“Tank” you, Victor!

The race is on, so to speak. And to the “victor” (pun intended),goes the grand prize. The NBA grand prize to be specific. That prize is the opportunity to draft the next “big thing”, French basketball player, Victor Webanyama. Everybody’s talking about the 7’ 3” phenom who is expected to be taken number 1 in next year’s NBA draft. Here you have a big man, who can put the ball on the floor, block and shoot the 3 so well that even the NBA stars of today are amazed at his current skills and owners and general managers are foaming at the mouth for a chance to add him to their roster knowing his current skills and potential to get even better at the next level can certainly change the fortunes of a franchise.

So, what is the path to maximizing your chances to get Victor? Well, winning more games than you lose isn’t going to do it. Since the NBA lottery is set up so the team with the worst win/loss record at the end of the regular season has the best odds of being awarded the top pick, how does this impact a team’s desire to win as many games as possible just to have a chance to make the playoffs, knowing more wins will decrease your chances to get the big man? Certain teams, like the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder are in the process of rebuilding. For them, some of the needed “pieces” are in place, and with a little more time and a player like Webenyama, a rebuilding team could suddenly vault itself into a playoff team and contender for the coveted NBA championship.

Even with the best odds to win the lottery (and the top pick), there’s still no guarantee,, so it’s a gamble with the odds in your favor. From my own perspective, as a hardcore Thunder fan, I’m a close observer of each and every game, paying attention to what may be little signs that point to an effort to play just bad enough, keeping the score close but ending the night with another mark in the loss column. The core of a team destined for greatness, appears to already be in place, with SGA (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alexi Pokusevski, Josh Giddey, Lu Dort and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, all with their individual strengths and the ability to put points on the board on any given night. Bench support with the likes of Tre Mann, Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, Kenrich Williams and really just about every player on the current roster all have the ability to come in and contribute. This was evident on a night when SGA was not available and the team played the full “forty eight”, and grabbed another victory. These little “signs’ I’m watching for seem to show up in subtle ways such as an excess of turnovers, missed free throws and missed “easy” shots like uncontested field goal in the paint and missed layups. Another thing I’m looking for is a less than stellar defensive effort, when a team is giving up open looks to the opposing team and not crashing the board for rebounds. The stats at the end of the game for each player and the team, as a whole, might suggest that a team, while not blatantly throwing a game, is still watching the win/loss numbers and all things considered, is keeping their eyes on the lottery, the draft and the prize, that being the apparent, soon to be, number one pick, Victor Webanyama. Thunder up!