If the league is really serious about having competitive balance, then they should end the Draft Lottery process! Not every team can be a contender but every team should strive to be a playoff team. My crazy proposal? Reward the teams that compete to win and not play for ping pong balls. I feel the draft order for the 14 teams to not make the playoffs should go from best to worst record. How does the league not take issue with teams "tanking" to improve their chances for the top pick? How many times do teams start slow or have a significant injury, and rather then trying to make a deal to stay afloat and compete, they gut the team? Teams should never check out and play the best they can all season long. If you blow up your team, you deserve a low draft pick! The incentive for every team each year should be playoffs. Knowing fully well that even if they come up short, they'd land a top pick for finishing strong. A strong team that falls short but adds a top pick surely should be a playoff team the next season. They could even entertain trading the pick for solid veteran pieces since in theory they're close anyway. What do you guys think?
I see the point you're making, but some teams are just bad regardless of their MO, the Cavs and Pistons need those high draft picks, no one is signing outright with them.
Sorry, skimmed your post and missed what you said. Anyways, that kinda system would keep bad teams bad forever, and the strong teams would just get stronger.
Also, I could see teams battling it out at the top to just barely miss the playoffs to get the number 1 pick, rather than actually make the playoffs.
i say just have all non-playoff teams have an equal amount of ping pong balls and draw 1-14. that way tanking doesnt help anybody
Hey I have been thinking though this is not really related to the topic. What if they change the rules now that the rookies draft from now onwards, when their rookie contracts ends, they can only be restricted free agent, and if the team signs them it will be another contract which ends with the player being a restricted free agent again. So if it is a small market team owning that player, which may be a superstar, the star wont be able to leave if the team is willing to pay the max for him. Not sure about this,
I understand the sentiment, but I think this system would have as many disadvantages as our current one. On the upside, it would be good to see the truly bad teams fight hard to make it to mediocre. On the other hand, that's the problem- we would replace a race to the bottom with a race to the mediocre in order to land the next Lebron or Durant. Would you rather be eighth seed facing the first seed in the playoffs, or lose one or two more games and land a possible Durant? Sixth seed? Fifth? I think that once you get out of the top three or four teams in each conference who truly see themselves as competing for the championship, everybody else in the bottom half of the playoff bracket will be caught in a decision between playing a likely superior opponent with hopes of advancing a round or two, or landing the next Griffin. The playoff race in the final weeks is already ridiculous, with teams only a game or two away from each other. In this system, I think one third to one half of the frikking league would try to hover around .500 ball, and in each of their last ten games, look at the positioning and see if they can just squeak by and not make the playoffs.
On the other hand, in this system the Rockets would have rebuilt in no time! How many times have we had the best record of a non playoff team in the last 10 years? God.
OP, I like your point. What if they weighted the lottery like a Bell curve and made it for all 14 picks instead of the top 3? The crappiest teams will be forced to play their veterans more instead of giving it to some young players that are too raw to even do anything. While borderline playoff teams would still have a incentive to make the playoffs, because their lottery odds would still suck if they were the 9th seed. 1- 1% 2- 1% 3- 1% 4- 4% 5- 8% 6- 15% 7- 20% 8- 20% 9- 15% 10- 8% 11- 4% 12- 1% 13- 1% 14- 1% The crappy teams would be rewarded for trying. They would keep trying to beat other craps to avoid having the worst record. It would get around the problem of borderline teams(6th-8th) tanking to get get the 1 pick, if you are choosing the best non-lottery team.
Wow so here is the flaw to the system that some have proposed. 1. Equal % chance of getting #1 pick for 1-14 teams: That is fine, but that really is only said since we are usually the 14th seed. Also, teams that truly do suck can't get better faster. The whole reason to have a lottery is to prevent an NFL like system where tanking gaurantees the #1 pick. With a lottery, you are not gauranteed that pick. 2. Eliminate lottery to avoid tanking - well the lottery prevents tanking in the first place. In the NFL, tanking guarantees you the #1 pick (see the colts) but the lottery gives you a chance to not have that opportunity. Tanking is INEVITABLE in every sport because leagues want to help teams that are terrible by giving them first dibs on new players. No league will give an equal chance at a first pick for middle of pack teams and lowest of low teams. The only solution is for people that think it is rigged and have them draw balls on live TV. That way people will not complain that it was rigged and accept that that is how the balls fell
That is a pretty good idea, but the whole point of the draft is to help teams that need the help first. In your model, Cleveland which was the worst team has almost the same chance as the rockets for the number one pick and they had 2 picks in the lottery
Just take the 14 lottery teams and rank them in order of the best record over their last 20 games of the season. In essence, of the 14 lottery teams, the one with the best record over their last 20 games would pick first. Obviously some teams would have an easier schedule, but that's how it is over the course of the season anyway. It all evens out over the years.
Except for a team like the Pacers, who could tank to miss the 8th seed and then try to get the #1 pick.
No offense but some of these ideas arent helpful at all and would not solve anything. You are basically saying that if your team is 8th seed it would be better to miss the playoffs than make it in order to get the 1st pick. This would make tanking worse because now good teams would be doing it.
I like the idea of a bell curve, but the worst team in basketball should never have 1% chance at the top pick. I think the current lottery system would work if they just added more weight to picks 6-14.
