How does that saying go? “Mess with the bull and you’ll get the horns”?
On Wednesday the Washington Wizards tried in vain to out-tank the kings of tanking: the Philadelphia 76ers. Washington walked away with a win that was a moral loss, as they’ve now surrendered the worst record in the NBA (and thus the best lottery odds) to the Utah Jazz.
The now-tanking Sixers are doing everything in their power to land in the top six of the lottery for the upcoming NBA Draft. They salary-dumped Al Horford (currently a crucial contributor on the defending champion Boston Celtics, mind you) to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2020 and attached him to a protected draft pick that is due to convey this year unless it falls within the top six.
Heading into the year, most everyone assumed the Sixers’ pick was headed straight to the Thunder. But Philly’s season has been such a dumpster fire that they are now at the mercy of the basketball gods with the fifth-worst record in the NBA. They have a chance to keep their pick — and they’re playing like it.
The Wizards should take notes from the Sixers’ approach to tanking. Looking through Wednesday’s Wizards-Sixers box score, two players I have straight-up never heard of played at least 15 minutes: Marcus Bagley and Phillip Wheeler. Wednesday was Wheeler’s first career NBA game and Bagley’s second.
Of course, tanking is no foreign concept to the Sixers. They revolutionized the concept in the mid-2010s with their “Process” era that was intended to assemble a roster of high draft picks to contend for a decade-plus. “The Process” was a failure — this current season may just be the final nail in the coffin — but it nonetheless tempered much of the stigma surrounding tanking in the NBA.
Considering the youth and inexperience of the Wizards’ roster, there’s nothing to lose by keeping most of the guys out there hooping. But veterans like Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart should be shut down for the season expeditiously and replaced by the types of 2K-generated players the Sixers are pulling out of thin air to fill box scores.
The Wizards doctors need to identify some sore ligaments, stat. Washington has another game against the Sixers left, as well as matchups with some of the league’s basement dwellers like the Brooklyn Nets and Miami Heat.
It’s already year two of the rebuild, and the Wizards have picked up some nice young players like Alex Sarr, Bilal Coulibaly, and Bub Carrington. None of those guys are franchise-altering, though, unlike Duke’s Cooper Flagg, whose services are at stake if the Wizards decide now is the time to start winning games. So, take some notes from Philly and let some random hoopers live out their dreams!
feed