NBA may abolish the draft to prevent tanking

[WickerChicken]

Some great recommendations in this thread. I’m a fan of any solution that promotes competitive balance, and protects the integrity of the game.

The current draft model undermines both. By rewarding lower finishes with higher picks, it creates a built-in incentive to lose. We call it “tanking,” but structurally it’s just teams responding rationally to the system. That puts the burden of maintaining game integrity on individual organizations — even when losing may be in their long-term best interest.

No team should be put in a position where doing what’s best for their future means compromising the quality of the game in the present. A better system would reduce or eliminate the incentive to lose while still giving teams that have not had success, a path to improve.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't think tanking is a big issue in the NHL either (NBA it is though)
What I'm interested more in solving for is:
- Fans should be cheering for their teams to win not lose. How do you incentivize that.
- And how do you keep the entire season interesting even for teams out of it.

I like the gold system for those reasons.

That's an ideal. If your team is bad, can't win, and you are cheering for them to win while they constantly lose, it's akin to being in a bad relationship. You can still find some enjoyment in the sport by embracing the tank. Raiders finished last in the NFL and I'm not going to blow smoke up people's rear end and say that was exciting, however the way the NFL does it with strength of schedule, I joined fellow Raiders fans on the message boards following the bad teams weekly down the stretch hoping the Raiders would lose key games and hope other bad teams would pull off an upset. It's weird but it made the final few weeks meaningful and now they get to draft Mendoza. It's the most excited I've been as a Raiders fan for a long time and while I'm not under the illusion that Mendoza is a savior, he brings hope and that's a hell of a lot more fun than trying to get up for a season with Geno Smith, Minshew, or Garoppolo as the starting QB where you know the organization is spinning it's wheels to another meaningless season.

Flames should finish bottom 5 this season but has it really been that bad? Sure I haven't been glued to the games like I would if they were a contender but there have been some entertaining games and good moments as winning the season series against the Oilers never gets old. Also possibly some good stories with Brzustewicz and Gridin looking like they could be players. The trade possibilities are always something exciting. I'm fully willing to put up with a few more seasons like this if it's going to lead to better days ahead because the truth is that there haven't been enough good seasons for fans of the Calgary Flames over the decades and part of that reason is that the organization has never fully committed to rebuilding like they have been the past few seasons (even if they won't admit it).

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't think tanking is a big issue in the NHL either (NBA it is though)
What I'm interested more in solving for is:
- Fans should be cheering for their teams to win not lose. How do you incentivize that.
- And how do you keep the entire season interesting even for teams out of it.

I like the gold system for those reasons.

I consider myself a fairly big NBA fan and I'm not so convinced tanking is such a big issue. I do think the issue is knowing whether you will get to see certain stars play, but that's not really tanking. And they do have a draft lottery system.

The way I see it, fans can cheer for whatever they want as long as they are maintaining interest. Is there evidence that tanking teams are making fans lose interest in the product? Because I'm not really sure there is.

Just IMO it's more of an intellectual debate than a real issue. But to your point, Silver is talking about it. The NBA does keep trying new things so maybe they do something creative.

[Itse]

The Gold Plan is unnecessarily complicated, and IMO pretty pointless.

Teams don't need additional incentive to win, everyone involved gets into sports to win. All that's needed is removing the incentive to lose.

Make it simple: fully randomized lottery for non-playoff teams, with some additional rules to even it out somewhat in the long-term.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Itse

The Gold Plan is unnecessarily complicated, and IMO pretty pointless.

Teams don't need additional incentive to win, everyone involved gets into sports to win. All that's needed is removing the incentive to lose.

Make it simple: fully randomized lottery for non-playoff teams, with some additional rules to even it out somewhat in the long-term.

OK but if Fla misses (mainly because of injury) and wins the lottery that will throw things a bit.

[Goriders]

Why not just make it like kids community sports and don’t keep score. Everyone’s a winner.

Problem solved.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Why not just make it like kids community sports and don’t keep score. Everyone’s a winner.

Problem solved.

So in this scenario how do they determine draft order ?

[MrMike]

Best idea I’ve ever heard is this.

End of the year, teams must pick another team to tie their first round pick to.

So let’s say Vancouver ends up 32 this year and we are 31

They must pick another team and where they finish next year is there draft position, so where we finish would decide their pick next year.

And so on and so fourth down the line.

This would end tanking because your record does not tie to your pick, while also creating fan interest in another team you wouldn’t have cared about before.

