Lawrence Frank would like everyone to shutup about lottery balls
"“Our job is to give 100 percent, best effort, otherwise we’re stealing money,” Frank said in an interview with 97.1 The Ticket. “As I understand, from a theoretical standpoint, it’s a great draft coming up, so let’s get a lot of ping balls. But as a player or coach, if we think that way, they should fire us. You can’t do it. One, we make a lot of money to go out and do our jobs. Also, for the people that support our team, that would be one heck of an indictment to know that your team wasn’t giving its best effort because they were playing for next year.”"
The Pistons need young assets, there’s no denying that. It’s also fun to fantasize about Anthony Davis playing next to Greg Monroe. But Frank is right — not playing competitively, not trying to win every game does far more damage to the overall culture of an organization than any advantage improving your draft lottery odds a percentage point or two will bring.