Agreed, but I think the frustration comes in when you still have a month and a half of basketball and teams are already tanking the rest of the season away. I wouldnt mind the NBA reducing the number of games so the number of games bad teams have to tank are fewer, but they wont do that b/c of the loss in revenues it would result in.
So the Cavs should be punished and not given a chance to turn the franchise around? That makes no sense no matter how you look at it.
OKC had the perfect storm of very good management and very good luck. This is extremely rare. They have one high lotto pick turn into a superstar (Durant) but not fast enough to keep the team out of the high lottery for a couple more times after his entrance into the league, so they were able to land a couple of lotto picks, hit a 2nd home run with another (Westbrook, arguably as important as Durant to that team) and got solid return from their other high pick (Harden). The added yet another high pick in Green by trade Ray Allen. Green has also been solid, at least solid enough for them to acquire the needed size (Perkins). They did well with their other assets, too-- drafting Ibaka, acquiring Sefolosha, keeping Collision, etc. It's hard to have luck like this. Often a bad luck event or two derail rising teams. Portland, for example, was OKC before OKC-- they got the two best players out of the 2006 draft (Roy and Aldridge), got the #1 pick in the next draft, got a steal in Batum, and even made solid veteran acquisitions in Miller and Camby. Injuries, as we know, have now derailed that team. All the draft steals and good trades made by Daryl Morey, too, could not make up for the injuries that wrecked Yao and McGrady's career. Back to OKC: they've had a remarkable string of good luck so far-- no star player lost to injuries, no expensive mistakes. Neverthelss, they haven't proven themselves to be elite yet, and their ascendency can easily be derailed, despite all of the good management and good luck they've had so far.
Yes, management made mistakes, but their personnel choices were not exactly the kind where you go "WTF" at the time they were made, but simply didn't work out well enough. The point is, the lottery system, designed to bring "parity," really has not succeeded in doing so if "parity" means a well managed team has an opportunity to build itself up to a title contender in the medium/long run if it keeps making good decisions. Instead, the current system results in very few teams being able to win a championship over the period of, say, 10 years and very few even being in serious contention over the 5-6 year term. There really isn't much parity there.
a couple of things, management is the key. its the key to not picking fool's gold and the key to surrounding young talent with players that fit. I look at the Wizards and I think they will make noise in the near future, not for just landing into wall but also picking players like mcgee. portland has been unlucky but they still have a formadible roster. the key even with good management is getting a player to stay in a good situation. sometimes its impossible as with the case with carmelo. denver was just on the outside looking in the WC elite. we will see how they respond. we will also see what durant does when his next contract comes up but that also depends on what the new CBA will dictate.
Another idea: Just take turns. For the beginning of the system, use the records of the past 30 years. (Teams that did not exist in the early years get 0 wins in those years.) Use that to determine the draft order of the 1st year. (Or you can use a weighted system. The more recent wins have more weight.) The team that has picked #1 in the previous draft goes to the back of the line and pick #30. All other teams move up one spot. This way, every team eventually has a chance to pick up a franchise player. I know this will never happen. But hey, just a wild idea.
Tanking shouldnt be done. The operative word is rebuilding. Not losing on purpose but by your pratice of rebuilding. If you go young and win anyways? Thats good too. Never tank on purpose. It is what is now anyways. We are too much in the middle to tank. All we can do is go for a playoff spot now. Hope our young guys get enough playing time and develop enough. Hope Morey is lucky or smart in the middle part of the draft round/offseason signings.
Easy, easy... Anyway, if the Rockets get the Spurs in the first round, I think the Rockets are going to win the series and advance. It's been a long time since the Spurs and Rockets met in the playoffs. I really want to see that.
My solution is very simple: re-adjust the odds for the lottery teams so that tanking becomes more shameful than beneficial. It's debatable how the odds should be re-distributed among the 14 teams.
Your statement makes no sense, they say making that push is punishing them and Morey says failure is heavily incentivized. The problem is that they do know basketball but more importantly, but the heart of the the problem is the NBA rewards you for sucking.
alcatrazpsycho's propsed NBA draft lottery If my understanding of the current NBA draft is correct, after the top 3 positions are decided, the remaining 11 positions are decided by NBA season record. Teams 15-30 are fixed and take no part in the lottery. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anyhow, here is my idea for an NBA draft. My lottery would be based on our current lottery. One major difference however is that there would be two lotteries: one for "winning teams," the other for "losing teams." I would also add two teams to the "losing teams" lottery, the 8th seeded playoff teams from each conference (as a token of appreciation for trying to win and making the cut, they would each get two "balls" in the higher tier). Also, as you can see, the odds are little more equalized, as an incentive for teams to suck less. After the first position in the draft is revealed, that team's "balls" would be removed from the lottery. Then a second drawing would take place. After the second position in the draft is decided, that team's "balls" would then be removed, and a third drawing would take place. This would repeat until all 16 positions are filled. Playoff teams would also have their own lottery in the same format, although the highest pick they can attain is 17th. After the final results are recorded, the order of the 2nd round picks in the draft would inversed for each respective tier. So for the "losing team" with the 1st pick in the first round, they would have the 16th pick in the second round (46th overall). The team with the 2nd pick in the first round would have the 15th pick in the second round (45th overall). And so forth. The same would go for the winning teams tier. The team with the 17th pick in the first round would have the 30th pick in the second round (60th overall). And so forth.
What if it were a yes to both of those? Would you be fine with tanking then? It seems liks most of the posts from the anti-tank crowd deal with how wrong it is, yet I never hear anyone complain about it getting us Hakeem. I'm sure no one in San Antonio regrets tanking for Timmy.
In a hypothetical scenario, or a Cinderella-story-on-steroids if you will, with my proposed draft, an 8th seeded team could win the NBA championship, and win the 1st overall pick of the NBA draft too. I think JVG would approve. :grin:
Portlands issue was bad management/scouting, and not all luck. If they would have taken the right player when they had the #1 pick then they would still be a contender, even considering their injuries. They were just dumb to pass on Durant.
