Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia tweeted last week that tanking is a losing behavior done by losers, and he should be commended for speaking out. The Suns are doing the right thing, playing to win rather than tanking and hoping for a high draft pick.
Ishbia was responding to actions taken by the Utah Jazz to limit star players’ minutes and by the Indiana Pacers to hold players out of games entirely. In response, the NBA fined both franchises.
Too many teams are following what then-76ers basketball boss Sam Hinkie’s “trust the process” when it comes to embracing the tank in the hopes that better days are ahead. The goal is to get a star who can lead them to a championship. While it sounds like a good idea, it never works.
Here’s the background. In the NBA lottery, teams must be lucky to win the top pick. Most teams don’t, and they end up with picks 4 through 8. Most recently, teams tanked to get Cooper Flagg, who ended up with the Dallas Mavericks. This raised questions among fans and team owners about whether the lottery was rigged.
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There have been conspiracy theories about the lottery going back to when the Knicks inexplicably won the lottery in 1985, drafting Patrick Ewing, the No. 1 pick. We have heard the same stories about the San Antonio Spurs somehow winning the Tim Duncan and Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
It’s easy to believe in this after winning teams somehow get the benefit of the luck, but tanking to get a high pick comes off as being lazy. Teams shouldn’t have to rely on the league to get a star. They should improve by scouting better and developing players.
That is the approach the Suns have been taking under GM Brian Gregory and head coach Jordan Ott. They found gems in Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, Jordan Goodwin, Ryan Dun, and Isaiah Livers, and they made great trades by acquiring Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams. Want to know why the Suns are achieving success? Those are the reasons why.
That said, I doubt the Suns will win a championship this season. One reason is that they are not as talented as the Oklahoma City Thunder. But that’s okay because it beats watching an awful team play out the season with no purpose. There’s nothing worse than spending a winter knowing your favorite NBA team doesn’t have a shot.
The Suns, on the other hand, are entertaining to watch. They execute their offense by sharing the ball. They don’t dribble, and they actually defend. They do the little things right, such as taking charge and getting loose balls. Who doesn’t enjoy Gillespie shooting 3s in crunch time that win Suns games? Brooks’ intensity is worth watching in itself.
Ott should be the Coach of the Year for getting so much out of his roster. He gets his players to play 82 games, which is not easy when head coaches tend to rest players or ask them to conserve energy.
Now, it’s a long season. Teams will sharpen up as they prepare for the playoffs. The Suns have injuries with Devin Booker (right hip strain), Grayson Allen (right knee and ankle injury management), Goodwin (left calf strain), and with Brooks out.
There’s a good chance they will be playing in the play-in game rather than winning the Pacific Division, and (if that happens), there are no guarantees about making the playoffs, especially with the play-in game. But there’s also no guarantee that a tanking team will win the lottery. When that happens, it amounts to a team wasting its season by tanking and getting nothing for it. At least the Suns can say they tried to win.
Sports are meant for competing and finding a way to win, not hoping for luck. Teams should give fans a reason to be invested by playing to win games, not hoping for a better day by winning the lottery one day.
We should be celebrating what the Suns are doing. They represent what’s right about the game.
