The Philadelphia 76ers have been tanking for so long now that they’ve practically turned it into an art form. During their final game of the regular season against the Miami Heat Wednesday, they took it to a new level and just went ahead and let injured center Joel Embiid coach for a spell.
Why stop there? They might as well have let the towel boy get some playing time in the fourth quarter while they were at it. It’s no secret that Sixers and their inscrutable draft-pick mavens in the front office have a vested interest in whatever we’re calling the opposite of trying to win basketball games these days, but it turns out that the Heat do too now that they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs. Tom Ziller of SB Nation has more on the Byzantine logic involved in how the outcome of tonight’s game could potentially affect both franchises in the future:
“If the Heat’s pick falls to No. 11 or later, it goes to Philadelphia. They currently have the 10th-worst record in basketball. If the Heat lose on Wednesday, they will almost assuredly keep their pick. If they win and the Nets lose, Miami and Brooklyn would tie for the league’s 10th-worst record. A random drawing — yes, a random drawing — would determine which team is seeding No. 10 in the lottery and which team is No. 11. Given how unlikely it is either team or anyone behind them would leap into the top three, chances are the loser of that coin flip would end up with the No. 11 pick. If that’s Miami, the pick goes to the Sixers.”
So there you have it. It’s really too bad that somebody had to win tonight, and that of course turned out to be the Miami Heat, because nobody is better at losing than the Philadelphia 76ers.
(vine via Vinnyviner)
