NBA may abolish the draft to prevent tanking

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Abolish the draft and abolish entry-level salaries. The teams with the most cap space are often the worst teams. I think everything would come out in the wash with some variation of this.

If it's a bidding war, the less attractive, and higher taxed, locations would have to pay more for everyone, thus having a significant, permanent disadvantage.

There is a reason there is a draft, and it is that there is nothing better. (not directed at you)

[Funkhouser]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Just for fun, I made a spreadsheet that awards "points" to teams based on standing over the past 3 season, playoff success, and previous draft position. The team with fewer points drafts higher.

It goes like this:

Finishing top 2 in the standings in any of the last 3 seasons gives you 10 points.
Finishing 3-7 gives you 7 points.
Finishing 8-17 gives you 5 points.
Finishing 18-27 gives you 3 points.
Finishing 28-32 (or bottom 5) gives you 1 point.

Making the playoffs in one of the last 3 seasons gives you 1 point.
Making the final 4 gives you 3 points.
Making the SCFs gives you 4 points.
Winning the Cup gives you 5 points.
Missing the playoffs gives 0 points.

Drafting top 3 in any of the past 2 seasons gives you 5 points.
Drafting 4-5 OA gives you 4 points.
Drafting 6-10 gives you 3 points.
Drafting 11-20 gives you 2 points.
Drafting 21-32 gives you 1 point.

For this year's standings, I assumed that the standings at the end of the season are the same as today.

For the playoffs, I just assumed that the top 4 and top 2 teams by point percentage would be the last teams standing with Colorado winning the Cup. Since it is just an experiment, it didn't matter.

For drafting, I only considered where teams would have picked and not picks that were acquired through trade.

There were also some ties in points, so I used goal differential as the tie breaker (you could use regulation wins, or whatever). The former just seemed easier and quicker.

The final draft order looked like this:

1. Calgary
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. Columbus
5. San Jose
6. Vancouver
7. Seattle
8. Pittsburg
9. St. Louis
10. Nashville
11. New Jersey
12. Anaheim
13. Detroit
14. Utah
15. Montreal
16. Boston
17. New York Rangers
18. Buffalo
19. Ottawa
20. Minnesota
21. Los Angeles
22. Toronto
23. Vegas
24. New York Islanders
25. Winnipeg
26. Washington
27. Tampa Bay
28. Edmonton
29. Carolina
30. Colorado
31. Dallas
32. Florida


I swear when I started do it, I had no intention of coming up with a system that would give the Flames 1st OA. It just happened that way, probably because there are only 5 teams in the NHL set to miss the playoffs three years in row, all of which are in the top 5 on this list. Also helping was the obvious fact that the Flames haven't drafted top 5 in any of the past couple of seasons. It also might overly punish teams for being in the final 2 in the playoffs and the Cup winner as there was some duplication (they got points add for also being in the final 4).

Anyway, it was just an experiment and a really rough idea for awarding draft position based on actually parameters and measures rather an just year-to-year standings followed up by a lottery. It's definitely not perfect, I realize that.

I really like this system and think it would discourage tanking while also taking account for aberrations (up or down).

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Just for fun, I made a spreadsheet that awards "points" to teams based on standing over the past 3 season, playoff success, and previous draft position. The team with fewer points drafts higher.

It goes like this:

Finishing top 2 in the standings in any of the last 3 seasons gives you 10 points.
Finishing 3-7 gives you 7 points.
Finishing 8-17 gives you 5 points.
Finishing 18-27 gives you 3 points.
Finishing 28-32 (or bottom 5) gives you 1 point.

Making the playoffs in one of the last 3 seasons gives you 1 point.
Making the final 4 gives you 3 points.
Making the SCFs gives you 4 points.
Winning the Cup gives you 5 points.
Missing the playoffs gives 0 points.

Drafting top 3 in any of the past 2 seasons gives you 5 points.
Drafting 4-5 OA gives you 4 points.
Drafting 6-10 gives you 3 points.
Drafting 11-20 gives you 2 points.
Drafting 21-32 gives you 1 point.

For this year's standings, I assumed that the standings at the end of the season are the same as today.

For the playoffs, I just assumed that the top 4 and top 2 teams by point percentage would be the last teams standing with Colorado winning the Cup. Since it is just an experiment, it didn't matter.

For drafting, I only considered where teams would have picked and not picks that were acquired through trade.

There were also some ties in points, so I used goal differential as the tie breaker (you could use regulation wins, or whatever). The former just seemed easier and quicker.

The final draft order looked like this:

1. Calgary
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. Columbus
5. San Jose
6. Vancouver
7. Seattle
8. Pittsburg
9. St. Louis
10. Nashville
11. New Jersey
12. Anaheim
13. Detroit
14. Utah
15. Montreal
16. Boston
17. New York Rangers
18. Buffalo
19. Ottawa
20. Minnesota
21. Los Angeles
22. Toronto
23. Vegas
24. New York Islanders
25. Winnipeg
26. Washington
27. Tampa Bay
28. Edmonton
29. Carolina
30. Colorado
31. Dallas
32. Florida


I swear when I started do it, I had no intention of coming up with a system that would give the Flames 1st OA. It just happened that way, probably because there are only 5 teams in the NHL set to miss the playoffs three years in row, all of which are in the top 5 on this list. Also helping was the obvious fact that the Flames haven't drafted top 5 in any of the past couple of seasons. It also might overly punish teams for being in the final 2 in the playoffs and the Cup winner as there was some duplication (they got points add for also being in the final 4).

Anyway, it was just an experiment and a really rough idea for awarding draft position based on actually parameters and measures rather an just year-to-year standings followed up by a lottery. It's definitely not perfect, I realize that.

This is pretty good. It doesn't reward Florida for having injuries that will be corrected by next season. They don't need help, and it's ridiculous that a cup champion two years running could pick 1OA this year (they've won my similated lottery as many times as Calgary ).

[Mathgod]

FA's idea is a good one, though the 3 year lookback needs to be longer (at least 10 years), and winning the cup should be a huge jump compared to losing in the finals (maybe 8 points instead of just 5).

[Ace]

Originally Posted by transplant99

There has never been more parity in the leagues history.

This is a serious question: Is this really true, or is it a result of the loser point system making every team appear closer than they are?

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Ace

This is a serious question: Is this really true, or is it a result of the loser point system making every team appear closer than they are?

In the past 10 years there have been 7 different cup winners and 13 total different teams in the finals

In the prior 10 years there were 7 different cup winners and 14 total different teams in the finals

Looks like the parity is the same for cup appearances at least

[ken0042]

Yes, but the loser point has been around for the last 20 years. The shootout came in in 2005-06; and the NHL brought in a point for an OT loss around 2000.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Any system that rewards teams for tanking is bad.

Any system that involves lotteries & random chance is bad.

Need a system that doesn't involve either of these things, IMO.

Keep the draft lottery but add in stipulations like teams can only pick top 3, two years in a row or if a team gets #1 overall, they can’t have another #1 for 3 years. Something along those lines.