Contender with no title or suck 90% of the time with title?

[bwgood77]

Championship or bust? Do you want your team to be a contender every year and provide you with satisfaction watching them be a great team but just never quite gets there? Or would you rather suck 90% of the time but win a couple of championships every 30 years?

It seems like more and more fans think if you don't win a championship everything else doesn't matter, but for fans who love watching their team win or lose, as long as they are always working on winning as much as possible, they are fun to watch...examples over the last 25 years are Utah, Phx, SA, Portland, LAL, and maybe some others, but other teams break down often and rebuild and sometimes become successful but more often do not.

I'm just curious, as it seems so many NBA fans these days are all about if you don't win a championship, success outside of that is irrelevant, but for many fans, perhaps more old school fans, watching your team compete as hard as possible, even if it often results in heartbreaking playoff losses, provides you with memories you will never forget.

I guess the question is...would you rather have a team that sucked most of the time (like 25 of 30 years) but won a couple of championships every 30 years so you could brag about it or would you rather have a team that was always right in the mix but never won one?

Do you think Philly's approach is smart? Or dubious at best? Do you think they have a better chance of winning a championship or failing miserably?

Do you think tanking for a star is smart or that it is a bad approach since 90% of the teams that try fail and end up in lottery hell for years and the draft is a crapshoot? For example, had OKC had the first pick the year they got Durant they would have taken Oden, and had the second pick the year they took Westbrook would have taken Beasley..how would that have worked out? They are probably the only team that has completely tried to be bad and had it work out very well. Does this approach seem solid or extremely risky?

[BenoUdrihFTL]

Championship or bust can wreck your soul after a while

Sauce: I'm a Miami Heat fan

[RunTCB]

Pretty simple. Give me the option with the championship every time.

[DoubleLintendre]

Win or go tank.

[disenfranchised]

Always in the mix.

[R U Legit]

I guess my big problem with this scenario is this: in what world is it realistic for championship teams to fall off the face of the earth?

[Kevin Johnson]

So Philadelphia 76ers vs Utah Jazz for the past 30 or so years.

Closet I could come up with.

[bwgood77]

I guess my big problem with this scenario is this: in what world is it realistic for championship teams to fall off the face of the earth?

Yes, I thought about that, that once you develop that team, they are likely then to be in the mix for quite some time, but I balance that with the fact that most teams in the lottery struggle to get out of it for quite some time.

I guess it comes down to....do you want to rebuild as long as possible, even if it make take years and it may NEVER work out, and you have a 50% chance of even getting there in the first place...a coin flip, or being in the mix year after year, being entertained throughout the season and playoffs every year but always coming up short?

[Keller61]

I'd prefer the option of being in the mix every year, but if you gave it away that we'd never win a championship, that defeats the purpose. You want to feel like you have a chance every year.

At the end of the day, sports are just for fun, and I'd rather have fun and take pride in my team every year than do so for just one year and be living in the past the rest of the time.

[bwgood77]

I'd prefer the option of being in the mix every year, but if you gave it away that we'd never win a championship, that defeats the purpose. You want to feel like you have a chance every year.

At the end of the day, sports are just for entertainment, and I'd rather be entertained and take pride in my team every year than do so for just one year and be living in the past the rest of the time.

Yeah, being a Suns fan I had more enjoyment from watching the KJ and Nash years regardless of not winning it all, than I would have if we tried to break it down and rebuild all the time and had won the championship once.

Also, the only team in my NBA viewing experience (about 25 years) that has ever even gotten close to winning a championship with the tearing down and sucking method is OKC and they still haven't won one. Sure, they are exciting, but they were also lucky in drafting who they did...smart draft picks but they still could have ended up with Oden and Beasley had their draft slots been even better.

Most teams that win championships either have a superstar, or trade for them after their commitments to their original teams anyway. LA and SA never really had a tanking mentality (OK, SA did the one year but only because Robinson was out and as a Suns fan it kind of pissed me off they got Duncan even though they were always a contender in the mix when Robinson was healthy).

[bwgood77]

Win or go tank.

I guess it is nice to win after 19 years. But isn't it nice to compete even though you are not likely to win a championship? Is this team something you will ultimately regret having been put together and had some fun playoff runs even if they never win it all?

