Tanking: The strategy employed by perennial NBA powerhouses like the Charlotte Bobcats and Sacramento Kings in which a team loses games down the stretch to improve potential draft position.

There is a popular belief among NBA fans that in order for a team to become elite and contend for a championship, it must first take its lumps with poor performances and hope to get lucky in the draft and stumble upon the next big star in the NBA.

You might think they have a point when you consider where the top stars in the league today were drafted. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade were all selected in the top five picks of the 2003 NBA Draft. Chris Paul was taken fourth in the 2005 draft and Kevin Durant was the second choice in 2007.

While all these players were taken within the top five picks of their respective drafts, only Wade and Durant remain with the teams that drafted them.

Tanking creates a culture of losing around a franchise, and that’s something no star wants a part of.

So if tanking is counterproductive, how else should a team rebuild?

Look no further than Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets.

In 2011, the Rockets were hit with the news that Yao Ming, the cornerstone of the franchise since 2002, would retire after injury issues. After losing former star Tracy McGrady to similar complications, the team was missing both components of what once looked like a championship roster. NBA logic assumes that at this point, the Rockets would mail in the 2011 season and hope for the next LeBron James in the draft. However, Morey defied NBA logic and refused to lose.

What followed were a few years of mediocrity and mid-round draft picks by the Kyle Lowry and Kevin Martin-led Houston Rockets. Morey collected cheap, tradable assets like your crazy neighbor collects porcelain cats. Trade by trade, the Rockets acquired low-cost, young and promising players as well as desirable draft picks as he waited for the moment a willing partner would value his assets as much as he did.

After whiffing on attempts to acquire Chris Bosh, Paul and Anthony, it seemed it would never happen and the Rockets would be stuck on the mediocrity treadmill forever.

Then came the night of Oct. 27, 2012.

Unable to come to terms with the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the Oklahoma City Thunder decided to trade James Harden, and they knew Morey and the Rockets were ready to deal. Morey was finally able to cash his pieces in for something of universal value in the NBA — a star.

While the Rockets still have work to do to reach contender status, they are a perfect example of how to rebuild in the NBA.

Rather than lose on purpose, make smart trades and create a cost-efficient roster full of youth, potential and draft picks. You may be stuck in the middle for a while, but when trade opportunities present themselves, there’s no way to be better prepared.