The Definitions of Tanking

[Duffman100]

So I think some of you may or may not know tanking is a contentious issue on this forum.

I've noticed from debates/discussions/arguments I've witnessed (and been a part of ahem) is that "Tanking" has many different definitions. Those different definition lead to misunderstanding when it comes to conversations. As 'anti tankers' and 'pro tankers' are put into binary buckets.

Would it help and ease tensions to try and get some definitions down so that when people are discussing it, they can reference? I can start some definitions and then add as people

Bottom out / The Process tanking - 3-5 seasons of being the worst team in the league

Gentle tanking - 1-2 years of being the worst team in the league

Strategic / Accidental tanking - 1 year of as bad as you can get to add to your core

Retool tanking - Acquire assets and be fine losing, land somewhere in the mid lottery or 'get lucky'

Any others? Or adjustments to the ones above?

[WuTang_CMB]

Good list

I'd add examples to those

Bottom Out Tanking = Detroit Pistons, Wash Wizards & Jazz currently. Hardest to come out of.

Gentle tanking = Usually these teams hit on a top pick and got lucky selecting 1-2. If they didn't get lucky, they are more than likely still in bottom out category. I'd say ORL until they got Banchero and Spurs until Wemby

Strategic Tanking = Toronto tampa season. Golden State drafting the bust at # 2. Maybe even Grizzlies last season. Usually this comes with an injured plagued season and team pivots to tanking. It's a smart move.

[tsherkin]

Hmmm, yeah, that's a pretty solid list.

[FunkaRaptor]

Ethical tanking? I suppose that's a subcategory or corollary of not as tank - tanking.

[DelAbbot]

Here is the definition of full on tanking rebuild aka "The Process"

year 1 slow tear down (top 10 going into draft lottery), slow to avoid fire sale, lose on purpose after TDL
year 2 fully torn down (top 5 going into draft lottery), lose on purpose to start the year
year 3 bottoming out continues (top 5-7 going into draft lottery), lose on purpose to start the year
year 4 assess and let organic growth (trades young players), no major FA adding, lose on purpose after TDL if record is bad.
year 5 continue to grow organically, add FA or bigger trades. At this point, the rebuild is on the upswing, always compete for wins

[Jerry Lucas]

To me "tanking" has always been when a sports org prioritizes losing in order to improve their draft position and/or draft lottery odds. This definition is widely and generally accepted among sports fans, and applicable to describe how tanking works in multiple sports where it exists.

[douggood]

process tanking - where you purposefully trade away players to get bad (jazz, nets)
incompetence tanking - where you are stuck in an endless loop of being bad, drafting not so great player (hornets, wiz)
retool tanking - where you trade away players and try and retool on fly (raptors, blazers)
accidental tanking - injury bug year, bad year and you lean into it (sixers, pelicans)

[Godaddycurse]

I think whichever type of tanking is dictated by whether or not you have a franchise player to build around

bottom out - teams with no franchise player/none developed yet so you keep losing
gentle tanking - you get your guy(s) in the draft so you want to start building a team around around them now
1 year strategic - you already had your guy but he was injured so just tank for a year (grizzlies morant, GSW steph)
Not as tank - you don't have your guy, but you think you can get your guy elsewhere instead of the draft (Masai special)

[Duffman100]

process tanking - where you purposefully trade away players to get bad (jazz, nets)
incompetence tanking - where you are stuck in an endless loop of being bad, drafting not so good player (hornets, wiz)
retool tanking - where you trade away players and try and retool on fly (raptors, blazers)
accidental tanking - injury bug year, bad year and you lean into it (sixers, pelicans)

Added some of your 'terms' to the list.

I didn't add incompetence because while that happens, I don't think anyone is advocating for it.

[GLF]

Love those definitions. I also think sometimes tanking and a team just being bad are two different things. To me tanking is something you purposefully do. Some of these teams aren’t tanking, they’re just terrible and couldn’t be a good team if they tried lol. I think saying teams who are forever bad like Wizards and Charlotte are tanking is giving their front office’s too much lol. Those teams are just terrible and even if they didn’t want to be a bottom 5 team they couldn’t, bc their front office’s can’t build a good team for ****. Which kind of shows being at the bottom for years on end, instead of mixing up your strategy with other ways of building a team, isn’t the greatest thing. But we’ve all talked about this ad nauseam so I don’t want to get into that again.

