OT Adam Silver Warns Teams About Tanking, Says NBA Will Closely Monitor Their Play

[Boob-No-More]

It's amazing that the Kings will finish with a losing record and miss the playoffs for the 12th straight year. They had a top 10 pick in each of those drafts except for 2006, when their highest pick was 12.

Prior to losing Cousins they had 8 top 8 draft picks in 8 years and never manged to win more than 33 games.

I know the draft is an inexact science, but in the five years after drafting Cousins, these were their picks:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo at 7th (made even worse by trading him for Jimmer Fredette), could have had Kemba Walker (9th), Klay Thompson (1th) or Kawhi Leonard (15th)
2012 - Thomas Robinson at 5th, could have had Damian Lillard (6th) or Andre Drummond (9th)
2013 - Ben McLemore at 7th, could have had C.J. McCollum (10th), Steven Adams (12th) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th)
2014 - Nik Stauskas at 8th, could have had Dario Saric (12th) Zach LaVine (13th), T.J. Warren (14th) or Jusuf Nurkic (16th)
2015 - Willey Cauley-Stein at 6th, could have had Miles Turner (11th) or Devin Booker (13th)

And that's not even including the guys taken much later (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, etc.). I figured everyone missed on those guys. So, not fair single out SAC for passing on them. Not only did SAC draft poorly they drafted so poorly that Cauley-Stein has a chance to be the first of the five that lasts beyond his rookie deal in a SAC uniform. Robinson didn't even last a season. Stauskas exactly one season. Fredette a season and a half. That's some monumentally bad drafting right there.

BNM

 

[-Ace-]

Prior to losing Cousins they had 8 top 8 draft picks in 8 years and never manged to win more than 33 games.

I know the draft is an inexact science, but in the five years after drafting Cousins, these were their picks:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo at 7th (made even worse by trading him for Jimmer Fredette), could have had Kemba Walker (9th), Klay Thompson (1th) or Kawhi Leonard (15th)
2012 - Thomas Robinson at 5th, could have had Damian Lillard (6th) or Andre Drummond (9th)
2013 - Ben McLemore at 7th, could have had C.J. McCollum (10th), Steven Adams (12th) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th)
2014 - Nik Stauskas at 8th, could have had Dario Saric (12th) Zach LaVine (13th), T.J. Warren (14th) or Jusuf Nurkic (16th)
2015 - Willey Cauley-Stein at 6th, could have had Miles Turner (11th) or Devin Booker (13th)

And that's not even including the guys taken much later (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, etc.). I figured everyone missed on those guys. So, not fair single out SAC for passing on them. Not only did SAC draft poorly they drafted so poorly that Cauley-Stein has a chance to be the first of the five that lasts beyond his rookie deal in a SAC uniform. Robinson didn't even last a season. Stauskas exactly one season. Fredette a season and a half. That's some monumentally bad drafting right there.

BNM

Yep. I went and looked up their draft history just to see what they had done. It's just a constant reset.

 

[BonesJones]

Tank hard meaning try to get into the playoffs?

No in terms of lottery standing.

 

[hoopsjock]

Prior to losing Cousins they had 8 top 8 draft picks in 8 years and never manged to win more than 33 games.

I know the draft is an inexact science, but in the five years after drafting Cousins, these were their picks:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo at 7th (made even worse by trading him for Jimmer Fredette), could have had Kemba Walker (9th), Klay Thompson (1th) or Kawhi Leonard (15th)
2012 - Thomas Robinson at 5th, could have had Damian Lillard (6th) or Andre Drummond (9th)
2013 - Ben McLemore at 7th, could have had C.J. McCollum (10th), Steven Adams (12th) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th)
2014 - Nik Stauskas at 8th, could have had Dario Saric (12th) Zach LaVine (13th), T.J. Warren (14th) or Jusuf Nurkic (16th)
2015 - Willey Cauley-Stein at 6th, could have had Miles Turner (11th) or Devin Booker (13th)

And that's not even including the guys taken much later (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, etc.). I figured everyone missed on those guys. So, not fair single out SAC for passing on them. Not only did SAC draft poorly they drafted so poorly that Cauley-Stein has a chance to be the first of the five that lasts beyond his rookie deal in a SAC uniform. Robinson didn't even last a season. Stauskas exactly one season. Fredette a season and a half. That's some monumentally bad drafting right there.

