Tanking with integrity? It can be done

If I’m Dolphins owner Steve Ross, I don’t tell Brian Flores to lose the game most fans hope is lost on Sunday.

I tell him the Parable of Pat Riley instead.

The Heat President is the biggest winner in town and as big a champion as sports delivers. He has nine championship rings as a player, coach and executive — three with the Heat.

Yet Riley twice saw seasons sinking fast and sunk them completely. Tanking with integrity was the idea.

“It was in the best interests of the organization,’’ he once said.

That best-interests line could apply to the Dolphins here, if you care to apply it. Win against 1-13 Cincinnati on Sunday and the Dolphins probably won’t draft any higher than fifth this year. Lose, and the Dolphins maintain their third spot and could climb to No. 2 — even No. 1, with a healthy sprinkling of magic dust.

Flores isn’t changing his damn-the-draft, full-speed-towinning mode. It’s his DNA, even with a lousy team. You get why. And this takes us back to Riley purposely going against his genetics and trying to lose games.

The first time was 2002-‘03. Heat center Alonzo Mourning was lost in mid-year to kidney disease. A mediocre year sunk south. In the final game, Toronto and the Heat were tied in the standings. The loser got better draft-lottery odds.

Riley played the leftovers on his roster — Ken Johnson, Sean Lampley, LaPhonso Ellis — double their normal minutes. The Heat, to his chagrin, still won the game. That’s because Toronto played its scrubs even more. The Raptors ended with the fourth draft pick, the Heat ended the fifth.

The second time Riley took the Heat south was in 2008. Dwyane Wade was hurt. Shaquille O’Neal quit to the point of being traded. The year was so bad it became good in a way. The Heat lost and lost and won the No. 2 pick in the draft.

But let’s get to the parable part of this story. The losing in

fensive players crowded around the line of scrimmage on a given play.

Still, if the Dolphins drafted Young, Flores would adjust his defense to fit Young’s skill set.

This topic of discussion — whether Young could fit in Flores’ defense – made the rounds among Dolphins fans on social media this week as the team prepares for their final home game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals (1-13).

The Dolphins could be in position to draft Young with a Dolphins loss to the Bengals on Sunday. It could help Miami either stay at No. 3 in the 2020 NFL draft order or help them end up at No. 2 by season’s end.

A Dolphins win, however, could put Miami in position to land the No. 4 or No. 5 pick in the draft, among their three firstround picks.

“I’ve said this all year: we’re going to try to win every game,” Flores reiterated when asked about his stance on winning and losing this week with regards to draft position.

The Dolphins acquired one of those three picks by trading away two of their former first-round picks, which included 2018 pick Minkah Fitzpatrick, who was traded away after not wanting to play multiple roles in Flores’ defense.

Fitzpatrick has since flourished as a free safety with the Pittsburgh Steelers, en route to his first trip to the Pro Bowl this season after leaving Miami during

Week 3.

The Dolphins are not in position to pass up on talented players after trading away Fitzpatrick, and that includes Young, who could be taken in the draft after LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow.

If the Dolphins were lucky to land a player of Young’s potential, Flores would surely use him to the best of his abilities in the defense.

“We’ve got a good coaching staff, and there’s a lot of creative minds here. We try to put our players in position to make plays,” Flores said.

“If there was an exceptional player, and I think we have some good players here, if Lawrence Taylor was available and we had to fit the scheme for him, we’d do it. No problem.”