Blazers vs Thunder game tonight is a disgrace to the league (tanking)

[NyKnicks1714]

The fans who paid money for it...?

To be fair, OKC has been playing this shell game for quite awhile now, so anybody who bought a ticket recently to this silliness deserves their fate.

Not really though. Lillard and SGA have been out for a while, so who on earth are fans going to be disappointed they didn't get to see?

[miamiheat319]

People acting like this is the only game on tonight and they have a gun to their head being forced to watch it who cares let these guys who never get any burn play a little in these last few pretty much meaningless games

[thelead]

I understand why these teams are doing it.... but I still think the league needs to further address tanking. It affects gambling, playoff standings, fans that pay to watch NBA basketball but get g-league games, etc. Does anyone seriously think there is much of a difference in talent between a team like a healthy OKC team and the current Lakers roster? I don't.

They should just give all non play-in and playoff teams the same odds and call it a day. Something as easy as drawing a team for each pick 1-10.


Hell, they could spice it up by giving play-in losers better picks than normal to incentivize winning. So for example:

Teams 1-10 get the same odds for picks 1-8 and 12-14. Play-in losers would have their own lotto (equal odds) for picks 8-11.

[Sactowndog]

crazy thing is.. if the bottom 4-5 teams just played it straight.. they would all still be the 4-5 worst teams in the league

Portland playing it straight would have been in San Antonio’s spot.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The balls on OKC... they're not messing around. I chronicled the tanktastic game between Detroit and OKC on Sunday... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2180460&start=20

Looks like OKC is quadrupling down now. Let's recap...

OKC

- Jaylen Hoard had played 110 seconds this season until this week. He has 20+ rebounds in two of his first 3 starts. The Thunder had there choice of random big to choose from, but instead of a known (non)commodity, they choose the next Dennis Rodman. Tank Grade = D- (I mean, do they get to keep this Dennis Rodman guy?)

- Georgios Kalaitzakis came into the game with 48 career minutes and about 48 minutes in the city... and promptly gets 43 minutes of game action. The guy went 3 - 8 ft... and had 7 TOs... so it wasn't a terrible strategy. The guy also surpassed his career scoring mark in one night. Tank Grade = B.

- Zavier Simpson had never played in an NBA game before. So why not give him 44 minutes? After all, he was in town at a boat show or something... might as well slap a uniform on him. Tank Grade = A-

- Playing Vit Krecji is also a surefire sign you want to lose. Limiting Vit Krecji to only 21 minutes is a very bad decision though. Once again, Vit led the team in negative +/-. Let the scrub play! Tank Grade = D


PORTLAND

- Much more subtle. They just let Kris Dunn, Keon Johnson and Ben McLemore lead in shot attempts. Pretty sneaky sis! Tank Grade = B

In the end, the Thunder reward their loyal fans with a win. What a nice gesture.



[Note: It's just such a shame and crazy coincidence that these two teams who are desperate to lose suddenly find themselves with a combined 47 injured players. What crazy luck!!!!]

[Infinite Llamas]

Jaylen hoard 20-20 game…

So funny how Lindy was knocking down shots and they benched him after four minutes lol

[AbeVigodaLive]

The fans who paid money for it...?

To be fair, OKC has been playing this shell game for quite awhile now, so anybody who bought a ticket recently to this silliness deserves their fate.

Not really though. Lillard and SGA have been out for a while, so who on earth are fans going to be disappointed they didn't get to see?

Sometimes, they just want to see NBA teams try to win games?



[Note: To be fair, OKC has won 4 of its last 7 games. Shame. Shoulda studied better tanking teams to see how it's really done.]

[xdrta+]

I'd imagine the owners dislike this with their big and disgraceful pushing of gambling.

Anyone betting on this game has a serious problem. It's like betting on spring training baseball games (ok, I admit, I've done that. )

[SNPA]

Don't hate the player, hate the game. You give every incentive for teams to tank in order to get stars- this is what you're going to get, especially in small markets like OKC.

I wish the Knicks had the balls to do it.

I’ve posted this before…

All of this is avoidable.

Simply have a draft pick trade deadline at the 1/3 mark of the season.

If a team owns its own pick that year they must trade it or move down ten slots.

Done. No more end of year tanking. Why? It’s not even your pick anymore. Zero reason to tank out the season.

Bad teams still get the best value, just through trade instead of the draft (although teams can trade picks for other bad team’s picks).

League rejuvenates, the point of the draft. But no tank.

At the 1/3 mark teams can evaluate the trajectory of other teams, including post the draft pick trade deadline.

It’s fair.

It adds a second trade deadline. Who doesn’t want that?

It makes good GM’ing more valuable.

It’s simple and easy.

No other rules change. Same cap. Same trade rules. Teams simply have to trade their own pick that year or drop ten slots.

[NyKnicks1714]

The fans who paid money for it...?

To be fair, OKC has been playing this shell game for quite awhile now, so anybody who bought a ticket recently to this silliness deserves their fate.

Not really though. Lillard and SGA have been out for a while, so who on earth are fans going to be disappointed they didn't get to see?

Sometimes, they just want to see NBA teams try to win games?

The players on the floor do that.

[Chuck Everett]

So what happens when Shai asks for a trade? Tank for three more years?

[Effigy]

What ever happened to trying to win????

The Jazz tank when they are bad too. Everybody does it.

[Ruma85]

I don't see a big deal regarding this sometimes the staff wants to see who they can keep for next season.

[PapaBear53]

What ever happened to trying to win????

The Jazz tank when they are bad too. Everybody does it.

Show me one year. They've had bad teams, sure, but I don't believe they've ever tanked ala Philly's "process", et al. And we have always rebounded pretty quickly.

[Effigy]

What ever happened to trying to win????

The Jazz tank when they are bad too. Everybody does it.

Show me one year. They've had bad teams, sure, but I don't believe they've ever tanked ala Philly's "process", et al. And we have always rebounded pretty quickly.

2004-2005 season. You tanked hard. I remember because Portland was tanking too. It came down to a late game, Portland vs Utah. The loser would have a worse record. I met Theo Ratliff and his wife and said ‘I hope you guys lose the Jazz game’ and she just laughed and said ‘Man nobody wants to win that game’. Portland won and Utah got the better draft odds. Which ironically resulted in us jumping you in the lottery and then trading our pick to you.

[Bobbymcgee]

Simple, extend the play-in to include the Rockets and Blazers. Problem solved.

[timO]

Okc gonna surpass Indiana and be #5 pre Lotto, 7-8 post, terrible season and terrible pick.

[Ruma85]

Ok gonna surpass Indiana and be #5 pre Lotto, 7-8 post, terrible season and terrible pick.

Terrible season, What did you expect play-in??

[JDR720]

They have 0 incentive to win. Might as well let the G-leaguers and the bench players have a run of games to see if any of them are worth keeping.

[timO]

Ok gonna surpass Indiana and be #5 pre Lotto, 7-8 post, terrible season and terrible pick.

Terrible season, What did you expect play-in??

I expected a top 3 pick.