Posted:
#1
I know I said I'd go away, but here I am again. So tail at your own risk.
The art of tanking is not easy to master but certain teams do it “better” than others. By better I simply mean making sure your team plays hard and is competitive, night in night out (keeping the fans happy), and yet, despite this competitiveness, manages to come up short (also making your fans happy). Byron Scott and the Lakers have mastered the art this year (last year, it was the Celtics). While most casual fans will blame these losses by the Lakers on the fact that “they don’t have a closer,” more astute observers know that the Lakers not only don’t have a closer but they don’t really want one and they don’t want to close. Can you imagine what would happen (a riot by Laker fans) if they were winning? They would lose their prized pick. A pick that they only receive if it falls within the top 5:
“Only the New York Knicks (10-44), Philadelphia 76ers (12-42) and Timberwolves are "ahead" of the Lakers in the draft lottery standings.
Because the Lakers traded their 2015 first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns (for Steve Nash), which has since been conveyed by the Suns to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Lakers only keep their selection if they get through the draft lottery with a top-five selection. If the Lakers finish sixth or lower, the selection goes to Philadelphia and the Lakers have nothing to show for what has been their second straight disappointing season. A top-five selection delays the obligation to the Sixers a year, but with top-three protection in 2016.”
So those taking the Lakers ML or the Knicks ML, the Sixers ML, or even the Wolves ML: WAKE THE HELL UP.
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