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Bozo The Clown
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*Note: This article is not meant to offend the smooth-brained Zoomers - in fact, it is meant as a reflective comedic tragedy directed at future versions of myself when I am again lost at sea. Note to self: do not cling to Giannis next time.
DUMMY: noun - a certified, bona fide, dignified clown who's unwilling or unable to recognize his clown shoes for what they are.
STEP 1: Recognizing when it's time to rebuild
Now that we've addressed the clown in the room and established who this guide is really for, we can get to the substance. There are a few scenarios where a rebuild is the clear best option - maybe you had a bunch of your best guys leave in free agency and you really struck out on things but don't have assets to get replacements. Maybe you have been hovering around .500 with nobody on the roster that's going to dependably get better and carry you moving forward. Maybe you run a retirement home and you get a couple offers for your 40 year old big man that make it worth selling while there's a chance. Or maybe you have an absolutely horrible contract or two that limit your upside to a point where you're really just playing for the chance to get swept in the first round for a long time. Pretty much any time is a good time to rebuild if you just get bored with your team, although I don't recommend it. I've been down this road, including this current moment in time, and while it is fun it's also a real clown move.
There's one very important piece of the rebuilding formula if you want it to go as well as possible though - do it when you have your next couple first rounders still. There is only ever 1 pick in any given league that you can guarantee will be in the lotto, and that's your own if you're all in on tanking. Other teams' picks that you own are never a guarantee. They're often some of the best assets to have, but if you don't have your own pick then I'd consider trying to get it back before announcing to the world that you want to tank.
STEP 2: Establishing a concrete goal and timeline
What I mean here is decide on the details ahead of time. There are going to be uncertainties, unforeseen speedbumps and unpredictable boons that present themselves over the course of your 1-3 season rebuild (you can always rebuild for a full decade if you'd like, but it gets awkward when your 18 year old stud rookie is now an overpaid 28 year old slob... your best success will come after a 2-3 year rebuild usually for a number of reasons, and I'll get to that later). Decide what type of offense you want to run, what type of player you'll focus on (or even who those players will be if you have your sights set on someone that you're able to acquire or retain), and what your clearest path to a clean salary environment will be. You can still have a good team if you just acquire random players that you like, but if you pick something early and build towards a goal without getting too far off track, there's a lot less of a chance you'll fail.
That's not to say that you should pass up deals that present a clear gain in value just because the player doesn't fit this - it just means you might be better off taking any clearly beneficial deals, then flipping the added value for something that keeps you on track. Don't be afraid to spend cap space in free agency when you're in the 'I'm not ready to compete' stage, but be sure they either fit the timeline and don't make the difference between you drafting LeBron vs. Milicic, or have a deal lined up ahead of time that gets you pick/cash/youth value in exchange. Ruining your long term cap space to sign an old dude that also hurts your upcoming draft slot is just going to keep you in the worst place of all (Mediocreville). We'll get back to free agency strategies in a bit.
The last thing to consider is where the rest of the league is at. This isn't a major piece of the puzzle since you can only control your own team, but it is worth considering if you have any Warriors-style dynasties in their prime. Maybe it's a good time to rebuild if someone is working on a 4-peat and their best players are still in their prime.
STEP 3: Identifying who to keep and who to move
This isn't always as simple of a process as just keeping your best players that are under ~25 years old and shipping out the rest. Think about contracts, fit, how their past TCs have gone and how much potential they probably have left. Don't be a moron like me and cling to max salary Giannis forever. Really. Emotional decisions are fine if you just want to have fun, but if you're in it for WORLD DOMINATION I highly recommend really trying to figure out who presents the most value for their salary moving forward (and also weighing if they're more valuable to be traded elsewhere).
Let's say you started off with a player like Kevin Love in his prime, but you also have a pile of dead money sitting in your cut salary slot and there's nothing else on your roster that points to much of a future. You can talk yourself into keeping that player that might be ~24 years old and dominating the league already, but you'll never have much success in the tanking department with a player like this around (unless you pay someone to break his kneecaps, which is a controversial option here worth considering). This player is your path to acquiring a bunch of future draft capital (I'd recommend trying to get picks from teams that either A) clearly suck short term and are willing to give you an upcoming pick, B) might be good now but are overlooking looming salary issues and impending free agent departures, or C) some combination of both, which offsets risk of really striking out all at once in one draft (recommended)). You can also trade a player like this for one of the more promising rookies already in the league, especially if it's to a team that can be convinced they'd be ready to compete. If you're a real superstar/clown, you might be able to get a multitude of these things all at once.
