Q: Would you rather lose while trying to win, or win while trying to lose? – Aram, Raleigh, N.C.
A: What an odd, weird, bizarro night it was on Monday night at Kaseya Center. The Utah Jazz simply cannot afford to win too many more games or their first-round pick could wind up going where so many quality NBA first-round picks have gone in recent years – to the Oklahoma City Thunder. (You can find those details here, in Item No. 2.) And on the other side is the reality that this Heat team simply does not have the depth to win while Norman Powell, Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson are sidelined and when Kel’el Ware is in foul trouble. So the quest for defeat against an unwinnable force. Yes, this is what the NBA has come down to: How low can you go? The Heat on Monday showed just how low, making this worse than the losses to the Pacers and the Kings, because on those nights, Sacramento and Indiana were trying. This was not a night Erik Spoelstra could say his team had enough. It clearly did not.
Q: I don’t know which is more pathetic, the Heat losing the game or the Jazz trying to lose it. – Ray, Deerfield Beach.
A: No, this will not go into any time capsule. But the sheer notion of what the Jazz have done the past two games is remarkable that it is allowed by the NBA. This is not competition; this is manipulation. To their credit, the Orlando Magic took the gift from the Jazz on Saturday night. In turn, the Heat fumbled it away. So when keeping an eye on the Heat and Magic in the standings, keep in mind what each team did in a three-day span in February against the Jazz.
Q: Ira, you have written for several of the past days dismissively of tanking, but look where the Heat are. Good for Washington. They’re going up while the Heat are going down. – Anton.
A: Are they? This Wizards rebuild is reaching the tipping point that eventually capsized the 76ers. In fact, it’s almost as if Washington has acknowledged the failure of their process with the moves for Trae Young and Anthony Davis, just as the 76ers eventually moved on from The Process. And for that matter, where has all the recent tanking gotten the Jazz, who basically put up their own white flag with the trade for Jaren Jackson Jr.? Yes, there is plenty to be said about getting elite talent at the top of an elite draft. But that also is a matter of the right time and the right luck coming together. Otherwise, you wind up with Zaccharie Risacher or Andrea Bargnani as your top pick. Now occasionally stepping back? That’s a different story. There are certainly moments in time when that can be highly beneficial, including the loaded top of this upcoming draft. But just selling it all off and starting at the bottom? That’s fine as long as you’re willing to potentially wander in the wilderness for years on end, a wilderness only now that the Hornets are escaping.