[Raps in 4]

I've always been fine with a team accumulating multiple top-10 picks over a few years. The length of the actual process depends on luck and how well your FO drafts. Obviously the higher the pick, the better, but full scorched earth tanking does come with its own risks (but I'm not opposed to it).

The Raptors were never going to go scorched earth this year though. It was impossible given the age of our core (they are in the 4th, 5th, and 6th seasons, which means right on the cusp of their peaks).

The goal should be to avoid the play-in/playoffs if you're going to be a bottom seed.

I guess this falls under "retool tanking" on your list.

[navyblue]

process tanking - where you purposefully trade away players to get bad (jazz, nets)
incompetence tanking - where you are stuck in an endless loop of being bad, drafting not so great player (hornets, wiz)
retool tanking - where you trade away players and try and retool on fly (raptors, blazers)
accidental tanking - injury bug year, bad year and you lean into it (sixers, pelicans)

This is pretty much how I see it as well

[Duffman100]

process tanking - where you purposefully trade away players to get bad (jazz, nets)
incompetence tanking - where you are stuck in an endless loop of being bad, drafting not so great player (hornets, wiz)
retool tanking - where you trade away players and try and retool on fly (raptors, blazers)
accidental tanking - injury bug year, bad year and you lean into it (sixers, pelicans)

This is pretty much how I see it as well

The key difference I'm seeing is there is a key strategy being advocated by some between,

Process Tanking

--

Stategic

Retool

There is the "Gentle" tank that I have listed above and I think that is the most contentious. Because either a) people assume the person is talking about Process b) the ramifications are seen similar to The Process tanking.

[deck]

I agree with the definitions here, but I think where things are more complicated is regarding the expected outcomes that allow a team to exit tanking.

Re-tool tanking or accidental tanking would satisfy lots of people if you happen to be bad for a year and draft Tim Duncan. Alternatively, many would be unsatisfied if the same approach was followed, but you end up with Alex Sarr.

[mdenny]

The Houston Rockets clearly don't know how to win-tank.

If they had won just one more game in the 2022 season....they would've gotten Wemby.

Win-tanking = going all out and playing your starters for 48 minutes in the last game of the season because you have a hunch about the lottery balls.

[TheGeneral99]

Yes good definitions.

Tampa 2021 was an accidental tank.

Now we are in a gentle tank.

[Duffman100]

Yes good definitions.

Tampa 2021 was an accidental tank.

Now we are in a gentle tank.

See I'd put us in the "Retool tank".

[Kingsway_fan]

Yes good definitions.

Tampa 2021 was an accidental tank.

Now we are in a gentle tank.

See I'd put us in the "Retool tank".

We got off to a very bad start due to key injuries and by the time they started to get healthy it was too late and management correctly pivoted to one year strategic tank. Here we are. Next year it's full speed ahead. Playoffs.

[Duffman100]

Yes good definitions.

Tampa 2021 was an accidental tank.

Now we are in a gentle tank.

See I'd put us in the "Retool tank".

We got off to a very bad start due to key injuries and by the time they started to get healthy it was too late and management correctly pivoted to one year strategic tank. Here we are. Next year it's full speed ahead. Playoffs.

Dammit, are we in a Gentle, Retool or Strategic Tank!?

[TheGeneral99]

Yes good definitions.

Tampa 2021 was an accidental tank.

Now we are in a gentle tank.

See I'd put us in the "Retool tank".

We got off to a very bad start due to key injuries and by the time they started to get healthy it was too late and management correctly pivoted to one year strategic tank. Here we are. Next year it's full speed ahead. Playoffs.

It was pretty known that this would be a tank year.

We had Poeltl at media day saying it doesn't make sense to try to win every game this year.

We had Darko overplaying our rookie and undrafted bench players over guys like Boucher early on.

Masai has stressed this is a development year.

It was pretty obvious that the team was not rushing the return of Scottie, Quickly, Brown, Kelly etc. when they had injuries.