[moss_is_1]

The Kings teams from the C-webb days, or for lack of a better example, the Marlins from a few years ago in baseball. They would win a title, didn't want to pay their players so they would develop the young guys and won again.

[JVL]

I'm taking the ring, even if it means my franchise has to suck for the next 10 years before winning another ring. The NBA is about winning championships, being always good, all the time, but never good enough to win it all, is the worst position to be in.

Assuming the team that is always in the mix doesn't win championships, otherwise this is no choice and you pick the second team.

[EuroPacer]

I'm used to European sports where coming second if you were projected to come tenth is actually considered a good achievement. I just want my team to do as well as they possibly can, I'd be really annoyed if the Pacers decided to tank, in fact, I wouldn't even watch them if that was the agenda.

[76ciology]

"Not settling for mediocrity doesn't guarantee you are going to be good or great. It just gives you a chance."
- Sam Hinkie.

And that chance is easily thrown away the second you choose to be a treadmill team.

I know people have their share of criticisms of the Sixers approach on how the team might take 4 years or more in it's rebuilding process. Taking a look of the talent the team, it is far advanced in terms of assets relative to the stage they are into their rebuilding process. The process just started in 2013, the night Jrue was traded. Sixers are just going into it's 2nd year, but never the less the team has drafted guys who can be candidates for ROY for three straight years (MCW 2014, Noel 2015, Biid 2016) two projected lotto picks in 2015 and 2016, a lotto caliber player euro stash in Saric and 30m worth of cap space.

And I'm guessing that Hinkie has projected the Sixers to be competing as soon as it reaches their 3rd year (2016), that's why he traded down from 10th to 12th to get back our 2016 lotto protected first from the Magic. It's fast and have a low probability of failure due to the amount of assets hoarded with just limited time.

Personally, Sixers' approach is the most ideal. It's a very extreme and unpopular approach. But it's the fastest and gives you the best chance to have a special team. Patience puts you in great opportunities. While a mixture analytics and conventional eye test allows you to nail these opportunities.

The problem lies more on the ownership group. This determines the direction of the team based on their tolerance of possible financial loss. I think with the Sixers ownership, the ownership has a very wide horizon and has given the green light for Hinkie to suck for the short term for the pay-off will be way more than worth it.

[JVL]

I'm used to European sports where coming second if you were projected to come tenth is actually considered a good achievement. I just want my team to do as well as they possibly can, I'd be really annoyed if the Pacers decided to tank, in fact, I wouldn't even watch them if that was the agenda.

There is an important nuance to be made though:
-In European sports there is an incentive to finish as high as possible with regards to international leagues. In football, the top x of each competition play Champions League, the remaining top x play Europa League. Then there's the matter of qualifying directly and having to play qualifying matches.
-There is no draft lottery.

[John Long]

Tanking is actually the worst thing an organization can do to its fans, going into a season with absolutely no hope to win, is devastating. I'm a Laker fan and last year was the toughest its been for me ever since I've been a fan since 96 because I knew we were semi tanking depending on Kobe's health. This season will probably feel a bit better knowing that we are at least trying to compete.

[berkkobe7]

I am delusional and still think Knicks can win 2015 NBA championship. I want my team to compete. Bust mindset starts the downfall of a franchise

Sent from my SM-G900FQ using RealGM Forums mobile app

[tmorgan]

I can't vote in this poll because I can't choose either of these crappy options. I wouldn't be happy watching my team suck 90% of the time (aka Marlins in baseball), but I also wouldn't be happy knowing we'd never actually win the championship (aka Bills in football awhile back).

I want the middle... a team that attempts to build for a championship and either succeeds or fails, but knows when to tear it down and suck for two to four years while accumulating young assets that are at least fun to watch and might be pieces of the next potential championship squad. In other words, a well-run team.

That's what's been so frustrating as a Pistons fan for the last eight years or so... Dumars climbed the mountain and then didn't know when to ski back down. He just stood up there, a couple steps from the summit, until the avalanche hit and killed him. Then I got to watch his corpse of a team for another four years. At least there's some hope on the horizon again after six years of fugly hoops.

[doozyj]

Any year without a championship is a failure for the Lakers regardless of their record. They don't hang division titles in the rafters.