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Jan 5, 2021
9:46:39am
lilpenny All-American
Interesting thing I noticed regarding Philly and Tanking
Is the timing of a Peter King article, (last week), where he specifically argued against an NFL lottery because tanking never occurs: "But I have not seen evidence, ever, of a football team trying to lose."

I'm in Philly this week for work and it is on the news 24/7 and was pretty much the lead story on ESPN with the talking heads all day yesterday.
Ignoring the fact that many believe the Colts tanked to get Andrew Luck several years ago...

I do not fault Philly nor do I fault NBA teams that tank, but rather I fault the perverse set of incentives that encourages them to do so.
The Spurs tank and it results in 4 NBA Championships. The Sixers tank and they are the favorites in the east now.

I am in Sales Management and you see this all of the time. Salespeople do "naughty" things like close big deals and then collect a commission check and never talk to the customer again. But then you peel back the onion and they just do what you incentivize them to do. If you comp them based only on closing contracts, they will get the signature and never be seen again, but if you comp them for customer satisfaction and renewals, they will gladly focus on that instead. Sometimes companies comp based on signed deals, others do it based on receiving cash. If you are the former, when the customer is late paying the salesperson will say, "Hey, it's not my problem, I don't work in collections." But if you don't comp them until the money is paid, they will go to accounting's door and bring the check to your door themselves.
Funny how that works, huh?

As far as the NFL not needing a lottery because tanking isn't rampant, isn't the whole point of leadership to see problems before they come vs. being reactionary? The NBA still hasn't adequately addressed tanking, though things are much better with a lottery than they would be if the picks were set based on record like the NFL. The NFL hasn't seen the same level of tanking, but as the stakes get higher and the need for a franchise QB and generational talent goes up, and analytics continue their dominance, some smart, new GM will begin to tank if there is a guaranteed Elway/Luck/Lawrence type.



Here is the full section in case you don't want to wade through the article:

"I am not a fan of a possible NFL draft lottery. I am a fan in basketball, because there is a history of teams tanking. But I have not seen evidence, ever, of a football team trying to lose. If that happens, then I’d re-think it. But let me give you a hypothetical: A team goes 0-16 with a horrible QB situation, and the next-worst team is 3-13. You’re telling me that it would be fair to have the top pick dependent on the drop of a lottery ball? Fair to take the top pick away from a winless team and give it to a team with two or three wins? Nonsense."
lilpenny
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lilpenny
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