I don't know why "tanking" is automatically associated with not trying hard. A team can be under cap with a bunch of promising young dudes without an expectation achieve certain ranks. But that doesn't necessarily mean we are not trying hard and brewing a loser's environment. Ever wonder the idiom take a step back in order to go forward. It's a strategy that applies to all businesses. Time to cut some older guys and keep a young core. We go from there. That's far from the 'tanking" many of you refer to.
I actually asked JVG a few questions last night at a special fundraiser draft party. I asked him if he though Lowry was a headache as he said you don't really know a player until you coach him, but he seriously doubts it. I also asked him how McHale was doing as a coach and he replied that he was doing a very excellent job. I told him I liked his rant on flopping and he laughed. He told me Luis Scola is on the top of the list, lol. Just a little convo. He is so approachable. I'm probably forgetting some things...if I remember i'll post later.
Also, I asked JVG if he thought the Rockets tanked to get a better pick in the season, and he said absolutley not, they are not that kind of organization. I almost forgot that and the sole reason why I came into this thread.
Either you're doing everything you can to win, and if you're doing that, you aren't tanking. Or you aren't doing everything you can to win. That would be tanking. I don't mind trading away older players, or whatever to make a youth movement, as long the Rockets get a star from somewhere. Those are off season moves that can set the direction a team wants to go. But once the season starts the team should try and win every single game it plays.
I don't understand. Why do you think stragetizing to get a high lottery picks and have cap space is not trying to win? Is winning only about spending all the money Les can spend for the team to get the best players money could buy so to win every second on the court? That is too narrow meaning of winning for me and I am surprised JVG, from the stand point of a head coach, will want that. GMs and fans who are thinking in long terms don't necessary agree the opposite of that is tanking.
No, I don't think that's what JVG meant. He was against INTENTIONALLY fielding a bad team in the hope that you get a high pick. And I agree with him. Rewarding intentional losing is cheating the fans. It's the system's fault. It is actually pretty similar to flopping. If you reward not playing the game straight up, they are going to try to take advantage of what you give them.
I think whoever finishes with the 14th pick for three years in a row should automatically get the 1st pick
I don't agree with tanking, but the how do the hell do teams like the Rockets ever get any better? We are in a league where superstars can manipulate their way into any team they desire and they hold their own franchises hostage. It is tough when only teams like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are the only areas superstars want to play. Loyal players like Rose and Durant will never leave their teams, therefore we have no chance at them either. When you don't have good enough players to trade away for a much much better player, that really sucks. This is the position the Rockets are stuck in. Like I said, I am not fan of tanking, I absolutely hate it. I was for winning at the beginning of the season and the season before that, and the one before that one as well, and so forth, but how the hell are we suppose to get any better any time soon? We have good players, good decent young players, we have a lot of limitations as far as being able to win. I think teams not getting on National TV (and I'm talking about NBA TV) also has an effect on teams. Why is it that we can show LA 30 times a year and a team like the Rockets that's actually also trying to be good only once? Of course, money and markets will always dictate the amount of games a team might have, but it is not fair to all the other teams that only 4 or 5 teams dominate the national scene. As of now, the only way to fix this is to get a damn good player that will catch the nation's attention otherwise you are stuck where the Rockets are at. You have teams like the Clippers who have been mismanaged for decades, yet they kept getting good picks. Then you have teams like the Rockets who are also trying very hard to be better, however, we'll never make the playoffs playing like this nor will we ever get any better because we can't net us a good player. L
The problem is we don't know what we tried to do. Did we unsuccessfully tank and compete at the same time?
Well, remember JVG refused to tank in meaningless games and that cost us higher draft picks. He is from the school that winning every game is the highest priority. He thinks not trying to win each and every game brews loser's mentality. But don't you think this has proven wrong. To me, why clubs like Lakers, Celts, Bulls, and Spurs could always stay on the top for awhile, well other teams may win a championship or two, but then never reach that level. Phil and Pop were all reported to intentionlly lose game to serve their agendas. Guess who has rings and who has not. I know this is too simplified of an arument, but I disagree the very tenent JVG has thrown out over the years to justify his philosophy, e.g. the paying fans, loser's mentality, and now the intential fielding team arguements.
I'm trying to think of how Phil intentionally lose games to server his agenda. In Chicago, he was basically handed a stacked team. In LA, he was handed a team with Shaq and Kobe.... Pop, on the other hand, landed the Duncan sweepstakes, so no argument there.
I said this a while back. Turn the lottery system upside down. The lottery team with the best record gets the #1 pick, the lottery team with the 2nd best record gets the #2 pick, etc. This way you have to win games to get the top pick.
I am saying Phil and Pop don't subscribe to JVG's school of thoughts. Phil would let the Lakers lose to make a point. He takes the process approach. Pop, well, that's just too well documented.
Even more reason not to make the playoffs as a low seed. I think having all 14 teams with an equal chance would be a better option. Hell, I'd be fine with just randomly selecting the draft order for all 30 teams to completely eliminate any idea of tanking. Though having a hard cap would also have to be in place for that to work, making it pretty painful to get a high draft pick by either forcing a team to pay the luxury tax or clear out the their current roster. The hard cap is really the key to achieving any semblance of parity in the NBA, but it will never happen.
