Postgame Press: Tanks for no memories

A not-so-great film father figure once said: “If you’re not first, you’re last.” I wondered about this quote recently as I pondered the Chicago Bulls. In the NBA, a league built on superstar talent that seems to have more and more “superteams” popping up, is it better to be just under first, or the worst?

In the NFL, when a team needs a quarterback and it seems like a fantastic one may go first in the next draft, and your front office traded many of your players for picks so you are having one of the historically worst starts to a season ever, is the goal to lose so much that you get the first pick and that quarterback?

Back to the Bulls (sorry, Dolphins fans). The Bulls have had the outrageous luck to pull from the NBA lottery system the No. 7 pick rights for three straight years. What they have done with those picks has been pretty good for what they have been given, but some fans wonder if committing to tanking harder is a solution.

Of course, tanking is not technically allowed. Intentionally losing games is certainly against the rules and players do not train their whole lives to not try to win in the pros. Yet, there are ways organizations have dedicated themselves to the tank, whether by trading assets away or doing semi-subtle moves to tank. The NBA has addressed tanking concerns by changing the lottery system and its odds.

Meanwhile, the NFL still has a standings-based draft system. The first pick goes to the worst team, meaning these teams know what they are getting if they can manage to keep losing. The Washington Redskins played the Miami Dolphins earlier this year in what was cited by a sports index Field Yates as the lowest quality matchup ever in the NFL.

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1182726455916138498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182726455916138498&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredskinswire.usatoday.com%2F2019%2F10%2F11%2Fespn-fpi-redskins-dolphins-worst-games-ever%2F

The team that lost this game was semi-guaranteeing their team the first overall pick. Do I get investing in the future? Absolutely. With that, though, they have become a painful team to watch for the present. Once again, I get it. I would do it too, as the quickest way to the top may well be by going all-in a few years in the future, as opposed to being painfully mediocre as some teams have been. This should change, though.

There should be a way to disincentivize tanking in the NFL, just as the NBA did. It simply makes the league more competitive if the fourth-worst team can get similar odds to the first pick as the worst. With a system such as that, the teams can at least provide some entertainment while still not staying perpetually mediocre. Although, I do say this as a Bulls fan who may be stuck with a perpetually mediocre team because of the lottery. That is unless one of our No. 7 picks becomes a superstar. Hey, it could happen. The odds are almost as high as getting the No. 7 pick four years in a row.