I don't know about the lottery, but...
I think that the playoff teams should be re-seeded for the NBA draft. The eight playoff teams that get eliminated in the first round are 15th-22nd, in order of regular season record. The fourth teams that get eliminated in the second round are 23rd-26th. The two teams that get eliminated in the CFinals are 27th and 28th, and the two finalists are 29th and 30th, with the champion drafting last.
The order of the non-lottery picks would now be:
15 Orlando Magic (40), 16 Washington Wizards (41-swept), 17 Los Angeles Lakers (42), 18 Miami Heat (44), 19 Denver Nuggets (45), 20 Toronto Raptors (47), 21 Houston Rockets (52), 22 Dallas Mavericks (67), 23 New Jersey Nets (41), 24 Golden State Warriors (42), 25 Chicago Bulls (49), 26 Phoenix Suns (61), 27 Utah Jazz (51), 28 Detroit Pistons (53), 29 Cleveland Cavaliers (50), 30 San Antonio (58).
How Would You Fix the Lottery?
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MartyConlonJr
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I'm relatively happy with the way it is but I do understand why people hate it.
But you can't fix the system in the way most people propose. If you leave ANY determination on win/loss records then you promote tanking somewhere.
Say you have the worst five teams have equal odds at the top 5 picks like someone mentioned, then the teams in 6-8 spots will tank in the same way that the bottom teams are now to get into that top 5. And you can't give every team an equal shot at the top pick, that was how it used to be, and it didn't work.
I think if you want to fix it, then take all of the non-playoff teams, and perform some complicated maths on their rosters, don't even take into account their wins and losses, just work out who is the worst team all the way up to the 14th worst team. Now I don't have a complete method, but I'll make up a lose one as I type this.
First, what are some common elements of 'tanking' teams?
1) Resting franchise players long periods of a season
2) Season ending injury, tank for the top pick
3) Trade franchise player when it's not working out for x future first round picks
4) High overall team salary
Any others?
So build a points system that combats tanking and identifies the worst teams. Maybe take points from a team that has an All-Star or All-NBA player in the past 2 years that is still with the team under 32 years old or something. And take points from teams for every first round pick that is on a rookie contract on the team (with more weight to the higher picked rookies)
Not only does it stop teams from dropping games, but you avoid 'Tim Duncan' years. Take all the elements that are enviable or unenviable in building a team and buold a system on that.
In this way, my Heat has Marion and Wade who will be healthy next year, both have all star appearances and all-nba appearances. We have a high pay roll, but we don't have our 09 pick (gone to Minnesota) so we aren't hording picks which works in our favour. But overall we probably end up 10-14 in the draft, where most people probably think we should be.
Minnesota drops a little because they have other teams draft picks and a lot of young talent ready to blossom.
Memphis has a low, low salary, but a lot of picks from their Gasol trade and what not.
Seattle has draft picks and a lot of rookie contract players and it could be a bit unfair that they got Durant who is going to blow up and get another top player. This system might hurt those chances.
Knicks have few picks and few highly drafted youngsters, really working in their favour, also no allstar appearances. They have a terrible payroll working against them, but I'm sure a lot of people would consider them the team with the worst future at the moment.
The Clippers have Brand, Maggette, Kaman and Livingston coming back from injury and should be better than their record. Their high salary gives them less chance at a top pick.
Of course this way would make for a REALLY complicated system to calculate, but you could actually give the teams in the most need the best players.
You could either assign balls based on this system or just flat out run it in this order. Teams wouldn't be able to tank anymore.
They could trade out their all stars or additional picks or drop salary, for a better chance at the lottery, but they would be actually getting worse, meaning they deserve it. Parity in the league would be a lot stronger.
But you can't fix the system in the way most people propose. If you leave ANY determination on win/loss records then you promote tanking somewhere.
Say you have the worst five teams have equal odds at the top 5 picks like someone mentioned, then the teams in 6-8 spots will tank in the same way that the bottom teams are now to get into that top 5. And you can't give every team an equal shot at the top pick, that was how it used to be, and it didn't work.
I think if you want to fix it, then take all of the non-playoff teams, and perform some complicated maths on their rosters, don't even take into account their wins and losses, just work out who is the worst team all the way up to the 14th worst team. Now I don't have a complete method, but I'll make up a lose one as I type this.
First, what are some common elements of 'tanking' teams?
1) Resting franchise players long periods of a season
2) Season ending injury, tank for the top pick
3) Trade franchise player when it's not working out for x future first round picks
4) High overall team salary
Any others?
So build a points system that combats tanking and identifies the worst teams. Maybe take points from a team that has an All-Star or All-NBA player in the past 2 years that is still with the team under 32 years old or something. And take points from teams for every first round pick that is on a rookie contract on the team (with more weight to the higher picked rookies)
Not only does it stop teams from dropping games, but you avoid 'Tim Duncan' years. Take all the elements that are enviable or unenviable in building a team and buold a system on that.
In this way, my Heat has Marion and Wade who will be healthy next year, both have all star appearances and all-nba appearances. We have a high pay roll, but we don't have our 09 pick (gone to Minnesota) so we aren't hording picks which works in our favour. But overall we probably end up 10-14 in the draft, where most people probably think we should be.
Minnesota drops a little because they have other teams draft picks and a lot of young talent ready to blossom.
Memphis has a low, low salary, but a lot of picks from their Gasol trade and what not.
Seattle has draft picks and a lot of rookie contract players and it could be a bit unfair that they got Durant who is going to blow up and get another top player. This system might hurt those chances.
Knicks have few picks and few highly drafted youngsters, really working in their favour, also no allstar appearances. They have a terrible payroll working against them, but I'm sure a lot of people would consider them the team with the worst future at the moment.
The Clippers have Brand, Maggette, Kaman and Livingston coming back from injury and should be better than their record. Their high salary gives them less chance at a top pick.
Of course this way would make for a REALLY complicated system to calculate, but you could actually give the teams in the most need the best players.
You could either assign balls based on this system or just flat out run it in this order. Teams wouldn't be able to tank anymore.
They could trade out their all stars or additional picks or drop salary, for a better chance at the lottery, but they would be actually getting worse, meaning they deserve it. Parity in the league would be a lot stronger.