New draft lottery system

[oldtimer]

Since the Jazz are either too ethical or too stupid to tank on purpose like philly, boston and the Lakers are currently doing, the Jazz should support a new draft system. The current system is not doing enough to stop tanking as teams right now are throwing games and its obvious. Throwing games intentionally is bad for the entire NBA. I propose a new system. First, the wheel system currently making the rounds is largely a media creation that favors big markets and good teams. Can you imagine if Miami scored Wiggins or Parker in this draft. What a fiasco that would be.

However, if the teams with the 14 worse records (non-playoff teams) were all eligible for the top 14 picks based on a five year average that would change everything and make sure the bad teams get better. There would be no lottery. The 14 teams with the worst record in that year would take their win percentage over the last five years and the worst average would get the first pick. The second worse average would get the second pick and so on all the way to 14. That way the teams that have been bad for a long time get the number one pick. This would prevent teams from trying to tank in one year to get a top pick. For example, the Lakers would have no shot at a number one pick this year because they have only been bad this one year. To get the number one pick you would have to bad for a long time. No teams is going to tank 5 years in a row on purpose. They wont have any fans. You could tweak this system a little by adding a rule that says if you get the number one pick you are ineligible for the number one pick two years in a row.

This is the best system for bad teams, small market teams and the NBA as a whole. Tanking on purpose would be eliminated. You don't have to have the worst record to be considered for the top pick. Bad teams would get better. I'm not sure why the league hasn't adopted this type of system earlier.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

This would prevent teams from trying to tank in one year to get a top pick. For example, the Lakers would have no shot at a number one pick this year because they have only been bad this one year. To get the number one pick you would have to bad for a long time. No teams is going to tank 5 years in a row on purpose. They wont have any fans. You could tweak this system a little by adding a rule that says if you get the number one pick you are ineligible for the number one pick two years in a row.

No, they'd still tank and stockpile assets for one big push.

Teams have control over their first round draft picks for a minimum of five years. Teams would shut down players. Look at New Orleans. They'd shut Davis down much earlier, be worse, get a better draft pick and try again. This idea won't change anything, actually. Teams like the Bulls in '99 would bottom out much more slowly, meaning they'd have less of a chance to get better, and be stuck being back for several years before they could ever get a good draft pick.

 

[cowhide]

There is no way to stop tanking if the league doesn't think it happens. The lottery is better than having the worse team get the top pick like they use to do it. With the lottery there is no guarantee that you get the top pick so even if teams are tanking they still might get screwed in the lottery. I think there should be some financial penalty and/or loss of a first round pick if your franchise finishes in the lottery 5 consecutive years in a row. Maybe taking away the pick is too harsh then penalize the pick. Meaning if you finish five years in a row in the lottery the highest you can get is the 14th pick.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

There is no way to stop tanking if the league doesn't think it happens. The lottery is better than having the worse team get the top pick like they use to do it. With the lottery there is no guarantee that you get the top pick so even if teams are tanking they still might get screwed in the lottery. I think there should be some financial penalty and/or loss of a first round pick if your franchise finishes in the lottery 5 consecutive years in a row. Maybe taking away the pick is too harsh then penalize the pick. Meaning if you finish five years in a row in the lottery the highest you can get is the 14th pick.

So, look at Minnesota, then. If Love leaves, what then? They get to pick at #14 for the rest of the team's existence?

 

[fishonjazz]

I think that all the teams that miss the playoffs should then have to play a single elimination tournament and the winner of that tournament gets the number 1 pick, 2nd place gets number 2 pick and so on.

Teams wouldn't tank because they would want to try to get as good a seed as possible for the tournament and they would want to establish good chemistry and gameplans so they would be prepared for the tournament.

I think this was an idea bill simmons had.
I think it would be awesome to watch and with the top picks on the line, teams would be giving their full effort

 

[fgcamel]

I think that all the teams that miss the playoffs should then have to play a single elimination tournament and the winner of that tournament gets the number 1 pick, 2nd place gets number 2 pick and so on.

Teams wouldn't tank because they would want to try to get as good a seed as possible for the tournament and they would want to establish good chemistry and gameplans so they would be prepared for the tournament.

I think this was an idea bill simmons had.
I think it would be awesome to watch and with the top picks on the line, teams would be giving their full effort

It would be funny to watch the players competing to win their potential replacement. And i'd love to see an awards ceremony where instead of a trophy they just bring out whoever the #1 prospect is and hand him over to the winner.

 

[Doublea]

There's always going to be teams that do bad, I don't get why that's a problem. Tanking for me doesn't hurt the nba.

 

[Revolution 9]

The Lakers will end up with Wiggins or Jabari. book it.

and Coach Corbin and Dennis Lindsey its partly your fault.

 

[Coach Ellis]

The only problem that I have with tanking is that the lottery IMO actually encourages any team between 6-10 to tank to get a better draft position.

We've had this conversation before about how to eliminate tanking. My position (which wasn't very popular and was widely criticized) is that I'd only have the worst 6 teams in the lottery. Teams 7-16 would participate in a single-elimination tournament for the 8th seed in each conference.