Realistically, most teams that are in the shitter won't have this player but that's completely fine. Move your veterans for any value you can get (picks above all else, followed closely by youth/cash/long term salary relief).
STEP 4: Identifying targets that are attainable and fit your goal
Typically I'd focus on a player that's either a current rookie, or a future draft pick unless you have the luxury of starting a rebuild with a huge crop of good youth (only because this shortens the required tanking timeline of a successful rebuild by a full season or more). If you're starting with essentially nothing but your own pick, this is fine but going after someone that's due for a max deal next offseason might not be wise for a number of reasons. Again, consider salary/your ability to draft highly for multiple years in a row/the reality that you may also be maxing a player that could decline and lose value.
Read between the lines. Some really nice prospects get buried on teams or get misused, while others overachieve on shitty teams and may be horrible trade targets. This is something you'll either be good at or need to practice. I definitely need practice. I'm looking at you, Giannis.
STEP 5: The trade negotiation process
I discuss the process more in depth in Step 9 for when you're ready to get aggressive on winning, but there are some distinct differences in what you should look for here, which also impact how you trade when you're a bad team vs. a budding good team. Competing teams LOVE to sign scrubs to 1 year deals through bird rights purely to ship away for someone useful to a tanking team. It's a win-win, since you can get a late pick or cash attached to someone that also helps you tank. For them, they essentially lose no roster depth. These deals can ALWAYS be worked out during free agency if you have a vet or two left on your roster that you can't lose otherwise beforehand.
There's also a benefit in saving cap space to absorb bad contracts if the other team is willing to attach value. As long as you're taking back a contract that won't ruin your draft slot and also won't be sticking around when you want to try to compete, it's usually a good idea. You should consider if the payment is worth it though - if you're taking on 3 years of a bad max deal, you're losing that cap space for 3 years. You should be getting significant value for a horrible deal like that, but for smaller expirings you should generally be happy nickle and diming people to help them out. Every dollar counts, just weigh your options and never forget that opportunities are around every year before free agency.
STEP 6: The drafting process
This may be somewhat controversial as you move towards the later years of a rebuild, but my theory on drafting in the lottery is simple. ALWAYS take the best player available (in terms of value). This is subjective of course, but the idea is that you should be looking for value here. If there are two guys that are pretty similar, then by all means address a need at the same time. Looking at the draft the same way as free agency is not recommended though. You have a stud SG/SF/PF but you're #1 in the 03 draft? You take Bron and worry about who lost their job later. Trading is your friend - you'll only assemble a ridiculously stacked roster with the cooperation of others and some lucky bounces with FBB's 0s and 1s, but if you try to work your way up without ever involving any other humans you'll hit a ceiling pretty quickly.
In general, I'd say that scoring ability is the sexy selling point for most players on a surface level. B- B- C- B- C- at SG looks a hell of a lot better than C- C+ C B+ C- at SG. Both players may actually be relatively comparable in talent, but you'll have no trouble trading Player 1. Similarly, young big men with solid defense and rebounding grades will have a lot of fans but the B- D D C+ C+ big might have a small market of interested buyers. Potential is king though - you'll have to feel it out every pick of the draft, but finding a good mix of ability and upside is the key.
STEP 7: The free agency process (before you're ready to compete)
This is where you either sign players purely to churn back into picks/cash/youth, or you add some affordable options to build with. With restricted free agency being part of this league's CBA, you're going to have a hard time finding the latter. As long as you don't ruin your future cap space, I'd say you did okay in free agency. If you can add a pick or some substantial cash, you're doing it right. Look at the tanking years' free agency periods as an ATM. You certainly should have cap space, so use it to your advantage. Don't get distracted by signing one good-but-not-great player.
