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Culture of winning or tank?

Win or tank?


  • Total voters
    87
What pick was brunson? Dude seems like an MVP level dude. As shocking as that is.

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NBA teams have objectively gotten worse at drafting and there are more busts now than ever, especially at the top. Do you wanna pick top 5 instead of not picking top 5? Of course, of course. It's just that the cost of it may be greater than it seems.
Actually, the opposite is true. The NBA teams were much, much worse at drafting in the past. This is the link to the first picks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_overall_NBA_draft_picks. Since they are color-coded you can see that back in the 60s and 70s many 1st picks simply failed to notch a single All-Star selection. And among those that did many ended up being only marginal All Stars. This has not changed much in the 80s, when Jordan, Malone, Barkley, Stockton, Drexler, Pippen were all taken later. Why? Because in the past the GMNs stubbornly drafted any decent looking centers with their 1st and 2nd picks. That's how we kept ending up with olowokandis, kwame browns and sam bowies of the world.

It's only in the last 15-20 years when the teams started actually consider ALL positions for their top picks. And if you look at the last 5 drafts, 4 out of 5 first picks would still be selected first based on what we know today.
 
Of course teams became better at drafting over time: there is much more tape on prospects, much greater use of analytics, better understanding of what the teams can improve in prospects by coaching and physical programs. The reason why the draft is still far from certainty is because the talent pool has become became truly global and you have to somehow compare euros from the weak professional leagues against American players in the NCAA etc.

Also, the NBA stars have become much more skilled than before: they have to be able to score, defend on the perimeter, hit threes, be good passers, maintain their body for the entire season and, often, The international tournaments... In the past a good size and athleticism alone were a much better predictor of future prospects. You did not have to guess if this center could develop a three point game or that wing could become a good playmaker. Drafting teenagers into the hardest professional league is an incredibly hard job and, I think, those doing it should be appreciated a bit more.
 
No, the NBA teams have gotten objectively worse at drafting. It's that simple. Here's an article, along with its statistical analysis, as a start.

 
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