Tiger Woods Member since Feb 15th 2004 18388 posts
Wed May-22-13 08:34 AM
"an idea: how to replace the NBA draft lottery with something better" Wed May-22-13 08:36 AM by Tiger Woods
The NBA draft lottery is bogus. Last night marked the 9th year that the team with the worst record did not nab the first overall pick. THE NINTH TIME IN A ROW WTF???
So I have an idea I wanna float by ya'll. I ask that you first just consider it before immediately trying to shoot holes through it. Don't just pick it apart, if you have a suggestion please share it and make it better:
Throw out the draft lottery, replace it with a single elimination tournament featuring the bottom half of the league all vying for the number one pick.
- obviously, seeding would be based on how teams fare during the regular season. The team that finishes 9th in its respective conference would be the 1 seed in this single elimination tournament so forth and so on.
- bad teams that have been irrelevant since January can reignite a morsel of interest and get an extra week of moneyout of their typically passive fanbase. If one of the floormats like, say, the Wizards were to get hot and make the "finals" people would actually come out for that game and with the chance to go out on a high note.
- by hosting this tournament all in one week, you would push back the start of the postseason. First, this would reward the players who made the postseason with extra rest and in turn would aid in making the coming games better by ensuring the top talent is in better shape.
Second, this could work towards eliminating one of the biggest gripes about the NBA postseason; the games are too far apart. If the playoffs were to start a week later the league would still get to keep the same 2 month playoff schedule while scheduling postseason games closer so that you aren't getting layoffs like we have now (Grizz/Spurs don't play again until Saturday? Come on.)
- with the tournament being single elimination and the prize being so substantial you would, at least in theory, force the participating clubs to play hard. And even if the bad ones fail to show up you only have to watch them one time. You're effectively taking a tried and true cash cow model- March Madness- and upgrading it. The dance sucks now, but this? This could really garner mainstream interest. All those small market clubs that the no.1 pick has eluded could actually have some hope to hold on to.
Consider this schedule: End the regular season on a Saturday --> start the Top Pick Tournament on Sunday --> Top Pick Tourney finals Saturday night --> actual NBA playoffs start Sunday.
2. "If the problem is the worst team in the league rarely gets the #1 pick....." In response to Reply # 0 Wed May-22-13 09:10 AM by mrhood75
...why would you scrap the lottery for a system that would it make it even harder for the worst team to get the #1 pick? The worst teams are the worst teams for a reason. They would probably NEVER win a single elimination tournament.
The best solution is just to scrap the lottery and give the team with the worst record the #1 pick. Like I said in the last "fix the lottery" post, "tanking" isn't nearly the problem people make it out to be. Some teams just stink.
3. "I dont care about worst team getting #1" In response to Reply # 0
I just want every spot to be up for grabs lottery wise like the old days. Makes it more exciting and equitable imo. If youre gonna have a hour special for this bullshit - thats the way to go.
--- "though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought
Losses with regular starters out of the line-up count less. It would disincentivize tanking, and give better draft odds to the teams that are ACTUALLY bad.
9. "why would the players play hard for a guy to replace them?" In response to Reply # 0
look at last year, when Anthony Davis was the consensus #1. Why would any PF on a tourney team bust his ass so that the team can get the first pick and take a PF that's gonna take his job?
*Jews you*
"this is okp tho, reading is completely optional" (c) desus
13. "RE: why would the players play hard for a guy to replace them?" In response to Reply # 9 Wed May-22-13 01:10 PM by pretentious username
>look at last year, when Anthony Davis was the consensus #1. >Why would any PF on a tourney team bust his ass so that the >team can get the first pick and take a PF that's gonna take >his job?
actually the "on the cusp of the playoff" teams might have more incentive since a superstar can change a .500 team into a contender, but those shitty teams aren't going anywhere soon, and have way more dudes that are barely in the league.
11. "isn't this proving that the reason for the lottery is successful" In response to Reply # 0
>The NBA draft lottery is bogus. Last night marked the 9th >year that the team with the worst record did not nab the first >overall pick. THE NINTH TIME IN A ROW WTF???
they wanted teams to actually try, so they don't guarantee the #1 to the worst team (i disagree that this works since teams can tank to have a better CHANCE at the #1, but that's besides the point). 9 years of the worst team not getting the #1 in a row would suggest that that incentive might be convincing at this point.
also it's not as much of an anomaly as you're suggesting. the odds suggest that if things were even only 2-3 of those worst teams would have gotten it in the past 9 years. really not that crazy for that to become 0 in such a small sample size. and those 9 years come on the heels of the worst team winning it twice in a row. 2 out of 11 isn't very far away from 25%.
>- obviously, seeding would be based on how teams fare during >the regular season. The team that finishes 9th in its >respective conference would be the 1 seed in this single >elimination tournament so forth and so on.
wait, so winning all your games gets you the pick? but i thought your problem was the worst team never gets the #1 pick. if the worst team has to face the best non-playoff team in a road game, they'd probably lose, right? yeah, they have something to play for, but so does the other team.
>Second, this could work towards eliminating one of the biggest >gripes about the NBA postseason; the games are too far apart. >If the playoffs were to start a week later the league would >still get to keep the same 2 month playoff schedule while >scheduling postseason games closer so that you aren't getting >layoffs like we have now (Grizz/Spurs don't play again until >Saturday? Come on.)
i'm not sure why they do layoffs like that, but it's probably $$$. so they probably won't get rid of those layoffs even with the week off.
16. "RE: an idea: how to replace the NBA draft lottery with something better" In response to Reply # 0
It's not as if the #1 pick is a surefire thing every time either. Plenty of busts are picked first which often benefits teams picking 2nd or 3rd who have to take the 'perceived runners ups' by default.
My thing is, they should have the lottery balls selected live to dispel conspiracy theories. Until that happens, it could always (and likely is) be slightly rigged.
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