I think that hope to advance and late-season success would be more valuable than outright tanking to make bottom 6. This would hopefully improve the quality of play late in the season. The play-in tournament and season records would determine the rankings from 7-14, while 15-30 would work exactly as they do now depending on how far you advance. The worst teams would still have a shot at the top 3 picks, but could do no worse than 6th.

The play-in tournament would be exciting and a way to generate interest and revenue leading up to the traditional playoffs. Teams that finish out of the playoffs and out of the lottery would have their draft position determined by their regular season record, but the chance to advance until eliminated is still there.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

Wait, a 34-48 Philly team versus a 31-51 Minnesota team for the right to lose to Miami or Oklahoma City last year would have been exciting and would have generated interest?

 

[Coach Ellis]

The play-in tournament itself would be fun and exciting despite the fact that the end result would likely be the same once they earned the 8th seed. It gives teams something of value to play for. That's got to be worth something to middling NBA teams. Ideally, I'd prefer to see the first round of the playoffs scaled back to a 5 game series to ease the blow of the initial dismantling, but right now teams 7-14 are in no-mans land and there should be something to give them an incentive to play hard and win instead of tanking hard to lose.

 

[Coach Ellis]

For reference, the NCAA tournament is the only thing that really compares. Does a 16, 15, 14 or 13 seed team have a chance to win the tournament? Hell no. But they play and sometimes upset a better team for the right to get beaten by another better team later on. Still a lot more exciting than having the top 16 teams starting the tournament.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

The play-in tournament itself would be fun and exciting despite the fact that the end result would likely be the same once they earned the 8th seed. It gives teams something of value to play for. That's got to be worth something to middling NBA teams. Ideally, I'd prefer to see the first round of the playoffs scaled back to a 5 game series to ease the blow of the initial dismantling, but right now teams 7-14 are in no-mans land and there should be something to give them an incentive to play hard and win instead of tanking hard to lose.

Teams would try to lose the first game to get a better draft pick. Not like it's a March Madness thing.

5 game first round is ideal, but that's not happening anymore.

 

[Coach Ellis]

I personally think that competitors would rather compete to win than not. If they aren't in the bottom six, then they'd be in the tournament with an outside shot at the playoffs. Losing the first game gets you the same pick as getting eliminated in the last game - whatever spot you would have gotten based on your regular season record. It only changes if you win the tournament and end up with the 8th seed. The main incentive to win is a last-ditch shot at the playoffs and going on a run. Getting healthy, or adding a mid-season piece could pay of big for a team in that instance.

 

[oldtimer]

There is no way to stop tanking if the league doesn't think it happens. .

I thought my plan would stop it. Tanking on purpose like Philly is doing wouldn't make any sense unless they have been really bad for a long time. If they had been bad for 4 prior years,then maybe it would work.

 

[oldtimer]

So, look at Minnesota, then. If Love leaves, what then? They get to pick at #14 for the rest of the team's existence?

Not true. Minnesota hasn't been a powerhouse team even with love. If they lose love and lose more games next year they may get a real good pick. Minnesota would definitely benefit from this type of system.

 

[oldtimer]

I think that all the teams that miss the playoffs should then have to play a single elimination tournament and the winner of that tournament gets the number 1 pick, 2nd place gets number 2 pick and so on.Teams wouldn't tank because they would want to try to get as good a seed as possible for the tournament and they would want to establish good chemistry and game plans so they would be prepared for the tournament.

That's an interesting idea. At least you would not get so many terrible games. Its sad to watch a team trying to win and a team trying to lose. That is how you get 40 or 50 point blow out losses. No fun to watch. The only thing that would matter is losing enough games to get into the playoffs. It would be interesting to have two playoffs. One group playing for the championship and one playing for the top pick.

My only problem with this idea is that the teams that really need the top pick wont get it. It could really make perennial losers

 

[oldtimer]

There's always going to be teams that do bad, I don't get why that's a problem. Tanking for me doesn't hurt the nba.

tanking hurts the NBA because with so many teams trying to lose over half the games played on any given night are intentionally noncompetitive. The league doesn't want that. The NBA wants games as exciting as possible not the dumpster fires that are taking place this year with so many times trying to improve their draft standing. Everyone except the jazz that is.

 

[oldtimer]

The Lakers will end up with Wiggins or Jabari. book it.

and Coach Corbin and Dennis Lindsey its partly your fault.

I agree the Lakers will get Wiggins and Boston will get Parker or vice versa and that is bull crap. The Jazz and other teams have been out of the playoffs for years and deserve a real shot at a great player. You should not be allowed to lose one year and get a great player when other teams lose every year and can seem to grab the one guy who would improve their team. Teams like the Bucks deserve a really good pick because they have sucked for years.

 

[Darkwing Duck]

Not true. Minnesota hasn't been a powerhouse team even with love. If they lose love and lose more games next year they may get a real good pick. Minnesota would definitely benefit from this type of system.

It would be several years down the line if you're averaging records.