IN THE NBA, THERE’S A RACE TO BE FIRST OF THE WORST
DESPITE THE LEAGUE’S TOUGH STANCE, LOSING STILL A PREVALENT STRATEGY
After 20 years in the NBA, Dirk Nowitzki can’t be fooled. He knows when teams aren’t giving an honest effort, when they are out there playing but not playing to win.
“It’s pretty obvious,” Nowitzki said.
While easy to spot, tanking is not so easy to stop, the NBA is finding.
It’s a problem for the league office, which has fined owners, chastised teams and sent out leaguewide memos on the topic. And with Big Brother watching, teams are abiding by the letter of the law, but arguably not the spirit of its intent.
Tanking is viewed as a solution — sometimes the only one — for some teams and their fans, hoping something good can come from being bad if they cash in at the lottery and land a top draft pick.
Nearly a third of the 30 NBA teams are unquestionably bad this season, and it’s hard to believe some aren’t losing on purpose. Phoenix, Memphis, Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas, Sacramento, Brooklyn, Chicago and New York are all on track to lose 50 or more games, and only the Nets aren’t motivated to lose — they don’t own their firstround pick.
Everyone else comes under suspicion when something strange happens:
What was leading scorer Dennis Schroder doing on the bench for the entire fourth quarter of Atlanta’s one-point victory over Phoenix on March 4?
Why did Tyreke Evans foul Chicago rookie Antonio Blakeney attempting a threepointer with 1.8 seconds left and Memphis leading Chicago by one?
Are some of these guys on injury lists really hurt?
New York hosted its own version of March Badness over the last week, with the Knicks and Nets both playing Nowitzki’s Mavericks, before Memphis and Chicago came to the city on the same sad Monday. That’s five of the nine bottom teams, including the only two known to have been contacted by the league office because of their tactics.
Here’s how it looks when winning really doesn’t seem to be everything:
Tanking is a discussion for fans and media. Nobody from a team ever dares talk about losing on purpose — except Mark Cuban.
When the Mavericks owner went on Julius Erving’s podcast in February and said he told his players that “losing is our best option,” the league fined him US$600,000 for public statements detrimental to the NBA.
That put a spotlight on the Mavericks. If they were planning on packing it in and trying to add more young legs in the draft for Nowitzki’s expected swan song, they had to change plans.
“Well, I think Mark messed that up for us,” Nowitzki said with a straight face.
They went on a recent stretch of three wins in four games — two were against the Grizzlies and Knicks — and Nowitzki insists that teams are still tanking despite the league’s mandate.
“There’s obviously some teams that are going for some losses now, and we’re one of the teams that still wants to win and we’ll see where we end up at the end in the draft,” he said. “But we’re still playing. We want to have a winning culture for our young guys.”
If the Knicks are tanking, they are being out-tanked.
New York went 1-16 in a recent 17-game stretch, managing only to beat fellow lottery- bound Orlando, in a free fall that should’ve been able to take the Knicks close to the bottom. Instead, they remarkably remain the best of the worst, remaining ahead of the other eight in the standings — which means they’re behind them in lottery odds.
With Kristaps Porzingis lost to a torn ACL last month and Carmelo Anthony traded in the off- season, the Knicks don’t have the talent to win often. But coach Jeff Hornacek believes there’s a reason the other bad teams can’t win, either.
“The top teams are always there, but I think that middle group, teams that are seeded in the playoffs seven, eight, guys that are just outside that, those are some pretty good teams nowadays,” Hornacek said. “So if you are one of those bottom teams, you used to be able to beat those teams occasionally. Now it’s tough to beat those guys, too.”
Chicago came to New York on Monday without Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn, its three top scorers. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said they were all hurt, and people down the street at the league office were likely wondering.
When the Bulls stopped playing starters Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday earlier this season, the league reminded them of the new resting rules, which allow commissioner Adam Silver to fine teams who sit multiple healthy starters in road games.
So the Bulls started playing Lopez and Holiday again — sort of.
T he y went t he whole first quarter at Detroit on March 9, combining f or 15 points as the Bulls led by five. Neither got off the bench again, and the Pistons outscored them by 21 the rest of the way.
But Hoiberg wasn’t worried about creating any further trouble by playing without the three players acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade with Minnesota last summer. He insists they were injured.
“When they’re ready to go,” Hoiberg said, “they’re going to be back out there playing again.”
Tyreke Evans is Memphis’ l eading scorer, a former rookie of the year who has recovered from injuries to regain his old form.
Yet Monday — in the game after snapping a 19- game losing streak — the Grizzlies sat him out for longer looks at Andrew Harrison and Briante Weber. Oh, and Marc Gasol was also out with the flu.
Coaches argue that’s not tanking, just developing and evaluating younger players. Harrison took a contested three-pointer for a final shot that wasn’t close in a 118-115 loss to Brooklyn.
He took the blame, but coach J. B. Bickerstaff indicated he’ll get more chances.
“It’s learning how to win, and consistency and learning how to win are the two hardest things to develop in this league,” he said. “So the only way you learn is through experience in these situations.”