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The Indiana Pacers don’t tank — and they are better off for it

By Ben Renz

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 10: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers celebrates with fans after defeating the Denver Nuggets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 10, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 10: Victor Oladipo #4 of the Indiana Pacers celebrates with fans after defeating the Denver Nuggets at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 10, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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In what might have been a post-Paul George apocalyptic hellscape, should the Indiana Pacers have tanked the 2017-18 season?

If things weren’t going to well, the question around the Indiana Pacers would have been whether they should have embraced a full-on tanking approach.

The strategy of the All-Out Tank is a popular talking point thanks to the Process Philadelphia Sixers, who managed to nab two potential All-NBA players in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid — and who knows, maybe one or two others.

Hindsight makes the Process look like a strategy worth trusting: the more losses a team piles up, the higher the team’s draft pick, the greater the chance that the drafted player becomes a high-potential All-NBA talent. For what it is worth, the 76ers averaged around one position better than their nearest cellar-dwelling mates, the Orlando Magic, and nearly two spots better than the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings.

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And yet the league is full of evidence to the contrary. The number of variables involved in an All-Out Tank is staggering. There are unforeseen injuries, poorly scouted lottery prospects, the dizzying world of protections on traded picks, etc. The strategy itself — to play younger, more inexperienced players without regard to winning actual NBA games — is thick with potential miscalculations. Who are the players benefiting from receiving another player’s minutes?

And how beneficial is the playing time anyway, when a five-man lineup has a youngster at every position, with nary a veteran —  even if just on the bench — to give their valuable, hard-fought perspective?

And yet, the All-Out Tank remains a popular and an even embraced strategy.

Back in July, it was a common refrain that the Pacers lost the Paul George trade because they were not embracing the Tank. The Pacers made the ‘mistake’ of taking on a high-priced contract and an unfairly dismissed rookie. They made the ‘mistake’ of not trading PG for potentially high draft picks (whether any of those picks were actually available — and, if so, when — is a debate for yesterday).

The draft picks, or the sure thing?

Instead, what the Pacers front office did was take the gamble on the sure thing — it’s all a gamble in sports — a strategy that directly places the Pacers on the other side of the Tank or Not divide. According to the reaction of NBA Twitter, the Pacers had committed a cardinal sin.

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The Pacers took back more money than they sent out with PG’s contract. The Pacers did not receive a single draft pick. The consensus — as Pacers fans will likely always remember — was they got hosed.

Yet now it’s mid-December and the Pacers are sitting pretty at 16-11. Victor Oladipo looks every bit the All-Star the state of Indiana was hoping he could be. Domantas Sabonis, in his sophomore season, is thriving in his role outside of Russ Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Surely the opinions have shifted around the Pacers strategy to not Tank.

But no, not really. 

As a Pacers fan, I am stoked the Pacers are playing the way they are. And yet, there is a part of me too that dreams of that high lottery pick — seemingly elusive for this franchise. In all my lifetime of 28 years, they’ve never picked higher than the 10 spot. An All-Out Tank could be fun — those Philly fans sure seem to be proponents — but how would the Indy fans handle it?

Pacers have fared well despite many lottery picks

The All-Out Tank doesn’t always give you an Embiid or a Simmons, anyway. Over the decades, the NBA has had its share of weak drafts. In Dipo’s own 2013 draft, the Cavs took Anthony Bennett with the #1 pick! Giannis went 15th!

Look at this list of  former Pacers and where they were drafted, culled by Pacers.com’s Mark Montieth:

"Paul George (10th)Reggie Miller (11th)Dale Davis (13th)Jalen Rose (13th, by Denver)Ron Artest (16th, by Chicago)Roy Hibbert (17th, by Toronto)Jermaine O’Neal (17th, by Portland)Mark Jackson (18th, by New York)David West (18th, by New Orleans)Jeff Foster (21st)George Hill (26th, by San Antonio)Jamaal Tinsley (27th)Lance Stephenson (40th)(It should also be noted that Turner, a key building block of future Pacers teams, was drafted 11th.)"

In fact, you really oughta read the whole thing. Montieth outlines in broad detail the many periods of franchise unease over the decades and how the All-Out Tank was shunned for the tired but true method of developing young guys, drafting well, and above all, playing to win — and, depending on your expectations as a Pacers fan, it’s worked.

Build a respectable franchise and they — the All-Stars, useful role players, and the all-important fans — will come. Obviously, the Pacers aren’t winning a championship anytime soon — and who actually is with the Warriors juggernaut out West — but the potential appears to be in place for this young, fun Indiana team to turn into a force to be reckoned with.

Next: Petty done right: Fan replaces PG with Dipo in old Gatorade ad

And isn’t potential the whole point of an All-Out Tank?

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