Updated 02:33 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Duke's Coach Mike Krzyzewski Unhappy With NBA Teams Tanking For Andrew Wiggins in NBA Draft 2014

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Having recruited these kids for his own basketball program, Duke University head coach, Mike Krzyzewski, understands why professional basketball teams are salivating over University of Kansas SG Andrew Wiggins, Duke University SF Jabari Parker, and University of Kentucky PF Julius Randle.

What the man known as Coach K, to both fans and rivals, and who is also the head coach for team USA Basketball,  does not understand is the concept of National Basketball Association (NBA) teams tanking games to gain a better 2014 NBA Draft position as teams are looking to rebuild around the highly-touted 2014 draft class.

"If that is happening, shame on whoever is doing it," said Krzyzewski after Wiggins and the fifth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks defeated fourth-ranked Duke at Tuesday's Champions Classic showcase.

General managers and scouts from all 30 NBA teams were in attendance in Chicago Tuesday night for the college hoops Champions Classic doubleheader - which also featured nationally top-ranked University of Kentucky - who are loaded with eight McDonald High School All-Americans in their line including Randle - losing to second ranked Michigan State University, whose team is stocked up on battle-tested upper-classmen.

One anonymous GM recently told ESPN The Magazine that certain NBA teams see tanking - not putting out a winning product on the court - as their only option to rebuild their team, especially for small media markets where landing a high-end free agent is much more difficult, with stars forsaking those franchises to play with friends in more glamorous cities like Miami, New York, or Los Angeles.

"Utah [Jazz] is going young which is understandable and Denver [Nuggets] is looking to lower their payroll," another NBA executive told SNY.tv. "Orlando and Sacramento just aren't good enough because of the jobs of their predecessors, but Philadelphia and Phoenix are obvious with Philadelphia not even trying to hide it."

Such a mentality towards rebuilding seems unfathomable and does not make sense for a hyper-competitive person such as Krzyzewski.

"As an American, I wouldn't like to think that an American team would want to lose or create situations where you would want to lose," said Krzyzewski. "I can't go there. I can't believe that that would happen. Maybe I'm naive and I'm going to go read a fairy tale after this."

One general manager blames the idea of tanking, as an acceptable way to rebuild, on bad executive decisions being made by team front offices and not so much the talent available in the 2014 NBA Draft or stars dismissing smaller markets.

"What nobody ever talks about is that it has more to do with unqualified GMs hoping to extend their lifeline than it is about this draft," said an anonymous GM to SNY.tv at the Champions Classic. "When you sell losing as success you can't be indicted for failing. I think knowing you're not qualified or confident you can build a competitive team has led those GMs to sell this draft as cover for their inability to do their job."

Kansas head coach, Bill Self, does not believe that professional players would co-sign losing games on purpose to rebuild through the draft. He believes that true professional basketball players are too competitive, especially at that level of play, to considering tanking for a team.

"I don't think anybody's tanking," said Self. "I know that guys like to play and compete, and I guess you can make sure that you don't play certain guys, which I don't think has happened."

 

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