Certainly not...but I thought Paxson was intimating that Dunn, LaVine and Markkanen wouldn't be playing as much either. Maybe I misunderstood.

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they didn't trade Rush Street Reggie to tank. He ran afoul of the coach and management was eventually forced to unload him for peanuts. it worked out but Thorn was no genius GM.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

The Bulls benched Theus long before he was traded. They started two rookies in Dec. until the time he was traded. No team is ever going to call tanking tanking. They don't want to piss off the paying customers.

Is GarPax calling it tanking right now? No. Did Philly call it tanking then? No. Its obvious that both were and are tanking though.

You don't bench your best player which Theus happened to be at the time. Especially for two rookies. You don't trade him 15 minutes before the close of the deadline and get nothing (Steve Johnson) for him.

You especially don't do it while still in the hunt and coming of a winning streak.

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This guy gets it. Tanking is for cowards and losers.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm glad that the "competitive" spirit angle was played. Roster engineering (Which James and Durant both have used) is much more cowardly than tanking. Tanking is for teams that have no shot anyway.

Guys that seek to play on the best rosters all the time are much more of a problem yet few seem to have a problem with it.

Fact remains that you don't win without talent and the best talent overwhelmingly is found in top 5 picks.

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list of teams that have in theory "gone for it" over the 35 or so years. Lets check out their success.


Your Atlanta Hawks

https://www.basketball-reference.com/te ... draft.html

Charlotte Hornets. (Only time they've been good was when they had high draft picks)

https://www.basketball-reference.com/te ... draft.html


https://www.basketball-reference.com/te ... draft.html


https://www.basketball-reference.com/te ... draft.html


Some of these years the draft classes were weak so it didn't matter where a team drafted there wasn't going to be much impact.

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first thing I notice is 6 top 6 picks over 8 year stretch in early 2000s.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I'm looking moreso for top 3 top 5 at least. Your franchise type guys are typically found in the top 3-5 range.

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I dont think you have paid much attention then if you believe that. Both Durant and Lebron have faced heavy criticism for that.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Theus was benched by Murph (not that Murph) because he didn't get along with him. The Bulls front office did not intend to have to trade him at the start the season. This is well known.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

LTG, do you consider the Golden State Warriors(Pre-Durant) a product of a "pure tanking" strategy?

Definitely not but they are an anomaly in terms of being able to win without high draft picks. If you the history of the league your NBA champions were led by guys that were high (top 5) picks.

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Yes, but those teams did not acquire those players via tanking.

Tanking is a subjective argument as i keep trying to state. No team ever flat out says they are tanking.

Which teams have won championships with a best player that was drafted outside of the top 10? In that you find your answer to this entire situation.

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Yes, you generally need a player or two of that caliber to win a title. But you still haven't proven you need to tank for that. You can get those players via free agency or savy trades.

no, the question is, what teams have won championships where the championships were attributeably accomplished by at some point losing on purpose, stated or not.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Free agency and savvy trades. Sounds right up GarPax's alley.

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You will never find a situation or very few where the stated purpose is to" lose on purpose". If you can find it let me know. Not writers either. Organizations.

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The trajectory of the Bulls franchise changed because they tanked.

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The reality is, Tanking is a strategy that sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't. There are so many variables to putting a team together that can actually win one. Most of it is luck. Luck that when you do have a lottery pick it won't be a shit draft. Luck that when you have the cap space, there will be a FA worth a shit that wants to sign with you. Luck that you don't find yourself against a dominant superstar of that era that blocks your path to a title.

If you are stuck in mediocrity, it's probably a good idea to sell assets and get draft picks. But repeated seasons of tanking(what the 76ers tried doing) is not a proven strategy, at all. This isn't baseball where suck for 3 years, get a top farm system and you contend. There is no roadmap like that in the NBA.

Houston Rockets tanked in order to draft Akeem also.

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They are lucky Jordan played baseball for two years, or they would have never won a title. In fact the two they have are not even real gold. It's gold spray paint.

I love how people have deemed the Philly strategy a failure. The same people that professed patience with Thibs and Minnesota for the past 2 years are now jumping in to state how this is a failure after what? 40 games.

This is the first year that they have had the core guys and they are missing Fultz. Look at their record particularly when Embiid plays. Look at it when he plays 30 or more minutes those two variables and they are +15 at least in the win column.

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It's no worse than you, up on your soapbox, pointing to the 7th seeded 76ers, screaming "See that's how you do it folks!"

but that didn't work...Sampson ended up shuffling off. Robert Reid, Black Magic, etc went out the door. It was a completely different iteration that won championships.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

They won't finish the season 7th and the only reason they are 7th is injury and minutes restrictions. Nothing to do with tanking. They will be contenders barring injury going forward.

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They eventually won though.

How many teams have won with a player drafted outside of 10 besides Lakers and Kobe?

How many teams have ever admitted to tanking?

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Sucks they are the only team in the league battling injury issues.

They made a finals with that incarnation. Sampson really just flopped because of the injuries, but I wouldn't call that 80's Rockets run a failure.

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Nah. Won't work. Embiid missed back to backs and was on a minutes restriction. Fultz hasn't played this year save for few games.

The Philly thing is nowhere near a failure.

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