Yeah, hurt them so much they went 20-62, then drafted Tim Duncan and went 56-26 the next year.
Did the Spurs go on to success? Sure. Are they the rule, or the exception?
Yeah, another example. 23-43 the tank year. 47-35. Killed them. No growth there at all.
Looking at Golden State and us, right now, would you swap rosters, draft futures, etc. with them? If the goal is a championship and nothing else, than Golden State failed. Their players don't play injured, because they've been conditioned to sit while injured.
Very simplistic way to look at it considering Rose is down with an injury. Let me put it this way: Let's say Chicago or LA decided to sit Rose and Kobe for the year and go full blown tank mode, than added Embiid with Rose and Randle with Kobe. That would DESTROY those franchises. My goodness. All the bad things they would have to get over....Come on now.
There's no guarantee Rose or Bryant will be healthier next year. Maybe they should sit them out for three years and let them get really healthy?
When was the last time the Lakers tanked their way into a great player?
Your point was that tanking instilled bad habits. That by tanking, you would be doing things that were bad for your players. That is not true. You can tank, while developing Burke. You do it the way the Jazz have done it. Put as little talent around him that you can't win. See how the guys fight through it. Having Burke step up as a leader, get better defensively and take a couple lumps isn't creating bad habits.
You can tank and progress at the same time.
You think we can find worse players than Richard Jefferson to surround him with, that will still play the sort of basketball we want Burke to play?
We did surround our young guys with dross. We are seeing how they are fighting through it, and they are fighting through it so well that they are winning. Now, you want to cut their legs out from under them. You don't think that will send a counter-productive message to the team? People are not robots. If you react negatively when they do well, they stop doing well.