Didn't see this posted anywhere yet. Pretty interesting. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-lottery-reform-is-coming/
Cavs have actually tried to be good, not their fault they're incompetent.....last year they signed Bynum, Earl Clark, Jarrett Jack and traded for Hawes and Luol Deng. Philly is intentionally sucking
Oh the irony. Not only are the Rockets the reason for the lottery (tanking for Dream), they knocked Philly out of the coin flip for Dream/Jordan.
Cavs might have tanked into some high picks in the prior seasons, but they just lucked out last year. They had the 9th worst record in the league and a 1.7% chance of winning the #1 pick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NBA_draft Their 2011 #1 pick-- the one used to select Kyrie-- was also not a product of tanking. At the February 2011 trade deadline, the Cavs agreed to take on Baron Davis' contract in a salary dump for a draft pick, which the Clippers didn't bother to protect. The pick had a 2.8 chance of being the #1 pick going into the lottery. Smart trade on the Cavs' part, and very good luck. The high lotto picks that the Cavs actually "earned" via their horrible records turned into Tristan Thompson (2011), Dion Waiters (2012) and Anthony Bennett (2013). Guess the basketball gods were sending a message.
Glad the league is moving to reform the system, but so long as there is a lottery, there will be tanking. The only question is where the tanks points are located. Do you tank to get a 3%-better chance at a guy? Do you tank to fall out of that 8-seed? Etc. I favor the wheel idea. Sure it lacks the marketing opportunities of the lotto and it has a long cycle for each team getting the #1 pick, but the wheel balances rebuilding opportunities by giving teams much more regular shots at a top-6 pick while not rewarding teams for losing games. I think such a system would change the NBA trading economy and might even alter the style of basketball teams pursue, how they develop talent, and how they value free agents. The only thing that sucks about the wheel are the years when a once in a generation prospect like James, Jordan, Olajuwon enter the draft. It would suck to find your team in an out-of-the-top-3 position at those moments.
I think this encourages more teams to tank by opening the door to the 3rd and 4th worst teams. With teams like the Bobcats (Hornets) and 76ers became bottom feeders some teams might have figured they had the lottery locked up. Now the swirling turds might think they have a shot as well.
I like the idea but it doesn't go far enough. There still is a strong incentive to tank. . Those odds need to be flatten out more.
It'll be comical watching 8 or more teams playing each other with each team trying to hand the win to the other. :grin:
I don't hate it. That's how some teams should build. I'd rather either win the ship or get the first pick. Don't need the in between
Yeah, that sounds good in theory, but the NBA wants fans of the other 29 teams to watch and attend games too. Only 1 team wins it all every year. NBA games would be unwatchable if half the league is blatantly tanking every year.
That is actually part his point. The lottery/record-based reward system rewards tanking by making tanking the most statistically probably means of acquiring the most valuable asset in the NBA, the #1 overall selection. It is ugly and bad for the league, but the NBA incentivizes tanking. There have been enough game theory articles on the topic on this board over the years. Different lotto weights, credits, the wheel. So far, the wheel is the only one that completely divorces team record from pick order. And that is the only way to eliminate all incentive to tank. It just doesn't have any marketing pinache.
So filling your team with D-League talent is admirable? I hate the Celtics but at least they are instilling a winning culture even if the team has pretty raw talent. Those guys go out and play hard every night, and some of them will grow into solid talent. They aren't loading their roster with guys who suck. Philly has 3-4 players who are NBA quality and the rest should never ever step foot on an NBA court.
I like the wheel idea too. When a LeBron enters the draft, it will suck for 29 teams anyway. The difference is how you get to be the one team that get this rare talent. In the current system, it's being a bad team. In the wheel system, it's pure luck. I much prefer the latter. There is no reason to reward bad teams other than the attempt to create parity. Statistically, a wheel system will create parity in the long run (albeit very LONG run).
I dont understand why they cant just have a pure lottery for teams 1-22 (everyone that didnt get HCA in the playoffs). Do that, and then have a rule that no team can get the number 1 pick more than once in a five year period.