2009 NBA Draft thread

Didn't see this anywhere. Please delete, if I missed it.

Anyway, an interesting point was broached during the Simmons-Gladwell exchange last week about how the NBA Draft lottery is set up. How it rewards the worst teams.

They mentioned a few different ways to mix it up. Maybe giving each lottery team the same odds and even giving EVERY team in the league the same odds.

One of those guys made the point that the same teams are in the lottery every year, so that must mean it doesn't work. Someone also mentioned how the growth of the top picks can be stunted by playing on awful teams.

I'm not sure where I stand, but it'd sure be interesting to see the best teams have the same chance to get Blake Griffin as the worst teams.

Thoughts?

 

Elgin Baylor just kicked a puppy and doesn't know why.

 

Exactly right. And for the record, I love NBA draft lottery night. I never miss it.

 

Yecch.

Why not just take this idea to the nth degree and give the Knicks, Celtics and Lakers the first 3 picks every year.

 

Yeah, Cleveland really fucked up when they took that high school kid from Akron with the top pick a few years ago.

 

How about no draft but the same salary cap and contract rules?

Teams would then try to sign eligible players after the NCAA championship game is played. High schoolers and foreigners could be signed at any time during their senior season. NBA teams will only be able to sign three players to NBA contracts each year. The rest will be D-leaguers for at least one season.

You think you are good enough to skip college and play in the pros? Well only two teams are willing to use a NBA roster spot on you. How does Podunk U look now?

This would end the one-and-done and college kids would not leave until they know they are wanted by an NBA team.

 

Chicago looks like it may have whiffed on Rose

 

No way you abolish the draft. Do that and about 20 teams become the Pirates every year, no hope just despair.

 

More than any other sport, the NBA draft seems to create perverse incentives for bad teams to tank it at the end of the season. I think it happens in the NBA because it is the one sport where a superstar can turn a team around immediately. But once it is clear an NBA team will miss the playoffs, suddenly, stars find themselves out for the season with mysterious muscle strains. So the lottery system has clearly failed at its goal, which was to prevent teams from tanking games to get a better draft spot. Simmons and Gladwell are right about that. I just don't think they have found a solution.

 

Yeah. That much I agree with. And that's maybe where the "same odds for all teams" could apply.

 

But you can sell a player on playing time. In no other sports does "PT" or being "the man" on the team mean so much.