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I'm reasonably confident that the NBA suits are highly concerned about tanking. As the above also notes, and which to this point has been underdiscussed, it's also detrimental to the careers of the many players who are collateral damage to the tank, e.g., Lauri. I don't think anyone would blame...

On cue, resorting to personal attacks rather than engaging with the argument. Questioning tanking = character defect. So typical and so predictable.

No True Scotsman

LOL, I can't argue with that. Well played.

I'm reminded of the song from Guys and Dolls, "Marry the Man Today, Change His Ways Tomorrow." Anyone with experience in relationships immediately recognizes the folly of such sentiments. At some point, you are who you are. Marrying a bum doesn't magically transform him into a gentleman. Zion is...

Yeah, and ....? I've questioned the efficacy of tanking vs. its cost. I haven't proposed eliminating it. Also, that a policy creates some perverse incentives at the margin is to be expected and not necessarily in itself a reason not to enact a policy. It's a matter of degree. My sense is that...

Thank you for taking the time to do this. I think we're all in agreement that, on average, you're more likely to find allstars or superstars (however defined) at the top of the draft. Thus, drafing higher rather than lower is important, and it's one reason why high draft picks are valued so...

Let's hope so, mon mimi. If not, what does that say about how the Jazz have drafted during the first two years of the tank? If we don't believe any of these guys can play a large role on a winning NBA team, the entire tank has been a bloody wasted two years. If the Jazz FO is that poor at...

Sound familiar to anyone? Fisher, B. (2012). Fandom, identity, and online communities: A review of sports fan studies. Sport in Society, 15(5), 720-734. This paper discusses the role of fandom in digital spaces, where extreme loyalty and commitment to a team can sometimes result in the...

One challenge with tanking is that players are playing for contracts, playing time, or even remaining on an NBA roster. They want to play well and win. They've no incentive to fall on their swords to support the tank so that the team can draft their replacements. It's a delicate balancing act...

He could be, but the odds weigh strongly against it. (I follow his career at Duke only sporadically and superficially. I used to be a huge college b-ball fan--go Tarheels--but now find college basketball boring and difficult to watch.) I've been reading this board for many years. I vividly...

That's an excellent question. If I can find the time, I'll look into it, or someone else can. Just to be clear, my point is not that drafting in the top 5 is not important—all else equal, higher draft picks are better than lower draft picks—it's the uncritical assertion by many that a...

I'm curious: Can anyone guess the odds that a #1 draft pick will lead the team that drafted it to 1) an NBA championship or 2) an NBA final? Answer: 1) Since 2000, 8.3%. 2) Since 2000, 20.8%. The only #1 picks to win an NBA championship with the team that drafted it since 2000 are LeBron James...

You don't like mine, so I'm hard-pressed to understand my obligation to like yours. I guess my condolences are, therefore, required?

Troll: Person possesing the temerity to push back on the pro-tank consensus. Somebody who expresses skepticism about what others accept uncritically as the unquestionable Gospel truth about the wisdom and cost vs. benefits of tanking via a structural teardown.

My point is that this definition is far too broad. It empowers tanking advocates to advance any number of specious arguments supporting the Jazz tanking strategy while dismissing any skepticism, notwithstanding that much of the evidence cited is irrelevant to the Jazz's situation. The Jazz's...

LOL, all hail cognitive dissonance. The pro-tanking crowd is so unused to pushback or situations where they cannot browbeat dissent that they refuse to deal in good faith with anyone who doesn't drink their Kool-Aid.

Defining tanking in such broad terms renders discussion about its merits pointless. Perhaps more importantly to the pro-tanking advocates, it serves to inoculate them from criticism because now they can invoke any number of examples, i.e., 5-10, to claim that it works. For example, the Lakers...

I Whoops, I meant to say a small minority.

That is not the context in which I've heard/read most tanking conversations occur. For the most part, tanking is advanced as the solution for teams to get off the "mediocrity treadmill" and on the path to a championship. This corresponds with the prevailing ringz culture that dominates the...