Jeff Van Gundy Accuses the Charlotte Bobcats of Tanking the Season

The Charlotte Bobcats weren’t just awful this past season due to their front-office’s inability to assemble a good roster. They were awful – historically awful, in fact – on purpose. Or so alleges Jeff Van Gundy, who continues to wage war on the very idea of tanking in the NBA. From the Charlotte Observer: “Speaking on a media conference call Tuesday, the former coach of the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets said he believes the organization assembled ‘a very poor roster by design.’ Van Gundy also said he wouldn’t reward bad teams with extra chances in Wednesday night’s draft lottery. ‘I don’t think the players and the coaching staff (tanked). I think the organization did by not getting the best roster’ available, Van Gundy said. ‘You could make the case at any position that they did not have a top-15 player’ at that position in the league. Van Gundy said the Bobcats’ ‘get bad to try to get good’ strategy is common among NBA teams, but their 7-59 finish last season – worst by winning percentage in league history – wasn’t happenstance. ‘What they’re doing, most (front office) people would do. But it’s by design,’ Van Gundy said, adding he would do away with the weighting system that gives the Bobcats the best chance (25 percent) at the top pick in Wednesday’s 8 p.m. lottery. ‘I don’t think you should get extra odds in the lottery for being bad,’ Van Gundy said. ‘To consistently reward bad teams with extra (chances) is bad.’”