The Wizards are just 17-58, but they refuse to give up on their troublesome season and won't lose games simply to increase their chance of landing the first overall pick.

"It's a weighted system with multiple balls, percentages based on losses. If you've got 13 percent versus 19 percent, that gust of wind has to blow the right ball in there," interim coach Ed Tapscott said. "The system was designed to make sure teams don't go out and try to tank games. Nor would we want to. We owe it to our fans to play our games competitively right up to the end.

"It's also the process by which you develop your young players. You've got to let them know that we're going to compete up until the end, so we're not hurting our chances in the draft. The draft is a separate issue from our performance right now."