I don't quite understand some of this fan base's love fest with tanking...When has tanking EVER worked wonders for a team in the past? (And, no, Philadelphia does not count, because those results are still considered "a work in progress", IMHO. Let's see if they actually get back to the finals, and then you and I can talk). Right now, this team will be waaaaaaaaaaay better off by putting forth 100% effort every game they play. Sure, some nights, they will decide to go on "Vacay", but if I continue to see the glimpses of greatness that we have been seeing (both as a team, and on an individual level with certain players), I'd much rather see this team compete to win as opposed to see them throw in the towel and settle with the "L".
2018 all star game players
East
Taken top five: Irving (1st), LeBron (1st), Embiid (3rd), Beal (3rd), Horford (3rd), Love (5th), Oladipo (2nd), Porzingis (4th), Wall (1st)
Taken outside the top five but still in the lottery: DeRozan (9th)
Taken outside the lottery: Giannis (15th), Lowry (24th)
West
Taken top five: Harden (3rd), Durant (2nd), Cousins (5th), Davis (1st), Westbrook (4th), KAT (1st), Aldridge (2nd)
Taken outside top five but still in the lottery: Curry (7th), Lillard (6th), Thompson (11th)
Taken outside the lottery: Green (35th), Butler (30th)
As you can see, the majority of the all stars this year were taken in the top five (16) compared to outside the top five (8).
Obviously not all of these players are still on their original team, but for the most part the teams that have the most sustained success tend to be built around players taken at the top end of the draft. Most teams tend to find that first centerpiece through the draft, sometimes more than one, and then build around them. Some teams get lucky to have the assets to acquire further franchise changing players through trades (e.g. Celtics and Irving, Celtics and Garnett, Heat and Shaq, Rockets and Harden etc) and others are big draws to free agents (e.g. Lakers and Shaq, Miami and Lebron/Bosh, Warriors and Durant etc).
There will always be exceptions. The Warriors original trio were all taken outside the top five of the draft and they won a championship together and lost another. But how common are those teams? The main examples I can think of are the Dallas Mavericks since they were built around Dirk Nowitzki (9th overall), but their title winning side did feature two former top five picks supporting him (Kidd and Chandler); Lakers with Kobe Bryant (13th overall), though he was supported by Shaq (1st overall) for his first three titles and Gasol (3rd overall) for his second two titles; and the Celtics were built around Paul Pierce (10th overall), but never made a finals appearance until he got a running partner in Kevin Garnett (1st overall). So even if you do find a star outside the top five to build around, they are typically supported by players taken high in the draft.
What path should we take? Well, I can see what you are saying that we shouldn't lose for the sake of it. The problem with tanking is that losing can become a major issue if you don't get the franchise changing talent and/or learn how to win. So if we believe we already have potential cornerstones to build this team around (e.g. Fox and Willie?), then perhaps we should be making a concerted effort to compete and try to win games so that our young players get into good habits rather than getting stuck in bad habits. I think Fox has all star potential if he works hard and develops. Likewise I think Buddy, Skal and Willie can be part of this team's future. However, despite having some good young talent with upside, I think we could benefit from one of the potential franchising changing talents at the top of this year's draft. Why? Because I don't think we are likely to ever attract players like LeBron or Durant to town, and while we could always get someone in a trade, we would arguably need an established star and/or require the assets to make such a trade. With that in mind our best route back to the play offs and sustained success is to build this team through the draft, and while teams find stars outside the top five and good players outside the top five, generally speaking the majority are found in the top five and if we have to tank this year to get a franchise changing talent then it will be worthwhile. However, we shouldn't let losing and tanking to become a yearly thing.