NBA Tanking Culture, and Did the Lakers Take Part in it? Guest Jake Fischer

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

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4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Tanking" has become a massive buzzword in NBA culture, and an approach to team-building that sparks everything from vitriol to accolades. Detractors say it's antithetical to winning, a reason ratings are down and an indictment of the analytically-driven geeks now running front offices. Defenders say it's the most effective way for franchises, particularly in small markets, to gather generational talent and turn fortunes. Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer has a terrific new book "Built to Lose: How the NBA's Tanking Era Changed the League Forever," which examines all sides of this polarizing topic, including where the Lakers' fallow period between Kobe Bryant's Achilles tear and the 2020 title fits into this story. Hosts: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: How do you define tanking in the first place, why do people care if it happens and does it actually work? Fischer explains the culture of tanking. SEGMENT 2: After explaining why a zero-sum view of winning leads to a misunderstanding of tanking, Fischer discusses the several years of losing seasons and lottery picks for the Lakers. Was that tanking or ineptitude? Also, what role did Kobe's controversial $48,500,000 extension play in this struggle? SEGMENT 3: More talk about the ripple effect of Kobe's deal, plus the difficulties of combining the Mamba's twilight years, an old-school coach like Byron Scott and a group of lottery pick players. Plus, Andy runs his pet conspiracy theory about the Lakers and the NBA by Fischer. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline AG There is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Rock Auto Amazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Indeed Get started RIGHT NOW with a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/locked Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
0:10.0	You are Lockdown Lakers, your daily Los Angeles Lakers Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
0:29.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to Lockdown Lakers for Friday, Bryant Kaminetski and Andy Kaminetski.
0:34.0	Excited to welcome in in just a moment a great guest for today's show.
0:40.0	Before we get there, though, I want to let you know today's episode is brought to you by Mickalov Ultra.
0:44.0	Enjoyment isn't the end game. It's the whole game.
0:47.0	And at only 2.6 carbs and 95 calories, it's only worth it.
0:50.0	If you enjoy it, Andy, I referenced our guest.
0:54.0	He is the author of a new book. It's a really great read for NBA fans. It's called Built to Lose.
1:00.0	How the NBA's tanking era changed the league forever. He can also be, you can find his work at Bleacher Report as well.
1:06.0	He's Jake Fisher.
1:07.0	Yeah.
1:08.0	He's built a way to take Fisher himself.
1:10.0	Thank you guys so much. That was a very pleasant introduction. I'm excited to be here and have some fun. Thank you.
1:15.0	So yeah, we ended our chance to look at the book and dive into it a little bit.
1:21.0	And like I said, it's a great read. There's a ton of original reporting and great stuff on the Lakers teams that Andy and I covered for horrendous and not a whole lot of fun.
1:34.0	And what we learned later was that we were seen as perhaps not being optimistic enough, not enthusiastic enough about the team to which I replied,
1:47.0	what the hell are we supposed to do? Like win more than 17 games of chance. We tried. We did the best we could.
1:55.0	And everybody like talking about how much they wanted. All they wanted to do is trade the people that like we were supposed to be enthusiastic about.
2:02.0	We did our best, Andy. We did our best, Jake. It's the best we could do.
2:06.0	Yeah. And they didn't make it easy for you guys. I'll tell you that.
2:09.0	No, and we're definitely going to talk about we're going to get into that era of the Lakers over the course of this interview.
	...

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