NBA Rumors: Bryan Colangelo admits he tanked with Toronto Raptors

One thing that the NBA is not too fond of is tanking, and it’s an unwritten rule that teams who are tanking shouldn’t boast about it — ever. But Bryan Colangelo is repenting for his NBA sins and has come forth with some unsurprising yet significant information.

According to Colangelo, he tanked while general manager of the Toronto Raptors dying the 2011-12 season and he gave Sam Amick of USA Today some inside information on how he, and likely other NBA GMs, went about tanking.

"“I didn’t ‘come out and say, ‘Coach (Dwane Casey), you’ve got to lose games.’ I never said that. I wanted to have him establish a winning tradition and a culture and all of that, but I wanted to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players, and with that comes losing.”"

This is pretty much the accepted blueprint when it comes to tanking, as fans suspect that front offices don’t come out and say the team is tanking but engage in back room sabotage to make sure it happens. Colangelo is no longer the GM in Toronto and the Raptors are having their best season in years without him.

So the lesson here is you can tank if you want, but the only thing being hurt is your job security.