I agree with you on the idea of making it harder for stars to leave. Eliminate S&T for max players would stop tanking as much as anything. Teams like Cleveland, Toronto, Orlando and New Orleans all lost top former lottery players due to threats to leave... If you allow New Orleans to pay Paul 150% of what LAC can, will he leave? Would Melo? Bosh? Even James? The second thing I would do is make the draft 4 or3 rounds, increase the number of protected NBDL roster spots to 5 and allow high schoolers eligible. It would put less focus on the lottery only and allow teams to take high end potential high schoolers and develop them.
But yet you discussed it. I bet u philly plays like gangbusters if they know they are being relegated.
This is why max contract is the main culprit. If you eliminate max contract, players like LeBron would command much higher salaries, making a superfriend team almost impossible, unless those super duper stars really would be willing to give up tons of money in order to win.
I think this is better, the whole point of having a lottery in the first place is for equality, a team like the Cavs need a high pick more than a team like the Rox. To be honest I don't really have a problem with the whole tanking thing and max salary going on anyway, a team that has Harden and Howard is more entertaining to watch than a team that has Kevin Garnett and a bunch of scrubs (because, you know, prior to the max salary KG made like 80% of the cap). IMHO the issue previously was that all the up-and-coming stars in the NBA got injured, guys like Yao/Oden/Brandon Roy should still bein the league making their team more competitive instead of retired. Now that the new gen is catching up I think the issue of a watered down league will be moot.
Morey has said the same thing for years at seminars given at Universities for awhile now. He's never a fan of tanking and neither should anyone ever be. The strategy behind it makes it a viable option under THIS type of draft. It makes it more rewarding because unlike football and baseball, you're talking about one of 5 players on the field of play (court) at any given time for 75% of the game. It makes a bigger impact to have that one player that is with your franchise for 4 years and being the franchise that has the best chance of resigning that player (since you can offer the most money). Morey has mentioned in many instances in public that tanking to get to higher ground cheats the fans and the players. No team should have a strategy where you're sabotaging the 12-15 players on your roster and take away what they fight for so hard at the beginning of the season. Every bit of effort is taken away when you work as a unit and your best players are traded off your roster because the team is stuck in the middle of the pack with 1/3 of the season remaining. Why? Just to miss the playoffs and get as low as possible... I propose equal numbers of ping pong balls for all teams not in the lottery, and half as many for teams in the lottery. Somehow ensure that it's a legit system so the market teams don't automatically get richer.
THE LOTTERY Teams #25 thru #30 (6 worst teams in the league) take part in a televised lottery. No weights added, all six teams have 16.6% odds. Top-2 picks are rewarded. Other four teams get the #4, #5, #6 and #8 picks, going by order of worst record. Teams that receive the #1 pick are ineligible to win the lottery for another 4 years. In cases of recent lottery winners in the bottom-6, lottery is held as planned. If recent winner (past 4 years) wins again, they are pushed down to #2, while drawing for #1 pick is held again. What this does: - Gets rid of stupid "behind the curtain" lottery, and the conspiracy theories attached to it. - Helps out the worst teams without them trying to out-suck each other at the rate they currently do due to the equal weighting (teams would still try and get in that "bottom-6", but this wouldn't be as bad as it currently is). - The 6th worst team, if they don't get in the top-2, gets the 8th pick (66.7% chance), and that might discourage some on the cusp to tank to get in, and they might instead try their hand at the consolation tourney (read on). THE PLAYOFFS Nix the divisions. Teams #1 thru #6 in each conference make the playoffs. The top 2 seeds in each conference get a bye to rest and heal, and the "rust issue" in the NFL wouldn't be as much of a problem here due to the series format. The first round would feature the 3/6 and 4/5 match-ups in quick 5 game series. The later series would be 7 games, as usual. What this does: - Stops the bad 36-win teams from making the playoffs (usually...this year in the East might be a rare exception) - Gets rid of the pointless divisions and the ranking system that goes along with it. - Helps the top teams (SAS with Duncan, MIA with Wade etc) get healthy, giving them more incentive to "keep playing" at the end of the regular season. THE CONSOLATION Teams #13 thru #24 take part in a single-elimination tourney, which airs over the same ~10 day period that the 3/6 and 4/5 series are taking place. The winner gets rewarded the #3 pick, and the first runner up is rewarded the the #7 pick. Games all take place in one or two locations (hosted by the top 2 teams?), keeping to the March Madness-style. Also, winning the Consolation Tourney overrides the trading of any pick (every traded pick is protected in the case of winning the consolation tourney). The pick gets moved to next year. This gives bad teams that stupidly traded away picks (NYK) something to play for. What this does: - This helps address the "mediocrity treadmill" suffered by the solid teams that end up just out of the playoffs, and gives them something to look forward to/play for. And unlike other ideas which would award the consolation tourney winner the #1 pick (way too much, as already solid teams would steal the Anthony Davis types), this gives them a valuable reward worth playing for, without going completely overboard. - Gives the NBA an exciting single-elimination style playoff of CBB without putting too much on the line. - The "intrigue" of this + the 3/6 and 4/5 matchups keeps the fan interest intact despite having the best teams sit for a 10 day period. OTHER NOTES - Realignment and contracting ~2 teams may also be considered, as even with the new format, the East's lack of quality would still be evident. - In terms of salaries, nix individual max contracts and implement a team hard cap.
I like the Wheel idea. I like that a team trading a draft pick would know exactly what selection they were trading away or for. It would actually probably allow more draft picks to be traded. For instance, if the Rockets were picking high in a year where the best player on the board is a SG, and they already had Harden, they could trade that pick for a future pick with the certainty of know what they were getting.
