I agree - this system of rewarding teams for being bad is a failed one. It's not necessarily a recipe for acheiving parity in the NBA, as we all know. But I'm speaking as a fan who is tired of picking 14th as well. I don't agree that Lebron could have singlehandly taken the Cavaliers to the championship without some quality players, such as Mo Williams, Gibson, Ilgauskas, etc. Jordan's Bulls sucked early in his career until they gathered quality players around him.
JV was playing better because he's surrounded by veterans who know how to play the game, namely a non tanking environment. He's not entitled any minutes or shots from what I saw, he earned them.
It's just that a player in the NBA like Lebron can instantly turn a franchise around either way. He did carry some really bad teams very far. Even if it's not Lebron-Caliber... Blake Griffin made the Clippers exciting, as a result Chris Paul was willing to go there (although he still has not resigned) I think most NBA fans will agree the draft lottery system doesn't work. It surely doesn't create parity...and it actually rewards teams for being bad. If they just fix it (and many people have offered great ideas) then you'll see teams going all out every year to make the playoffs and not be punished for it. Right now you are punished for doing what the Rockets have done the past few years, harshly so. It's just silly that the team that actually wants to win is punished for doing so, meanwhile the Magic who will embrace being terrible this year if lucky could draft their next franchise superstar. Even us tankers/rebuilders will admit it's a horrible system. I'm for gaming the system until it's fixed. Les should be more vocal about it too, he's a owner...he has every right to complain about this and try to get some other owners on board to bringing it to the commish and having it changed.
Well if you can't buy a lady while you're waiting for the hottie, you have to wait for the new talent to come out. This league is set up to spoil the hotties. In the next few years there are some remarkable talent. If you like morey's strategies in evaluating talent, then the draft is not as scary as being the team with Kahn at the helm or worse, Jordan. We are not getting a franchise talent by FA. You need something more than what we are presenting today. There is a possibility that our young guys can step up. That is different than staying the course of the last couple of years. I've been a fan since the early 90s, so I guess I envy the times where our team had elite talent that put good teams on their asses. I guess I just want the team to follow the same course they took then to construct championship caliber teams.
Teams the Rockets will do better than this year: Bobcats Kings Pistons Hornets Magic Teams the Rockets probably will do better than this year: Cavs Teams the Rockets may do better than this year: Suns Bucks Trailblazers Wizards Raptors Bottom line, even if the Rockets do tank, they for sure won't get a top 5 pick in the lottery.
I am actually for this draft system - it's keeps things mixing. Just take a look at the english premiere league in football, bloody boring, it's just money.
the salary cap is what makes it different from the EPL. the draft system has little to do with it, really. It just produces farmers who supply LeBrons, Dwights and Melos for the main teams. Teams like Thunder are an extreme rarity, because getting 3-4 stars in a short span via draft is a once-in-40 years type of thing. The last time this happened was the 80s Celtics with Red Auerbach. They need to tweak the system where mediocre teams don't get stuck in mediocrity. Maybe increase the lottery odds for mid-table teams. Maybe even do something more extreme, where mid table teams have the best odds, therefore being the worst team in the league is truly bad and there's no incentive to tank.
To all tankers: Exhibit A: Trailblazers draft Damian Lillard as #6 pick. Portland already has all-star LeMarcus Aldridge at PF as well other solid players like Batum, Matthews, Hickson, etc. Will the Trailblazers, with Lillard in tow, now win the championship? Probably not. How about next year win the championship? Probably not. Will the Trailblazers make the playoffs this year even? I'm guessing no. Another example would be New Orleans, with the number one pick, but who, also, will not be winning a championship any time soon. Fact of the matter there is usually only one or two players in an entire draft who has the ability and the determination to in a short period of time take a team from really bad to decent; and the chances that the Rockets draft such a player is minimal. More often than not top ten picks become decent NBA players, however not superstars. Also you have to consider the "too good too fast" syndrome, and that superstars generally do not want to play for bad teams: think Lebron and Melo. They get really good, and they want out of Houston. Rebuilding is a gamble: nothing is guaranteed. Consider the Bobcats, Pistons, Kings, Wizards, all with top picks over the past five years and all still very subpar.
