The Tankapalooza Chronicles, December

It was NOT supposed to happen like this. Brad Stevens was NOT supposed to coach Boston's replacements like he's the second coming of Phil Jackson. Rookies Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo were never expected to have something such as a triple-double standoff *. Nobody would've though Eric Bledsoe was a leader of men, on top of being a ridiculously talented player. If the 2014 NBA happened tomorrow, rather unlikely teams would get first dibbs on the exceptional crop of players available, despite that several teams are making a conscious effort at sucking. Let's examine who are the champions of deliberate losing so far.

The Tankapalooza Chronicles

This year is a special year in the NBA. It's an exceptional draft year. The best of the last ten years, maybe of the last twenty. Canadian freak Andrew Wiggins is rumored to be the best player to enter the draft since LeBron James and he's just the icing on the cake. There is supposedly about a dozen budding all-star available and several strong role players, including some of the best players eligible last year, but who decided to remain in school, including Marcus Smart, Dario Saric, Willie Cauley-Stein and Doug McDermott. Next June will reshape the landscape of the NBA's future quite a bit.

So this year, plenty of teams are tanking. They are deliberately trying to suck, to try and get a high draft pick. You might find it shitty (and it is shitty, considering these teams are selling tickets to their games), but if there is a year to throw everything out the window and live off hope and fresh water, this year is the year to do it. So once a month this season, I'll take a look at the 5 worst offenders and see how they're doing. This year, sucking matters. So to speak.