magoon wrote:
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2. Indiana spent four years being pretty freaking terrible, during which time they acquired Roy Hibbert and drafted Paul George.
07-08: (36-46) (Drafted Hibbert #17 with the Raptors pick)
08-09: (36-46) (Drafted Hansbrough #13)
09-10: (32-50) (Drafted George #10, Stephenson #40)
10-11: (37-45) (Made playoffs, traded draft pick for George Hill)
Where did they tank again?
3. Portland went from tanking to competitive mode, and the reason it didn't work is because Brandon Roy and Greg Oden BOTH had major injury issues, and Portland spent years on the treadmill because of that. Only when they acquired Damian Lillard after a season where they tanked did Portland start to again become a factor. Basically they had to rebuild from their rebuild.
4. Denver was the definition of a treadmill team for years and still is until they make it to the second round of the playoffs, which they have not done since 1977.
5. Phoenix was undoubtedly planning to tank in the traditional style, trading away most of their assets and accumulating a wealth of picks, and then suddenly all of their young players and prospects that they acquired massively exceeded expectations across the board. Even their veterans on garbage contracts started playing good ball.
So, to sum up: you have two situations that are basically not duplicable (Houston and Phoenix), a treadmill team (Denver), and two teams that had to rebuild in the traditional sense (Indiana and Portland). This doesn't seem to bolster the anti-tank argument.
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