The Knicks have the league’s worst record, but the Sixers aren’t far behind. The two teams will face each other Wednesday, in a game that could factor heavily into the teams’ respective selections in this summer’s draft.
Where the teams finish in the standings will determine just how many chances they have in landing the top overall pick via the league’s Draft Lottery process, but as we’ve heard time and again, the players and coaches involved couldn’t care less about how that plays out.
Go ahead and add Derek Fisher to that increasingly long list.
From Marc Berman of The New York Post:“There’s no interest in thinking about which pick we might get based on the way the ping-pong balls bounces when we play Philadelphia [Wednesday] night,’’ Fisher said. “There’s no correlation in my mind. Maybe some other people see it differently.
“It’s the NBA. You’ll always have a chance to get good players. But when you have a foundation, a system and way of playing, that allows for good players you have or get in the future to be able to be successful.’’
As we’ve discussed many times, the whole tanking thing is something that occurs at the organizational level; players and coaches are never involved in intentionally trying to lose games.
A front office may decide that bottoming out in order to obtain higher draft picks by racking up the losses is the way to go, and therefore jettisons all veteran talent from the roster and puts the team in a position where it’s hard-pressed to succeed from a pure talent perspective.
The trades made by the Celtics and the Knicks this season are prime examples of that.
Wednesday night’s contest in Philadelphia may indeed have an impact on where the Knicks and the Sixers end up picking in this summer’s draft. Just don’t expect Fisher to alter his game plan because of it.
MORE: CSN Philly subscriber? Watch Knicks-Sixers Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.ET