Kupchak and the Lakers # 1 pick in 2016 draft.

Setting aside the fact that I am anti-tanking:

If I was Mitch Kupchak, I'd do my best to win.  Why?  

1.  Because the natives are already getting restless out in LA.  The reaction by the fans to seeing the Lakers deliberately trying to lose would be comparable to the general reaction of Celtic fans if we saw Danny and Wyc doing a Hinkie imitation.

2.  What could he do?  Who does he have that he could unload?  Kobe's done and has zero trade value, even if he was on the block (which I don't see happening anyway).  Randle is on his way up, would you trade him and what kind of veteran player could you get for a player with a rookie contract?  D'Angelo Russell is still in serious growth mode.  Hibbert?  In a league that's moving towards mobile big men who can spread the floor, he's a dinosaur.  What's more, he's a dinosaur that Larry Bird unloaded for a song just a few months ago.  If he's on the trade block again that would not say good things and would undercut his trade value.  Maybe closer to the trading deadline his bloated contract (in its final year) might have trade value but by then it might be too late for the epic tank you are suggesting. Other than those players what are Kupchak's chips?

3.  Kobe's head would explode and every Laker fan would agree with him. Throw in the hotter Clippers being in the same town...

4.  Tanking would require Kupchak's boss, Jim Buss, to admit he has failed and, effectively force him to resign.  Buss has recently claimed that he thinks the Lakers rebuild is "on track".  Deliberately tanking would make him out to be a liar, or incompetent. While I might argue he really is the latter he certainly doesn't believe he is either and would resist any actions that would make him look like he is wrong. He is now vocally and aggressively defending his tenure as GM (or whatever his actual title is), I don't see him rolling over and playing dead just for the chance of getting the Lakers their 3rd draft pick #7 or better in the past 3 years (Randle, #7 2014; Russell, #2 2015; and now this one). 

Besides, just because you have the 2nd or 3rd worst record in the league doesn't mean you cannot drop to 4th or 5th when they take out the pingpong balls. That's why it's called a lottery. That would mean, in this case, they gutted their team and tanked for nothing.



bob


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