Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 reasons why tanking is a bad idea

Cleveland Cavaliers</a> have been hit by reality. They began the year by losing their first six games and currently hold a 1-11 record. This makes them the worst team in the entire league.</p> <p>Things appear like they will get worse before they get better, as injury after injury has struck the Cavaliers. They lost their only All-Star, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/loveke01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Kevin Love</a>, after the second game of the season. Since then, they have dealt with injuries to players such as <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dekkesa01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Sam Dekker</a>, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/osmande01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Cedi Osman</a>, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hillge01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">George Hill</a> and <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/search/search.fcgi?pid=nancela01,nancela02&amp;search=Larry+Nance&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Larry Nance</a> Jr.</p> <p>The termination of head coach <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/luety01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Tyronn Lue</a> and multiple locker room problems with some of the team’s veteran players have only added to the fire. With all of these things adding up, many fans are rooting for the Cavaliers to begin tanking in hopes of a high draft pick.</p> <p>Tanking is the method in which a team “focuses on youth,” losing games in order to achieve better positioning in the leagues upcoming draft. This technique has proven to be a risky move and there are three significant reasons why the Cavaliers should avoid intentionally tanking.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 3 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_328399" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-large wp-image-328399" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1055584460-850x560.jpeg" alt="" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Cleveland Cavaliers (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h3>3. The season is still young</h3> <p>As previously mentioned, it was speculated that the Cleveland Cavaliers could potentially be a playoff team heading into this season. They have a few talented players and Kevin Love is still capable of being an All-Star caliber guy.</p> <p>It was obviousthe team would undergo a few growing pains to start the season. This is, after all, their first month of playing since <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">LeBron James</a> left. Adjusting to their new situation will take some time.</p> <p>Of course, it doesn’t help that their rookie, <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sextoco01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Collin Sexton</a>, has clearly shown his inexperience. While he hasn’t been bad on either end of the floor, it is obvious that he isn’t ready for prime time like many fans had hoped he would be. This revelation only added to the mess that the start of the 2018-19 season has been for Cleveland.</p> <p>Furthermore, the Cavs have been left stranded without Love as he has been sidelined due to injury since the second game of the season. His return will instantly buff up this team as he provides the consistency on offense that they so desperately need at the moment.</p> <p>Lastly, despite beginning the year with a 1-11 record, the Cavaliers are only 4.5 games back from the 8-seed. A few fortunate changes of events could easily see the Cavaliers shooting up in the standings and snatching a playoff spot.</p> <p>Considering that we are only 12 games into the season and 10 of these games were played without their leader, there is no reason the team should throw the rest of the year away prematurely.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 2 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_327841" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-large wp-image-327841" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F940644172-850x560.jpeg" alt="" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Cleveland Cavaliers (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h3>2. Changes to the draft lottery</h3> <p>Tanking is clearly a problem for the NBA. No one wants to watch a team that is intentionally losing games. However, for some teams, tanking is their best option for rebuilding the franchise. It can be nearly impossible to rise as an organization if you can’t rack up high draft picks.</p> <p>The draft lottery is the system in which the NBA randomly selects the draft order for the first 14 picks of the draft. Usually, if there haven’t been any trades made, the teams with the lowest records have the highest chance of earning a good draft pick.</p> <p>As a result, teams have abused this system for years. The Philadelphia 76ers are the most notable team to do this recently. The Sixers had a number of horrible seasons in a row in which the front office did little to help the team improve. They did this with the hopes of receiving high draft picks to rebuild their team. Looking at their current situation, it’s safe to say this method worked for them.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the NBA has decided that this technique of rebuilding is damaging to the game and has implemented new rules to discourage tanking. In prior years, the team with the worst record in the league would have a 25 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick in the draft. Now, the best odds have been reserved for the three worst teams, rather than just the worst.</p> <p>Furthermore, the reward for being one of the three worst teams has been reduced. Instead of 25 percent chance, the bottom three teams now receive just a 14 percent chance, which is shared between the three of them.</p> <p>In conclusion, the incentive to be horrible has been taken away. Being the worst team in the league no longer gives you an edge in the lottery.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1 </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_328400" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-large wp-image-328400" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1055564110-850x560.jpeg" alt="" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Cleveland Cavaliers (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h3>1. Maintaining a winning culture</h3> <p>Intentionally losing games is something that players will never look to do. No player wants to be on a losing team. The front office is usually responsible for making questionable decisions to ensure that the team never reaches its maximum potential.</p> <p>When this happens, players become frustrated very quickly. Stars and veterans will not take kindly to a front office that isn’t looking out for their best interests. As a result, there can be a rift between the players and management, which will only make it more difficult for the team to sign and retain talented players.</p> <p>In addition to creating problems between the players and the organization, tanking can be damaging to developing players. The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have two key players that are still young and learning the game, Cedi Osman and Collin Sexton.</p> <p>Sexton, in particular, will need all of the mentoring he can get. At only 19 years of age, Sexton is doing his best to learn the game on the fly. Surrounding him with incompetent players and putting him in situations in which he is doomed to fail will ruin his development.</p> <div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="Week 4 NBA Power Rankings" data-url="https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/05/2018-19-nba-power-rankings-week-4/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/09/cleveland-cavaliers-3-reasons-tanking-bad-idea/"https://hoopshabit.com/2018/11/05/2018-19-nba-power-rankings-week-4/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Week 4 NBA Power Rankings </a> </div> </div> <p>Bringing new players into a bad environment is never going to help them become the stars the Cavaliers need. Setting down a competitive culture is very important and is the most important reason as to why the Cavaliers should not tank this season.</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">