BNM

Yeah, it's even worst than you would think when you lay it out like that. No amount of tanking is going to make up for a stupid front office.

Edit: You didn't even mention them taking Papagiannis and then waiving him a year and a half later either, good lord they are bad.

 

[SportsAndWhine]

No in terms of lottery standing.

In my system the bottom four playoff teams have a slightly better chance of winning the lotto. All the non playoff teams have the same chance which would be slightly lower than the lower playoff seeds. So the only tanking could be in the 4th seed tanking for 5th seed but the punishment of losing HCA in the playoffs should prevent that.

 

[ripcityboy]

Adam Silver: Don't tank.

Teams: Or what?

Adam Silver: Or else!

 

[BigGameDamian]

Sure they will. Just like they monitor flopping, travels, rip-throughs, closeouts, moving screens....

Love the guy but Nurkic flops all the time.

 

[Blazers Roy]

I wish he monitored the salary cap spike like he should have. That would have helped with "The integrity of the competition on the playing court" a bit more.

 

[hoopsjock]

I wish he monitored the salary cap spike like he should have. That would have helped with "The integrity of the competition on the playing court" a bit more.

What should he have done differently? The league tried to implement a gradual increase instead of a one year spike and the players association refused to allow that.

 

[-Ace-]

Love the guy but Nurkic flops all the time.

Any video evidence? I think he overly sells his contact at times, but he DOES get hit. There's a fine line he walks between getting fouled and flopping. If the refs won't call it otherwise, then fuck it. Damian gets mauled time after time and won't get the calls, so if he had to sell it more for them to blow the whistle, then fine.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

The only way to prevent tanking is to stop rewarding it.

Monitoring the teams closely? What the fuck does that mean? All a team has to do once they are eliminated from the playoffs is rest their veterans and start playing the young guys at the end of the bench. They can just say it's for development purposes, not tanking. How can the league prove otherwise? After Cuban's $600K fine, no coach, owner or GM is going to admit to tanking. The burden of proof is therefore on the league, and without a direct quote, how can they prove intent?

BNM

I'm afraid it's part of our business/political/cultural management throughout our society.

In this case, Silver does not really care about tanking, he only cares about the appearance of tanking. Cuban shooting his mouth off (i.e. being "honest") is making Silver and the league look bad. That's what Silver really wants to avoid.

As long as teams have some sort of plausible deniability, they're good. The truth is that all players are, to some extent, hurt. So, it's not that hard to hold players out.

 

[BBert]

Any video evidence? I think he overly sells his contact at times, but he DOES get hit. There's a fine line he walks between getting fouled and flopping. If the refs won't call it otherwise, then fuck it. Damian gets mauled time after time and won't get the calls, so if he had to sell it more for them to blow the whistle, then fine.

I agree. In my mind, selling actual contact is not the same as flopping, as flopping has evolved in the NBA. Modern day flopping is pretending there was bone jarring contact, when there was none at all. He doesn't do that. Others may define flopping differently.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Any video evidence? I think he overly sells his contact at times, but he DOES get hit. There's a fine line he walks between getting fouled and flopping. If the refs won't call it otherwise, then fuck it. Damian gets mauled time after time and won't get the calls, so if he had to sell it more for them to blow the whistle, then fine.

That's also what you say about guys like James Harden and Cris Paul when talking about there flopping?

 

[BigGameDamian]

I agree. In my mind, selling actual contact is not the same as flopping, as flopping has evolved in the NBA. Modern day flopping is pretending there was bone jarring contact, when there was none at all. He doesn't do that. Others may define flopping differently.

A flop is a flop. If your selling and the refs are buying it's a flop.

 

[BBert]

A foul is a foul. Except the ones the refs don't call.

Was Brandon Roy's high pitched scream every time he got fouled a flop?

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[-Ace-]

He gets hit twice in that clip. Once from LeBron in the face and then from behind from Crowder when he falls back. They mention and show him bleeding.....did he pull out a blade, WWE-style, while he was face down and cut himself? Does he lean in a bit? Yes. Does he take contact, though? Yes. He could have easily just grabbed his face where he actually got hit, so if you're considering his fall as a flop, I could probably be convinced. I just consider it on a different level than what the aforementioned CP3 and Harden do. They get away with stuff that is unreal.

