Nerlens listened patiently to his teammate’s explanations, then frowned. “I dunno dude. That sounds like tanking to me.”
Shaking his head, Tony Wroten tried to assuage Nerlens’ concerns. “It couldn’t be farther from tanking. We play hard every game, every possession. The only thing we do different from other teams is that we just shoot the shots that become available to us.”
Tony’s words were starting to make sense to Nerlens. “So, what you’re saying is, anytime we get a decent look at the basket, we’re supposed to shoot it?”
“Yep,” Tony affirmed. “It doesn’t matter whether or not you actually have a good chance at making it, just that it could theoretically be a good shot, if taken by a suitable player.”
There was still a niggling feeling that something was amiss. “But if coach really wasn’t tanking, wouldn’t he force us to be more selective and disciplined?”
Tony groaned dramatically in response to his teammate’s ignorance. “You don’t get it. We don’t have enough talent to win anything this year. It’s all about developing our skills as players. To develop, you need to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and this is the year to do that.”
“So, when coach puts in JaKarr Sampson at a crucial juncture of the game, that’s player development, and not tanking?”
There was the slightest of pauses before Tony responded. “Yep. We are definitely not tanking.”