“Coaches are on the front line against tanks”

On Saturday in Los Angeles, “tanking” was on everyone’s lips. Ten days before All-Star Game has, unfortunately, offered stark examples of teams trying to lose games in order to have a better chance of being among the four worst records in the league and thus reaping a greater likelihood of a Top 4 pick in the next draft.

The Jazz, who picked up Jaren Jackson Jr. just before the trade deadline, benched their new recruit as well as Lauri Markkanen for the entirety of the final quarters against Orlando and Miami.

In this situation, Will Hardy, the coach of Utah, is on the front line to justify the choices he cannot defend, and The NBA is severely punishing the affected teams.

If, on paper, these are coaching decisions, in reality managers are taking them upstream to favor the long-term future of the franchise.

“Whether it’s a philosophical decision by the owner or the manager, it’s the coach who has to implement this strategy and is under the microscope.”, lamented JB Bickerstaff during All-Star Game media day as president of the NBA Coaches Association. “It’s something we take seriously because coaches stand out when they just follow the instructions they’re given. We’re going to work with the league to try to eliminate that because it’s a serious problem that has a significant impact on my colleagues.”

A few minutes later it was his colleague Darko Rajaković, Coach of the world team for the All-Star Game, who shared an identical opinion. To him, players and coaches don’t want to throw themselves, and the NBA plays a dangerous game.

“The most important thing is to provide the fans with the best possible product. All matches should be as competitive as possible. We owe that to our fans.” explains the Raptors coach. “The ball is in the NBA’s court. I don’t have a miracle solution. All I know is I want to play every night against opponents who are ready to fight.”

And despite Stephen Curry’s rant, urging fans and the media to focus on the positive aspects of the league, particularly its sports parity, this problem is hard to ignore.

Comments collected in Inglewood.