 

[Chris Craig]

Prior to losing Cousins they had 8 top 8 draft picks in 8 years and never manged to win more than 33 games.

I know the draft is an inexact science, but in the five years after drafting Cousins, these were their picks:

2011 - Bismack Biyombo at 7th (made even worse by trading him for Jimmer Fredette), could have had Kemba Walker (9th), Klay Thompson (1th) or Kawhi Leonard (15th)
2012 - Thomas Robinson at 5th, could have had Damian Lillard (6th) or Andre Drummond (9th)
2013 - Ben McLemore at 7th, could have had C.J. McCollum (10th), Steven Adams (12th) or Giannis Antetokounmpo (15th)
2014 - Nik Stauskas at 8th, could have had Dario Saric (12th) Zach LaVine (13th), T.J. Warren (14th) or Jusuf Nurkic (16th)
2015 - Willey Cauley-Stein at 6th, could have had Miles Turner (11th) or Devin Booker (13th)

And that's not even including the guys taken much later (Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, etc.). I figured everyone missed on those guys. So, not fair single out SAC for passing on them. Not only did SAC draft poorly they drafted so poorly that Cauley-Stein has a chance to be the first of the five that lasts beyond his rookie deal in a SAC uniform. Robinson didn't even last a season. Stauskas exactly one season. Fredette a season and a half. That's some monumentally bad drafting right there.

BNM

Damn they could have had Meyers Leonard

 

[Chris Craig]

Silver needs to monitor his refs and make sure they officiate unbiased games and get calls right.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Doesn't matter who it is or how you flop. If you flop it's a flop.

 

[SportsAndWhine]

Nurk flops and I kind of love it.

 

[Blazers Roy]

What should he have done differently? The league tried to implement a gradual increase instead of a one year spike and the players association refused to allow that.

The players association don't run the league. It's not hard to foresee that giving that much free cap space to the strongest teams in the league might be catastrophic for the league's parity.

He should have thought of more creative solutions and put his foot down on that one.

 

[jlprk]

About 5 years ago, Popovich began openly giving his players nights off. I was surprised that Stern did nothing. Now it's common practice across the league.

Silver's words are empty.

 

[hoopsjock]

The players association don't run the league. It's not hard to foresee that giving that much free cap space to the strongest teams in the league might be catastrophic for the league's parity.

He should have thought of more creative solutions and put his foot down on that one.

That isn't how it works. There is a collective bargaining agreement. Silver can't go against it if the players association won't vote it in.

Besides, the league is thriving right now so you can't say what happened was bad.

 

[tester551]

That isn't how it works. There is a collective bargaining agreement. Silver can't go against it if the players association won't vote it in.

Besides, the league is thriving right now so you can't say what happened was bad.

Correct. The salary cap jump was an issue because of the Players.

The funny thing is, that their decision benefited like 15-20% of the league and sort of screwed over the others.

 

[THE HCP]

Watched the OKC@Mavs game last night and it went to OT. Only thing that caught my eye as odd.......5 min left in the 4th, Mavs up 5 or 7 and they pull Dirk. Then he was out again the last 3 minutes of a tied game in OT. Tanking?

 

[Boob-No-More]

About 5 years ago, Popovich began openly giving his players nights off. I was surprised that Stern did nothing. Now it's common practice across the league.

Silver's words are empty.

Silver doesn't want teams to stop tanking. He wants them to stop talking about tanking. Cuban got fined $600K for what he said, not for anything the Mavs did on the court.

When a team sucks, you can't really tell if they are losing on purpose. You just don't want them telling the ticket buying public they are paying to see a team that's trying to lose on purpose. That changes the entire narrative from lovable losers to blatant ripoff.

BNM

 

[BigGameDamian]

I wonder if this is monitored?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2762359-is-mavs-benching-of-dirk-in-clutch-time-a-tanking-move

Is Mavs' Benching of Dirk in Clutch Time a Tanking Move?

 

[stampedehero]

 

[KingSpeed]

I wonder if this is monitored?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2762359-is-mavs-benching-of-dirk-in-clutch-time-a-tanking-move

Is Mavs' Benching of Dirk in Clutch Time a Tanking Move?

They've been doing this the last few games I've watched. Dirk goes on the floor and scores a bunch of points to put in the record books and then he sits out the end of the game.