Detroit Pistons: It’s official, the Tank is over! Just win baby
Detroit Pistons say they do not want another NBA season like this past one
While fans may be upset, or pleased, with how their team is doing, they can go on with their regular lives and forget about it. One must remember that the coaches, players and management live with it every hour of every day.
It is not a fun distraction for them. It’s their job to care, deeply, about whether the team wins or loses.
While maybe necessary, losing 32 games more than they won is not a good experience.
"“The record stinks,” said general manager Troy Weaver the day after the season ended. “… whatever we have to do, we have to get out of this hole. “20 wins does not sit well with me at all. I don’t like anything about it. I don’t like the way it look. I don’t like the way it smells. I don’t like anything about it.”"
Does not sound like Weaver is up for another season of constantly losing.
Every year there will be some hotshot name who is projected to be the No. 1 pick who fans will salivate over getting. But, at some point, a team has to go out there and win games.
The grind of losing all the time simply wears on everyone associated with a team, including fans.
The most notorious tanking job, the Philadelphia 76ers ‘Process’ of Sam Hinkie, was abandoned in the middle of its third year (some say by order of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver) as the losing finally was too much.
Personal note: I covered several 76ers games during the Process. Everyone, including the media, was really getting worn out by it. I remember a pre-game press conference with Sixers coach Brett Brown. No one in the press was asking a question. What was there to ask? The team was bad and it was not going to change and not much to talk about after like 50 games.
FInally I broke the silence, ‘How about Villanova?’ which had just won the NCAA championship the night before. Brown broke into a smile, something positive to talk about,and went on for several minutes about coach Jay Wright and Villanova.
The 76ers then went out and beat the Pistons for their 10th win of the season, avoiding having the worst record in NBA history
Other NBA owners at the time were complaining that had a problem selling tickets when they played the 76ers. Who wants to see a team not trying to win? Home team wins, so what?
The Pistons never reached that low of competitiveness this past season. Detroit usually was in the game until the end. They rarely won, but they were always in the game.