STEP 8: The free agency process (once the rebuild is complete and you're ready to compete)
Congrats, you've sucked for 2-3 years and all your players are finally decent but still not on a max. THIS is where you hopefully have clean books with an abundance of cap space. Depending on how many high draft picks you've made, you'll have salary space for anywhere from 1-3 max deals. Use this cap wisely on guys that move the needle - there's no point overpaying for depth when you're in a position to sign difference-makers. A star on a max deal takes a lot of your cap space, but they also account for a raised ceiling. This is what you should be focusing on, assuming you don't have legit win-now starters ready 1-5. Address needs on discounts if you can, because you'll have to start paying your young studs when their rookie deals end. The hard cap is what kills many dynasties if you aren't careful, so find solid players to fill this role cheaply.
If you have some 20/20 foresight and know an offseason or more before you're going to flip the switch and go all-in on winning, THIS is the time to move all of your future picks / unimportant youth that will have value to someone else starting this process. A 19 year old project player with A potential but no skill yet is an intriguing buy-low piece for a team that's ready to go 12-70. That same player does nothing for a team that's ready to try to go 70-12 for the next 5 years.
STEP 9: Talent acquisition moving forward
Similarly to the last point in Step 8, a first round draft pick from a team that just finished its third straight <30 win season looks really nice on paper (even though you know you're about to push for a title). If you trade this pick BEFORE upgrading your roster in free agency or through trades, it will have more perceived value than the typical $3 that a late-20s pick sells for. GET MULTIPLE DEALS LINED UP AND COMPLETE THE TRADES IN THE ORDER THAT BENEFITS YOU.
If you know you're about to acquire prime Kobe for some of your stud young players that are still a year away, and also have a trade that's 99% done to move your pick for a 6th man, you should get that 6th man first (assuming it doesn't impact the Kobe deal) before the team that's acquiring your pick knows you have Kobe. Don't lie to people - you'll get yourself put on the snake list by half the league - but don't hurt yourself either. Be honest but keep quiet about your intentions if they could hurt you.
Now that you've milked the trade market and free agency, if you're left with some cash it's time to camp your players. My best advice is to focus on your best/most valuable piece (if a 38 year old is your best player, I'd probably try to find someone a bit younger to camp since you'll only benefit on the old guy's boost for a year or two at most). Camping a player's strengths will help them the most usually, although I also support improving ball handling if you have an otherwise-valuable player that turns it over a ton.
STEP 10: Congratulations!
You've either set your team on a path to challenge for multiple rings, or you got destroyed by the TC Monster. It happens to the best of us. If the latter describes you, please refer to Step 1.
2019: Daryl Morey failing to realize he should rebuild - don't be like Daryl
STEP 1: Recognizing when it's time to rebuild
Now that we've addressed the clown in the room and established who this guide is really for, we can get to the substance. There are a few scenarios where a rebuild is the clear best option - maybe you had a bunch of your best guys leave in free agency and you really struck out on things but don't have assets to get replacements. Maybe you have been hovering around .500 with nobody on the roster that's going to dependably get better and carry you moving forward. Maybe you run a retirement home and you get a couple offers for your 40 year old big man that make it worth selling while there's a chance. Or maybe you have an absolutely horrible contract or two that limit your upside to a point where you're really just playing for the chance to get swept in the first round for a long time. Pretty much any time is a good time to rebuild if you just get bored with your team, although I don't recommend it. I've been down this road, including this current moment in time, and while it is fun it's also a real clown move.
There's one very important piece of the rebuilding formula if you want it to go as well as possible though - do it when you have your next couple first rounders still. There is only ever 1 pick in any given league that you can guarantee will be in the lotto, and that's your own if you're all in on tanking. Other teams' picks that you own are never a guarantee. They're often some of the best assets to have, but if you don't have your own pick then I'd consider trying to get it back before announcing to the world that you want to tank.
STEP 2: Establishing a concrete goal and timeline
What I mean here is decide on the details ahead of time. There are going to be uncertainties, unforeseen speedbumps and unpredictable boons that present themselves over the course of your 1-3 season rebuild (you can always rebuild for a full decade if you'd like, but it gets awkward when your 18 year old stud rookie is now an overpaid 28 year old slob... your best success will come after a 2-3 year rebuild usually for a number of reasons, and I'll get to that later). Decide what type of offense you want to run, what type of player you'll focus on (or even who those players will be if you have your sights set on someone that you're able to acquire or retain), and what your clearest path to a clean salary environment will be. You can still have a good team if you just acquire random players that you like, but if you pick something early and build towards a goal without getting too far off track, there's a lot less of a chance you'll fail.
