ORLANDO, Fla. — First things first: I am anti-tanking.
I am vehemently anti-tanking.
I always have been against the Orlando Magic’s past attempts at using tanking as a rebuilding strategy.
I believe that institutional tanking — a sports franchise’s attempt to lose as many games as possible in order to increase the chances of getting a higher draft pick — goes against every principle and doctrine of sports. I believe every organization in every sport should do everything humanly possible to try to win every game on its schedule. To intentionally lose in the name “player development” or “load management” or “injury rehab” or whatever you want to call it, I believe, does a disservice to the fans of the team and the players on the team.
Furthermore, can anybody tell me the last time a true tank job resulted in winning an NBA championship? I believe you have to go back a quarter-century to when the San Antonio Spurs tanked for one season and drafted Tim Duncan to find an NBA champion whose franchise player was acquired through tanking.
But …
I have to admit, if you’re going to tank, THIS is the year to do it.
Everybody who’s anybody in the NBA says Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French teenager who dribbles like Curly Neal, shoots like Steph Curry and blocks shots like Hakeem Olajuwon, is the most transformative player to come along since LeBron James himself.
“Everybody’s been a unicorn over the last few years, but he’s more like an alien,” LeBron said of Wembanyama last week. “No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor. He’s, for sure, a generational talent.”
Added Curry: “He’s like the [NBA] 2K create-a-player; he’s every point guard that wants to be 7-foot. Cheat-code type vibes, man.”
These were the reviews after the 18-year-old Wembanyama played under NBA rules for the first time last week when his French club team faced off in a two-game exhibition series with the NBA’s G League Ignite. During the two games, Wembanyama averaged 36.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocked shots along with making nine 3-pointers.
Sorry, but I would still refuse to sign off if the Orlando Magic made the decision to tank in an attempt to draft Wembanyama. First of all, it’s a longshot. Since the NBA tweaked the lottery to discourage tanking in 2019, the three worst teams in the league each has the same small chance (14%) of winning the No. 1 overall pick.
More importantly, this is a crucial season for the Magic’s young core of players, led by No. 1 overall draft pick Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner (all-rookie team last year), Jalen Suggs (fifth overall pick last year) and emerging young center Wendell Carter Jr. The Magic need to play hard to win as many games and gain as much confidence as they can to give a beleaguered fan base some hope for the future.
Although many bottom-feeding teams will be tempted to “Wither for Wembanyama” and institutionally tank this season, such a strategy would be much more harmful than helpful for the Magic.
Losing is the worst teaching tool possible for a team that desperately needs to learn how to win.