Everyone wins.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Tanking is not nearly the issue it is in the NBA. In the NBA, players are held out for "maintenance days" which I think almost never happens in the NHL. If star players are held out on back-to-back games, then there may be a problem.

More to the tanking issue, in the NBA players have season ending surgery early, are held out for 4th quarters of winnable games and now we are seeing trades for injured players who will not play this year, where it is more clear the intent is not to win games. It makes a 1/4 of the season nearly unwatchable for those franchise season ticket holders.

I don't think what the Flames or any NHL team is at that level. I still cheer for wins, but if Kadri/Coleman are traded, I will enjoy seeing the young guys get a chance. Those guys aren't trying to lose.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Tanking is not nearly the issue it is in the NBA. In the NBA, players are held out for "maintenance days" which I think almost never happens in the NHL. If star players are held out on back-to-back games, then there may be a problem.

More to the tanking issue, in the NBA players have season ending surgery early, are held out for 4th quarters of winnable games and now we are seeing trades for injured players who will not play this year, where it is more clear the intent is not to win games. It makes a 1/4 of the season nearly unwatchable for those franchise season ticket holders.

I don't think what the Flames or any NHL team is at that level. I still cheer for wins, but if Kadri/Coleman are traded, I will enjoy seeing the young guys get a chance. Those guys aren't trying to lose.

Maintenance games are coming to the NHL. IIRC the Oilers Sat McDavid and Drai for a week before the playoffs last year.

[Weitz]

NFL has it right. Just go to rankings and ignore the complainers.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

So in this scenario how do they determine draft order ?

Clearly by having volunteers in the stands rating the teams. Evaluation style

[I_H8_Crawford]

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)

Wouldn't this just move the tanking from the middle/end of the season to the beginning/middle?

Any team that starts out real slow, why not just tank early to ensure you accumulate more points earlier than others to get that 1st overall?

[CliffFletcher]

Teams eams usually aren't eliminated from the playoffs until late March or early April. So the Gold Plan wouldn't change much. The 'benefit' is the worst 4 or 5 teams in the league would have 6-12 so games at the tail end of the season where they're trying to win rather than lose.

On the negative side, it would kill the trade deadline.

Another negative is it's really gimmicky and complicated. Extremely online stats nerds would love it. 90 per cent of fans would be baffled by the whole thing.

[howard_the_duck]

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)

I think some version of this with an arbitrary cutoff for playoff contention could work. Not a top 22 team by March 18th (for example), you're in a tournament where the winner gets the top pick.

Yes, with the NHL's parity you won't have teams out of the playoff race until late March/April. But if you draw a line in the sand and set a date, the bottom 6-8 teams are eliminated from playoff contention and then suddenly have something to play for when otherwise they didn't.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Teams eams usually aren't eliminated from the playoffs until late March or early April. So the Gold Plan wouldn't change much. The 'benefit' is the worst 4 or 5 teams in the league would have 6-12 so games at the tail end of the season where they're trying to win rather than lose.

On the negative side, it would kill the trade deadline.

Another negative is it's really gimmicky and complicated. Extremely online stats nerds would love it. 90 per cent of fans would be baffled by the whole thing.

It would also prevent teams from auditioning their young players and prospects giving them valuable development experience and planning for the future. As a fan, it would be irritating seeing them not play the young guys when the team is already out of the playoffs.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Weitz

NFL has it right. Just go to rankings and ignore the complainers.

sounds like an Oiler fan take lol

[dino7c]

You have to trade picks with the team behind you January 31st

Flames and Vancouver trade picks...there we don't need to cheer for losses and can cheer for Canuck losses

[DJones]

Top 5-10 players being able to sign full contracts would be interesting. Team wants McKenna, offer him 10 million. 5 years and he's a full UFA.

Remaining players get drafted as normal.

Very unlikely that happens but I'd support it. Salary cap system should balance things out naturally. Make it so there's always some newsworthy free agents each summer as well.

I do like the idea of lottery odds being for more than one year. Detroit comes to mind where feels like they should have gotten some sort of bonus for being dropped year after year

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by MrMike

Best idea I’ve ever heard is this.

End of the year, teams must pick another team to tie their first round pick to.

So let’s say Vancouver ends up 32 this year and we are 31

They must pick another team and where they finish next year is there draft position, so where we finish would decide their pick next year.

And so on and so fourth down the line.

This would end tanking because your record does not tie to your pick, while also creating fan interest in another team you wouldn’t have cared about before.

Everyone wins.

Which team gets to pick which team is representing their draft pick first?