Tanking thoughts
The Blazers have a plan, one that is tried and true in the NBA
I woke up this morning thinking about Carl Herrera. Unless you’re someone who was an NBA junkie in the 1990s, you might not know who that is. I know him because when I was young, my family’s interest in basketball was stoked by Herrera, the first Venezuelan NBA player in history and still one of a select few Venezuelans to make it to the league.
But the reason I thought about him today wasn’t his role as an energy guy on the 1994 World Champion Houston Rockets, but because of a totally meaningless game in the grand scheme of things. It was a game when he was on the 1997 San Antonio Spurs that is ringing clearer in my head as the 2022 Blazers continue to tank as no Blazers team has tanked before. Or any NBA team, for that matter.
The Blazers got blown out on national television last night again and that’s why I remembered Herrera, who we just used to call “Carl.” It was April 2, 1997, and my Tio Jose was over. And when we saw Carl was playing, well, we got hyped and tuned in for a game like we did when he was on a championship team. We never saw him on TV since those days, being in Oregon and not having League Pass, so we got hyped for a rare opportunity to catch him in a TNT game.
It all sounds hilarious in hindsight because the 18-53 (!!!) San Antonio Spurs were playing a nationally televised game against Grant Hill and the Detroit Pistons. But it was a good game! I remember Carl shooting and scoring like never before. He was shooting jumpers! He played 42 minutes! They almost won and he was the reason, along with post-Achilles tear Dominique Wilkens on his last legs in the NBA. Even when I was a kid, I knew that Carl wasn’t a scorer, that was Hakeem Olajuwon’s job or Robert Horry’s job, or Kenny Smith’s job. So this just struck me as a fun moment. But I had no idea why this was happening. I do now.
Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs were tanking because they wanted to draft Tim Duncan in the draft a few months later. Carl Herrera was 2 points shy of a career-high that night, scoring 22 points in what was a close and competitive loss. As a seven-year-old, the nuances of tanking for a draft pick were lost on me. I was just happy to see my guy Carl get shots up and score points. But Carl’s big night was just a pathway to the future the Spurs saw for themselves.
That’s what the remainder of this Blazers season needs to be and what it is. Steel yourself in the individual performances if you can, have fun watching Brandon Williams and CJ Elleby take over the offense, or enamor yourself with how Trendon Watford might look on a good team, but don’t lose sight of the goal at hand. Embrace the suck and find some joy in it.
Damian Lillard is 31 and while he is a healthy 31, this is year is the one-shot the Blazers have to add elite talent in the draft again. Portland still has a lottery-protected pick due to Chicago, which will almost certainly convey when Dame is back in uniform, so the urgency to tank this season while Dame is still in his athletic prime is warranted. As it was back for the Spurs in 1997 with a still very good, but looking at the back half of his career David Robinson.
The aggression of the tank after the All-Star break has been jarring to many, with many of the same take merchants suddenly worrying about the integrity of the game, after only a few weeks ago wondering if Joe Cronin, Chauncey Billups, and Dame were sheepish about this whole tanking business.
While the seriousness of the franchise has been understandably questioned given the status of ownership, the current plan is quite clear. And it’s one that even the greatest, most lauded franchises have employed, in order to maximize the prime of their greatest players. That’s what Popovich did by giving Carl Herrera superstar usage, he did it for Tim Duncan but he also did it for David Robinson. It’s what the Blazers are doing right now by featuring the players they’re featuring right now.
This is business as usual for the best franchises. Perhaps it’s been so long that this franchise has actually had a plan, beyond Neil Olshey keeping his job, that people have forgotten what that looks like around here. And who knows, maybe some young CJ Elleby somewhere fan is having the time of his life right now.
In the meantime, if you want to watch some serious basketball, I think it’s time to turn your attention to the college game and look at potential draft picks to play next to Dame next season instead of getting mad at shit that isn’t changing between now and the end of the season, which is mercifully only a month away.