That's not to say that you should pass up deals that present a clear gain in value just because the player doesn't fit this - it just means you might be better off taking any clearly beneficial deals, then flipping the added value for something that keeps you on track. Don't be afraid to spend cap space in free agency when you're in the 'I'm not ready to compete' stage, but be sure they either fit the timeline and don't make the difference between you drafting LeBron vs. Milicic, or have a deal lined up ahead of time that gets you pick/cash/youth value in exchange. Ruining your long term cap space to sign an old dude that also hurts your upcoming draft slot is just going to keep you in the worst place of all (Mediocreville). We'll get back to free agency strategies in a bit.
The last thing to consider is where the rest of the league is at. This isn't a major piece of the puzzle since you can only control your own team, but it is worth considering if you have any Warriors-style dynasties in their prime. Maybe it's a good time to rebuild if someone is working on a 4-peat and their best players are still in their prime.
STEP 3: Identifying who to keep and who to move
This isn't always as simple of a process as just keeping your best players that are under ~25 years old and shipping out the rest. Think about contracts, fit, how their past TCs have gone and how much potential they probably have left. Don't be a moron like me and cling to max salary Giannis forever. Really. Emotional decisions are fine if you just want to have fun, but if you're in it for WORLD DOMINATION I highly recommend really trying to figure out who presents the most value for their salary moving forward (and also weighing if they're more valuable to be traded elsewhere).
Let's say you started off with a player like Kevin Love in his prime, but you also have a pile of dead money sitting in your cut salary slot and there's nothing else on your roster that points to much of a future. You can talk yourself into keeping that player that might be ~24 years old and dominating the league already, but you'll never have much success in the tanking department with a player like this around (unless you pay someone to break his kneecaps, which is a controversial option here worth considering). This player is your path to acquiring a bunch of future draft capital (I'd recommend trying to get picks from teams that either A) clearly suck short term and are willing to give you an upcoming pick, B) might be good now but are overlooking looming salary issues and impending free agent departures, or C) some combination of both, which offsets risk of really striking out all at once in one draft (recommended)). You can also trade a player like this for one of the more promising rookies already in the league, especially if it's to a team that can be convinced they'd be ready to compete. If you're a real superstar/clown, you might be able to get a multitude of these things all at once.
Realistically, most teams that are in the shitter won't have this player but that's completely fine. Move your veterans for any value you can get (picks above all else, followed closely by youth/cash/long term salary relief).
STEP 4: Identifying targets that are attainable and fit your goal
Typically I'd focus on a player that's either a current rookie, or a future draft pick unless you have the luxury of starting a rebuild with a huge crop of good youth (only because this shortens the required tanking timeline of a successful rebuild by a full season or more). If you're starting with essentially nothing but your own pick, this is fine but going after someone that's due for a max deal next offseason might not be wise for a number of reasons. Again, consider salary/your ability to draft highly for multiple years in a row/the reality that you may also be maxing a player that could decline and lose value.
Read between the lines. Some really nice prospects get buried on teams or get misused, while others overachieve on shitty teams and may be horrible trade targets. This is something you'll either be good at or need to practice. I definitely need practice. I'm looking at you, Giannis.
STEP 5: The trade negotiation process
I discuss the process more in depth in Step 9 for when you're ready to get aggressive on winning, but there are some distinct differences in what you should look for here, which also impact how you trade when you're a bad team vs. a budding good team. Competing teams LOVE to sign scrubs to 1 year deals through bird rights purely to ship away for someone useful to a tanking team. It's a win-win, since you can get a late pick or cash attached to someone that also helps you tank. For them, they essentially lose no roster depth. These deals can ALWAYS be worked out during free agency if you have a vet or two left on your roster that you can't lose otherwise beforehand.
There's also a benefit in saving cap space to absorb bad contracts if the other team is willing to attach value. As long as you're taking back a contract that won't ruin your draft slot and also won't be sticking around when you want to try to compete, it's usually a good idea. You should consider if the payment is worth it though - if you're taking on 3 years of a bad max deal, you're losing that cap space for 3 years. You should be getting significant value for a horrible deal like that, but for smaller expirings you should generally be happy nickle and diming people to help them out. Every dollar counts, just weigh your options and never forget that opportunities are around every year before free agency.
