft, it will only get worse in subsequent drafts.

The genie is out of the bottle.

I will be honest, if it hadn't effected the Suns and other teams so much, it would have taken me much longer to feel this way.

I think the suns could benefit soon because eventually we will climb record wise but still be in the hunt for top picks.
 

Mainstreet

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I think the suns could benefit soon because eventually we will climb record wise but still be in the hunt for top picks.

This may well be true. Right now I want to think about turning the team around.
 
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pokerface

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This may well be true. Right now I want to think about turning the team around.

Yeah buts its going to be a gradual climb...I hope its a bigger jump. Like if we were to have the seventh worst record next season our chances to score a top three would still be fair.
 

Mainstreet

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Yeah buts its going to be a gradual climb...I hope its a bigger jump. Like if we were to have the seventh worst record next season our chances to score a top three would still be fair.

When the Suns fell to 6th in the lottery it set them back in all likelihood.

If the Suns had landed Zion, and only had to worry about a point guard, it would be a different story. They might have been able to skip a step.

Now it does look like a more gradual climb.
 
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