New York Knicks: Enes Kanter wants no part of tanking

New York Knicks center Enes Kanter wants no part of a tanking team.

Losing is something the New York Knicks and their fans have become accustomed to in recent seasons. New York is well on its way to losing at least 50 games for the fourth consecutive season, which would tie the franchise record for most consecutive 50-plus loss seasons.

Since the turn of the century, the Knicks have done a lot of losing. For a large portion of those years, there was no consolation prize for the losing. Looking to make quick fixes, the Knicks would recklessly trade draft picks with no regard for their future. Thankfully, that is something that has stopped being done in recent seasons.

The Knicks own their 2018 first round draft pick. They are poised to land in the top 10, which would give them another highly rated prospect to add to Kristaps Porzingis and Frank Ntilikina, their two most recent lottery picks.

For once, losing is actually beneficial for the Knicks. The more they lose, the higher they could move up in the NBA Draft Lottery. There are some great prospects in this year’s draft class, such as centers DeAndre Ayton out of Arizona, Marvin Bagley III out of Duke and Mohamed Bamba out of Texas.

Adding one of those players alongside Porzingis in the frontcourt would make fans happy. However, all three are expected to go in the top five of the 2018 NBA Draft. The Knicks would need some luck, and more losses, to get that high in the draft lottery.

Tanking has been a topic of discussion in the NBA for years. This year, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $600,000 for saying that it was in the best interest of his team to lose games. It is something that Knicks fans wouldn’t mind seeing, but don’t tell that to current center, Enes Kanter.

Kanter was acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Carmelo Anthony trade prior to training camp. Kanter has become a fan favorite, bringing it every night and playing through injuries as well.

However, he is not a person that agrees with the tanking in the league. No matter who the opponent is, you can count on Kanter playing as hard as he can.

"“Let me tell you something: The Knicks are paying me money to win games, to go out there and compete and try to win every game. Knicks are not paying me to tank or anything,” Kanter said. “So my mindset is to go out there, it doesn’t matter if we play the worst team or the best team, I said it before: I didn’t get traded here to get a good draft pick. I came here to win games and make the playoffs. So I don’t care, we’re in whatever stretch we’re in right now, I’m just going to go out there and fight every possession.”"

There is no doubt that Kanter steps on the court trying to win every game. He plays hard whenever his number is called, as he is having one of the best seasons of his career. Kanter is averaging 14.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 25.7 minutes per game. He has also played solid defense, something he is not known for.

While Kanter isn’t tanking while on the court, there isn’t much he can do about it. For example, look at his minutes per game. One way of tanking is purposely playing lineups that may not succeed. That seems to be part of the Knicks’ strategy.

While Kanter is still producing, he is not being given the same opportunities to do so recently as he did earlier in the season. In the victory over the Hornets, Kanter played only 15 minutes. Part of that could have been the score, but his minutes have been trending downward. Kanter’s minutes per game in March are the lowest of any month this season.

Keeping your best players on the sidelines in certain situations is the easiest way to tank without being as straightforward about it as Cuban was, running the risk of a fine.

The Knicks, like many teams in the NBA, use the guise of developing young players as a way to tank. That is also something Kanter doesn’t believe should be happening.

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"“Let me tell you something, man: They can develop guys in the G League. This is not the time to develop young guys, or whatever, because we’re trying to win games here,” the Knicks’ starting center said on Friday. “This team is paying us a lot of money, everybody, and all the fans are paying a lot money to watch the games and they’re paying a lot of money for tickets, so they’re not just coming here watching, ‘Oh, this guy’s getting better. This guy’s developing.’ No, we’re trying to win games here, man.“I think that’s how our mindset should be,” he added. “And if they want to develop somebody, they can send him to the G League and we can see some development. But I think right now, we’re trying to win games. We’re not trying to develop nobody.”"

Knicks management probably thinks otherwise. In addition to Trey Burke, who the Knicks signed from the G League in January, they are also giving playing time to Isiah Hicks and Luke Kornet, the two players on two-way contracts for the Knicks.

While tanking is something that Kanter is obviously against, it is something he has little control over. He cannot check himself into games. It is up to head coach Jeff Hornacek who gets into the game.

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Kanter can give it his all while he is on the court, which is something you still like to see. However, there is little he can do to keep the Knicks from tanking.

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