Miami Heat could lose games if Draft Lottery rules change
By Josh Hill
The NBA has a tanking problem and anyone who believes differently needs to look no further than the Philadelphia 76ers asking for a postponement of the anti-tanking rule change so that they can tank one final season for a top draft selection.
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But while teams that want to tank are put off by the anti-tanking rules that could go into effect, there are other teams who benefit from having teams on their schedule who want to tank that could be negatively effected by the rule change. One of those teams are the Miami Heat, who usually pad their record with games against teams who want to tank but could see that change.
According to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, if the Draft Lottery rules change to have less reward for a team to tank, then Miami could run into games that use to be mere record padding that may end up being touch matchups.
"It could come down to whether the NBA, before this season, adjusts the way the lottery works. In other words, if the lottery system changes and makes it less profitable to tank, it might not be as easy to predict four wins apiece against the 76ers and Magic, and maybe even against Bucks. Suddenly, those teams might actually try to win a game or two."
The bottom line is, tanking is clearly effecting more than just the teams that are losing as winning franchises depend on the ecosystem of tanking to pad their records. That’s not a healthy method of playing through a season which means getting the rules changed sooner rather than later is for the better.
Be sure to check FanSided.com’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league all summer long.