I hate the term “tanking.”
I hate the idea of a team wasting a year (or more) of a professional athlete’s life committed to losing. I hate that paying customers are robbed of their hard-earned dollars to attend home games of their favourite team, only for the star player to be benched with a phantom injury. I hate the losing mentality it teaches the participating players and possibly harms progression in their respective games.
So why does the idea of the Raptors playing for a lottery position... not a horrible one?
For one, the mental strain this season has had on the team is (even putting my bias aside) far worse than any other team has endured.