ESPN: Sixers want NBA to delay implementing lottery reform because they are tanking

I have no problem with a team not trying to win a championship in a given year when it just isn't very likely. I have a problem when a team makes a move with the intent to lose games to preserve draft position. Trading veterans for draft picks or younger players is fine as obtaining the younger players is the goal.

 

If they don't change the lottery system to keep teams from tanking purposely _ then they need to change the playoff seeding and are set up. Just slot the top 16 teams and do away with the separate conferences when playoffs start.

The top teams in the east have too much of a cakewalk with all of the tanking teams over there.

 

The league should hold off on anti-tanking reform because some teams were planning to tank? That's like saying we should take our time closing tax loopholes because people were counting on avoiding their taxes.

Laws take time to enact due to sheer logistics, not a moral obligation to anyone's plans. The legal system, law enforcement, and any government entity involved needs time to actually implement changes. The more complicated the legislation, the longer it takes. Something on the scale of health care reform would take years. Lottery reform for the NBA draft is remarkably simple and affects thirty franchises a year from now. It's easier to implement than the dress code.

 

Overall, I should add I don't have a problem with most of what Philly has done. When it comes out that there were no other teams interested in a first round pick for taking Lin off the Rockets hands, I think Philly was worried Lin would win games. Lin would not have gotten Philly over the floor so it wouldn't have cost them but $2.6 million in real money (14.7 [actual pay]-8.3 [actual pay that goes towards team payroll and Philly would be required to pay to some other player(s)]-3.3 [cash allowed in deal]-0.5 [roster charge]). $2.6 million dollars for a rotation player and a first round pick sounds like a good deal for a team with more cap room than they can spend.

 

Morey himself says he believes the team will be better going into the playoffs than last years team. Whether you think the team is better does not matter. So if he thinks the team will be better than how is he tanking? Please explain.

 

Just want to point out to everyone, with the cap space Philly has now, and with two big pieces out there in free agency still available, had Philly not drafted Embiid and instead got Exum, and instead of drafting Saric, they drafted instead McDermoot, then signed Bledsoe & Monroe to slightly below max contracts, their team could be:

PG - Bledsoe/Wroten
SG - MCW/Exum
SF - McDermott
PF - Thad Young/Noel
C - Greg Monroe/Sims

In the East, thats a young exciting playoff team, with room to grow going forward.

And guess what, they'd STILL have financially flexibility moving forward and loads of assets, plus they'd have a young competitive roster. But no, they're going to continue to be s**t and its bad for the league. Every NBA team that plays Philly on their homecourt next year will be under attended.

This is why what Philly is doing is disgusting and bad for the NBA.

 

Morey should call them up and ask them to implement it immediately because it would help the Pelicans pick.

 

Why? Hell, we should have done the same thing a long time ago. I have no problem with what they're doing

 

My feeling after the Parsons disaster was that Morey gave up on this season for the exact same reasons you wrote, or at least thinks our chances are significantly lower that it isn't worth the 2+ years of lux tax penalties.

I do disagree that their approaches very similar though. Morey didn't seem to have a mandate for losing or severely gutting a team, and he wasn't blatant like Hinkie during the post-Yao era.

For Morey to truly "give up" would be to do what he's done before and trade away a productive scrub starter for more lucrative assets midseason and totally disrupting chemistry as a result.

 

They could fire Hinkie for the next year pay me his salary and I would produce the exact same results...by doing nothing and watching my team lose.

 

This.
As a Rockets fan I was disgusted by the Rox attempting and fighting to make the playoffs, when teams in the East were trying to tank their way out of a playoff slot!

I feel like teams should only be eligible to be in top 3 or 5 every 5 years. Sad for you if your player didn't pan out or was derailed by injury.

 

^^I can't edit.^^

The Rockets part, I'm referring to the Kevin Martin, Chuck Hayes at starting C days

 

Isn't it illegal to mention intentional tanking? I see a fine coming.

 

its over hinkie!

 

How about the teams who don't make the playoffs just draw straws to decide the draft order considering the worst team hardly ever wins the lottery anyway and no team gets to draft in the top 5 two years in a row. This would still keep the spirit of competition... The lottery gives team incentive to tank.

 

We tanked for Ralph, whippersnapper.

 

Not really true. Lots of laws are phased in over years to lessen the shock to industries. Emission standards, for instance.

 

basketball gives teams incentive to tank, not the lottery. Every other sport just drafts in inverse order of record, and it's not problem. In basketball, one lottery win can set your franchise for 15 years.