No Tank You

I suppose with all the adversity the Blazers are currently facing, it's no surprise that the advocates for tanking the season have begun to crawl out of the woodwork.  I am fundamentally opposed to this stratagem, but first I want to address the practical side of things:

First of all, tanking in Basketball does not carry the same guarantees that it does in other sports, such as football.  Even you do manage to "win" the tank game, the only thing you accomplish is by marginally increasing your chances to get the top pick.  Already a questionable strategy there.

Second, even if the Blazers actively try to throw games, it seems unlikely that they will manage to out-lose some of the truly bad teams out there.  

Those points aside, not trying to win has all kinds of negative effects on the team and fans.  The Blazers have spent a lot of time and energy convincing us that they are committed to being a championship team that care about its fans.  The best way to destroy that goodwill is to quit trying and tell the fans you don't care about this year.  Also, accepting an atmosphere of losing is not a good attitude to instill in our very young core of players.

For those of you who remember my post from last year, I watch the Blazers because of being a fan/wanting them to entertain me first, and for the winning second.  Having them give up the first for an uncertain chance at the second seems unreasonable to me.  I want to see Roy scoring in the clutch, LA scoring at will, Rudy thrilling from the outside, and Jerryd on both ends of alley-oops.  I think the fans still want to come out and watch the Blazers-the Blazers should still want to come out and perform their best for them.  For those of you who think it's just business, how many companies succeed by selling an inferior product with the promise that the next version will be better if they get lucky?

Some of you argue that we need to see what the young guys can do...our injury situation has made that argument weak, since there are now plenty of minutes to go around.  Plus, I don't really think we need to see what Tolliver can do (nothing against him personally, it just doesn't seem like he figures highly in our future).  Also, any evaluation of the rookies needs to include how they play with our veterans, right?

Finally, the object of tanking is to obtain the best draft pick...do the Blazers need to continue to stockpile draft picks at this point?  I know it makes draft day fun, but eventually you have to stop remaking and tinkering with the roster and go out a win!

And, of course, what you do in the face of adversity says a lot about your character.