Tanking is all the rage thanks to sensational college players and the NBA’s Draft Lottery, but players aren’t as fond of it as their front office counterparts.
NBA players want to win. It’s plain and simple. When a team orchestrates a tank, it’s the ownership making that decision and not the guys going out and competing. It’s preposterous to think that players want to lose on purpose, and Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony is definitely not a fan of intentionally throwing games.
The fans, however, are a different beast. New York is 28-46 after beating the Detroit Pistons on Monday, but they’re still 12th in the East and have the 25th-worst record overall. As it stands, the Knicks are heavy favorites to bring home the sixth overall pick with a 43.9 percent chance, according to Tankathon.com. There’s also a 30.5 percent chance for number seven and 6.3 for first overall, which would probably undoubtedly blow the roof of Madison Square Garden.
DraftExpress has De’Aaron Fox going to the Knicks at number six, but that range also includes Malik Monk and Dennis Smith Jr. As great as it would be to have a young point guard whom to mold into the triangle’s facilitator, Anthony doesn’t want them to land on the team purposely.
“They can come play,” said Melo to ESPN’s Ian Begley when asked about the fans wanting New York to check out for the final eight games.
If the fans are indeed able to play, you can bet that I’m going to be there so I can get my 15 minutes of fame. No, I’m not a Knicks fan, but since the Nets gave away their pick to Boston, I might as well help someone tank.
Since the Knicks year has been lost for awhile now, Anthony and the team could be averse to tanking because there’s no guarantee they’ll get that pick. It’d look pretty dumb to finish the year on an eight-game losing streak and end up with the ninth overall pick, right?
If this were the NFL and record dictated draft order, it’d be a different story, but the draft lottery isn’t going anywhere, and Anthony is showing us, yet again, that players hate to tank.
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