I think it does. Otherwise it just means losing and is a pretty pointless term. Teams have definitely lost on purpose before by purposefully not playing the players that give them the best chance to win as much as they could or just by generally not trying very hard to win.
Coaches and players don't actively try to tank. GM's, management and owners do. Fans root for it. Neil Olshey is trying to tank. Thats why we have $23 million of unused cap space. Thats why we scheduled multiple back to backs with a home game while the NBA gave us the option of spreading them out. Thats why there is a goal being pushed down of player development instead of wins. Tanking is a lens of how fans view the team, its never been an active strategy of an NBA team out on the floor. The 76ers who are undertaking the largest epic tanking job in NBA history are full of players and coaches trying to win every games. Management put them in a position to lose; a position to a lesser extent our Blazers are in.
Also similar to what PHX did a couple years ago, but Hornacek proved to be too good as a rookie coach for them to continue with their tank job. Luckily we don't have that problem!