STEP 6: The drafting process
This may be somewhat controversial as you move towards the later years of a rebuild, but my theory on drafting in the lottery is simple. ALWAYS take the best player available (in terms of value). This is subjective of course, but the idea is that you should be looking for value here. If there are two guys that are pretty similar, then by all means address a need at the same time. Looking at the draft the same way as free agency is not recommended though. You have a stud SG/SF/PF but you're #1 in the 03 draft? You take Bron and worry about who lost their job later. Trading is your friend - you'll only assemble a ridiculously stacked roster with the cooperation of others and some lucky bounces with FBB's 0s and 1s, but if you try to work your way up without ever involving any other humans you'll hit a ceiling pretty quickly.
In general, I'd say that scoring ability is the sexy selling point for most players on a surface level. B- B- C- B- C- at SG looks a hell of a lot better than C- C+ C B+ C- at SG. Both players may actually be relatively comparable in talent, but you'll have no trouble trading Player 1. Similarly, young big men with solid defense and rebounding grades will have a lot of fans but the B- D D C+ C+ big might have a small market of interested buyers. Potential is king though - you'll have to feel it out every pick of the draft, but finding a good mix of ability and upside is the key.
STEP 7: The free agency process (before you're ready to compete)
This is where you either sign players purely to churn back into picks/cash/youth, or you add some affordable options to build with. With restricted free agency being part of this league's CBA, you're going to have a hard time finding the latter. As long as you don't ruin your future cap space, I'd say you did okay in free agency. If you can add a pick or some substantial cash, you're doing it right. Look at the tanking years' free agency periods as an ATM. You certainly should have cap space, so use it to your advantage. Don't get distracted by signing one good-but-not-great player.
STEP 8: The free agency process (once the rebuild is complete and you're ready to compete)
Congrats, you've sucked for 2-3 years and all your players are finally decent but still not on a max. THIS is where you hopefully have clean books with an abundance of cap space. Depending on how many high draft picks you've made, you'll have salary space for anywhere from 1-3 max deals. Use this cap wisely on guys that move the needle - there's no point overpaying for depth when you're in a position to sign difference-makers. A star on a max deal takes a lot of your cap space, but they also account for a raised ceiling. This is what you should be focusing on, assuming you don't have legit win-now starters ready 1-5. Address needs on discounts if you can, because you'll have to start paying your young studs when their rookie deals end. The hard cap is what kills many dynasties if you aren't careful, so find solid players to fill this role cheaply.
If you have some 20/20 foresight and know an offseason or more before you're going to flip the switch and go all-in on winning, THIS is the time to move all of your future picks / unimportant youth that will have value to someone else starting this process. A 19 year old project player with A potential but no skill yet is an intriguing buy-low piece for a team that's ready to go 12-70. That same player does nothing for a team that's ready to try to go 70-12 for the next 5 years.
STEP 9: Talent acquisition moving forward
Similarly to the last point in Step 8, a first round draft pick from a team that just finished its third straight <30 win season looks really nice on paper (even though you know you're about to push for a title). If you trade this pick BEFORE upgrading your roster in free agency or through trades, it will have more perceived value than the typical $3 that a late-20s pick sells for. GET MULTIPLE DEALS LINED UP AND COMPLETE THE TRADES IN THE ORDER THAT BENEFITS YOU.
If you know you're about to acquire prime Kobe for some of your stud young players that are still a year away, and also have a trade that's 99% done to move your pick for a 6th man, you should get that 6th man first (assuming it doesn't impact the Kobe deal) before the team that's acquiring your pick knows you have Kobe. Don't lie to people - you'll get yourself put on the snake list by half the league - but don't hurt yourself either. Be honest but keep quiet about your intentions if they could hurt you.
Now that you've milked the trade market and free agency, if you're left with some cash it's time to camp your players. My best advice is to focus on your best/most valuable piece (if a 38 year old is your best player, I'd probably try to find someone a bit younger to camp since you'll only benefit on the old guy's boost for a year or two at most). Camping a player's strengths will help them the most usually, although I also support improving ball handling if you have an otherwise-valuable player that turns it over a ton.
STEP 10: Congratulations!
You've either set your team on a path to challenge for multiple rings, or you got destroyed by the TC Monster. It happens to the best of us. If the latter describes you, please refer to Step 1.
2019: Clown780 ignoring all signs that he's due for a rebuild
