The Business And Ethics Of Tanking In Sports

    

It's no question at all how talented the upcoming NBA draft class is. The lottery picks are endless and the underlying mid major all stars are just as impressive. With the focus on this draft class, a new thought was posed. Should a team tank their season from the beginning in order to have a shot at Andrew Wiggins, Julius Randle, Jabari Parker, or Marcus Smart? Or you could pick the other 4 Kentucky freshman, who all happen to be future all-stars. Though this is nothing new to sports, the scale that it's been talked about in basketball is. Even an anonymous GM spoke about the possibility.

Examples of tanking are in every sport. In football it starts about week 6 or so, once a team has started winless and no longer has hope for the future or happiness.

In baseball it happens in July before the trade deadline, when you try to get draft picks and gear up to rebuild. But the NBA is different. It's the one major American sport that can be so utterly impacted by a draft. The NFL has a premium on the draft but it doesn't always impact a teams success, and in baseball it's 2 years at the minimum before we see a player in most cases. The NBA is different though, allowing a kid 2 years removed from high school to start and impact their team. Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose before he got the knees of a 90 year old, the list can go on. All of these players immediately impacted their teams. Of course basketball can be much more easily impacted than the other sports. Thus the draft is paramount.

   Tanking in sports has two large aspects, the ethics and the business. Both are to be taken into consideration when discussing this subject. The way to start is with the ethics. Is it really right in a sport where every team is trying to be the best to lose on purpose? Didn't the 1919 Chicago 'Black' Sox get banned for that? It just doesn't seem right as a fan, to know that your favorite team is losing on purpose to try and get better. It always seems as if that can't be the logical solution, that all you need is to play harder and be more passionate. But to be honest, tanking isn't a fan thing or a player thing. It's a management issue. The decision is all up to the big brass, the ones who are designed to make the team a money making business. The reason fans often hate tanking is because it usually involves degrading the team by creating inconsistent lineups or trading key fan favorite players. Believe me I know this. As a Boston Bruins and Tyler Seguin fan, I was very unhappy when the B's traded him and Rich Peverley to the Stars. Although I didn't like it, that was the smart move to make. The Bruins got a group of players improving in Providence and Loui Eriksson, but as fan it still doesn't take away the anguish of having a player exiled. But that's not managements concern. Their concern is fielding a team that will eventually bring you and your money back. And to do that you have to win championships. 

   This is where sports have diverged. The passion of the game has to be rivaled with the necessity to make money, both on and off the field. Winning conflicts with making a profit and you have to ride the fine line between titles and money bands.  So as you ask yourself which side you stand on, ask yourself one simple question: do you want to win or not? Then you'll see that to some teams it's necessary. Some teams are more adept for it than others. Many teams that are just now realizing their season is screwed like the Grizzlies, Knicks, Cleveland, and especially Brooklyn. This is a decision every team will have to make at some point during the season. 

   The bottom line is that tanking can actually be useful in sports, and just as every subject you have to make your own judgment. As someone who loved playing GM on every video game, I see the benefits of it. I'm also a winner, so I want my team to be in the best spot possible. Of course you may be a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and winning will never again come to you. So you aren't involved here.

   As always, which is basically twice now, thanks for reading this. Any support is greatly appreciated and I am a fan of anyone who can sit through my babble.