NBA may abolish the draft to prevent tanking

[Aarongavey]

https://www.hitc.com/adam-silver-is-...ing-for-picks/

Although eliminating the rookie draft was not formally proposed, it could receive serious consideration if other measures prove ineffective.

The NBA has operated with a draft system since the era of Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Removing it would mark one of the most significant structural changes in league history.

Silver noted that the draft is designed to help struggling teams rebuild and compete. He questioned whether that purpose is compromised if franchises manipulate outcomes to improve their lottery position.

[dino7c]

The current system needs to be improved in all sports, not sure you can totally abolish it though
punishing teams for trying to compete is the opposite of what sport should be about as is rewarding teams for being terrible
Paying $200 to go to a game your team is better off losing also sucks a fat one

I think it should be an even lottery for non playoff teams with the only weighting based on recent picks. (no four firsts in six years losers) Even first round losers can be invovled somehow.

With a salary cap there is no excuse to suck for years on end...if you suck its because your managment sucks.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Terrible idea. Though I also think the NBA has a big problem with tanking that is really hurting the game.

I continue to support the Gold Plan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Plan_(sports)

[topfiverecords]

Draw names out of a hat.

[#-3]

I still think one of these leagues should try points after elimination as a model. for seeding the none playoff teams.

I think it's something that could be done retroactively instead of live.
example right now the Flames have a max of 104 pts.
Assuming 8th place hits 92pts, after another 6 loses (really another 12 missed points). Every point earned would count towards the loser standings, something that couldn't be established until the 8th place teams final game, but still could be easily measure after the fact, and would give the Flames a reason to continue icing an NHL team after the deadline, you don't know where the line is in the moment, so there is no single game that flips the switch from tanking to trying.

Edit, I see I',m just repeating Jiri

[transplant99]

Mark Cuban says they should "embrace tanking".

Money really does make people out of touch with reality.

"Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can't remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That's what makes the experience special," Cuban said.

"The worst s--- that the nba dishes out, is that if you don't lie to your fans about what you are doing , even though it's obvious to them , you get fined. And the threaten you with losing picks," he wrote.

"We didn't tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team," he wrote.

"Fans know their team can't win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team's record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring."

So it doesnt matter how your team played when you doled out 300 bucks to go to that game...nope....what mattered is who you sat beside.

JFC what an absurd take.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...fan-experience

[FlamesAddiction]

They shouldn't get rid of the draft, but they should change how draft position is decided. It's just too simple to say X team deserves a higher pick because they had a worse single season without taking other metrics into consideration (i.e. recent success, recent high picks, historical draft position, etc...). Using single season standings is lazy and not equitable and should only make up a part of the equation to determine lottery odds and draft position IMO. The current system doesn't address what teams actually need or deserve draft help more, nor does the aforementioned Gold Plan which can also be exploited.

For example, it's ridiculous that a franchise like Florida that has been to the finals three years in a row and won two Cups is probably going to draft higher than Columbus or Buffalo this year just because they had some bad luck and the other teams are having average success for one season. Such a team would probably kill it using the Gold Plan. Or teams like San Jose and Chicago that are already loaded with franchise player quality prospects and young players are going to draft really high again simply because it takes time for a team to hit their stride, but they already have the pieces.

[SuperMatt18]

The real problem the NBA has is a competitive balance problem, and a talent problem.

Contract rules, the ability for players to go to UFA at a young age, etc have led to players having more control to go to their preferred markets, meaning players leave their drafted teams earlier.

And also the league just isn't generating enough young talent and stars.

They can blame tanking but the reality is it's the only option for some markets with how the contract and luxury tax rules work.

[Sylvanfan]

The NBA is a two tier league more than any other sport, and one star player has a bigger impact in the NBA than other sport due to the size of the rosters and how much one player does play. It needs to be a 16 team Super League and a secondary league of 16 teams vying for a top 4 placing to move up next season.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Every North American sports league should go with a relegation/promotion model like European football. But obviously 0% chance it happens, owners in these leagues didn't acquire the teams they own to build something on merit and to earn their place, the bought it because their place is guaranteed no matter what. Being bad has no consequences in North American sports, getting relegated is a real consequence.

[CgyFlamesftw]

Going to back fire on them. NBA wants to allow draftee's to be free agents and sign where they please. Big market teams will always be competitive and win.

[MegaErtz]

I don't know man. In the last ten years, the NBA have had champions from Cleveland, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, and Denver. I don't think any of those cities would be considered big market teams.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by CgyFlamesftw

Going to back fire on them. NBA wants to allow draftee's to be free agents and sign where they please. Big market teams will always be competitive and win.

With a cap and luxury tax’s that prevent signing FAs there’s only so much money to go around

Unless you cap rookie salaries .

It has to be total free market . If a big market wants to sign the top draft pick to a 30 million $ contract it just means they aren’t signing someone else

The biggest issue is if all teams can’t spend to the cap - the low market teams can’t have cheap controllable players (which is a different argument if that’s even a “fair” model for players

[MegaErtz]

I don't know what the answer is, but the current system does not work in the NHL. The salary cap was brought in to help small market teams like the Flames compete, but we're less competitive now than we were in the late 90s and early 2000s. Maybe raising the draft age a couple of years might help? So few players play in the NHL in the year or two after they get drafted.

[Senator Clay Davis]

This whole thing is also kind of much ado about nothing. Lest we forget the Sixers and "The Process". Nobody in the media was really complaining about that at the level we're seeing now, and they were intentionally bad for four years in a row. Pretty sure they had multiple 20+ game losing streaks in that time.

Personally? Like so much now in sports I think gambling is the issue here. Tanking is bad for the books and hurts how much action NBA games get. That's the only major difference between tanking 10 years ago and tanking now.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

I don't know what the answer is, but the current system does not work in the NHL. The salary cap was brought in to help small market teams like the Flames compete, but we're less competitive now than we were in the late 90s and early 2000s. Maybe raising the draft age a couple of years might help? So few players play in the NHL in the year or two after they get drafted.

Would it be plausible to go to min 18 y/o for 1st round,
min 19 y/o for 2nd round
min 20 y/o for later rounds?

It would put most guys playing NA pro within D+2, I think if they did this, they would need to cut the draft down 1 or 2 rounds, because guys should expect to basically get a contract on the draft floor.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by MegaErtz

I don't know what the answer is, but the current system does not work in the NHL. The salary cap was brought in to help small market teams like the Flames compete, but we're less competitive now than we were in the late 90s and early 2000s. Maybe raising the draft age a couple of years might help? So few players play in the NHL in the year or two after they get drafted.

Maybe the Flames just historically suck and make bad decisions and it’s not the systems fault

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Terrible idea. Though I also think the NBA has a big problem with tanking that is really hurting the game.

I continue to support the Gold Plan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Plan_(sports)

The problem with this is the parity in the NHL.

Instead of being on an individual team’s elimination date (because some teams go to the final day), there should be a flag in the calendar that coincides with the trade deadline.

Draft order determined from the points % after the TDL. If you make the playoffs? There ya go, if you miss - then your efforts aren’t lost.

…could end up with some weird rare cases where teams may make strategic choices at the very end to ensure a playoff miss rather than a playoff appearance I suppose, but that seems unlikely in most cases.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

This whole thing is also kind of much ado about nothing. Lest we forget the Sixers and "The Process". Nobody in the media was really complaining about that at the level we're seeing now, and they were intentionally bad for four years in a row. Pretty sure they had multiple 20+ game losing streaks in that time.

Personally? Like so much now in sports I think gambling is the issue here. Tanking is bad for the books and hurts how much action NBA games get. That's the only major difference between tanking 10 years ago and tanking now.

I think teams benching their best players and shutting them down for fake injuries has gotten exponentially worse as well

It’s one thing to trade everyone and have a horrible roster . It’s another to have an off season and then decide to bench everyone .

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

The problem with this is the parity in the NHL.

Instead of being on an individual team’s elimination date (because some teams go to the final day), there should be a flag in the calendar that coincides with the trade deadline.

Draft order determined from the points % after the TDL. If you make the playoffs? There ya go, if you miss - then your efforts aren’t lost.

…could end up with some weird rare cases where teams may make strategic choices at the very end to ensure a playoff miss rather than a playoff appearance I suppose, but that seems unlikely in most cases.

So you want the best team that misses the playoffs to get the best players …

Soooo how does a legit bad team actually improve ? If you are last at the TDL you probably aren’t making a magical run no matter how hard you try