[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Let me say first, I rather enjoyed the new smoother lottery format with four selections, but I think the league can take the next step. Get rid of the lottery balls. If NBA fans are willing to watch a 30 minute show, why not stage a tournament with the 14 non-qualifiers?

Here is my idea. Give the playoff teams a week off between the end of the regular season and the playoffs. In that week, stage a single-elimination tournament for the first to fourth pick in the draft, winner gets #1, runner-up gets #2, the semifinalists get #3-4, and everyone who gets knocked out before falls in line by worst record.

This year’s bracket would be:
Kings-Bye
Grizzlies-Pelicans
Timberwolves-Mavericks
Lakers-Suns
Hornets-Bye
Wizards-Cavaliers
Hawks-Bulls
Heat-Knicks

The one league-wide change would be that the pick is protected from being traded. Every team in the tournament has to have the ability to get the top prize.

This would keep bad teams from putting their better players on the shelf after the All-Star Break or buying them out to stack losses. If teams are behaving this way because they want every last percentage point even with the less weighted system, why not cut it out? The Lakers would not shelf LeBron, and New Orleans would not have David on the 20 minute plan. The Bulls and Knicks might actually trot out NBA players in the final month. It would give an incentive to finishing strong even if they miss out, though the single-elimination format offers enough randomness to keep a team from thinking winning the draft tournament is better than losing in the first round. Also, the worst team would still pick no worst than 5th, which teams already signed off on.

What would be the problems with such an idea? Obviously, it would have to be negotiated with the union, but otherwise big picture problems.

[CU.LIONSParticipant]

 This is  a bad idea because if there really is a BAD, No talented NBA team in the lottery, they will always lose the lottery playoffs and always get the last pick and then stay bad and lose agin and so on…

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

No, they get the 5th pick. If the Hornets lose Kemba and Jeremy Lamb and have no one left but their awful contracts and are the "bad no talented NBA team" they can’t get worst than 5th, no different from now.

[DareelParticipant]

brody that is one of the best ideas I have heard. I know I would watch. Silver needs to read that…..It would set the NBA on fire.  

[BeardedDragon84Participant]

 Yeah but they have no chance at the truly transformative generational talents, that’ll go to the team that almost made the playoffs and possibly the team that could have made the playoffs but tanked to get into this tournament  instead and get the next lebron. Then they already have a very good team around him and are instant championship favourites.

 

This idea would make it much harder for small market teams and be a move against parody. We should be doing whatever possible to promote parody not move in the other direction.

[Sewok15Participant]

 Exactly could you imagine Orlando and Miami playing at the end of the year to get in the playoffs….only this time they are both trying as hard as possible to lose. It would make more sense to go after a Zion type player than it would to get smoked by a #1 seed in the playoffs. It would be interesting but it creates more problems than it solves. 

[Kwame33Participant]

Hah not to be a jerk but the word you were looking for is spelt “parity” sounds exactly like parody though. 

[mowestenParticipant]

 It’s sad when you have to apologize upfront for correcting third-grade grammatical errors. 

 

 

[BeardedDragon84Participant]

 I did it twice, that’s embarrassing. I know the word, but after drinking and playing volleyball last night I got a little sloppy. As the son of two English teachers there is no excuse.

 

He wrote "not to be a jerk", because he knows everyone hates an online grammar nazi, but it was bothering him and he thought he could be helpful. I’ve done the same thing and it definitely softens the blow, so he came off as nice… you kinda come off as a jerk.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

The excessive gaps in talent is a result of the league giving value to lottery balls. In taking away the lottery balls, they take away the incentive to completely scrap a roster to capture more of them. The parity claim you are making is failing to look at reality. This past season, Atlanta thought it was best to carry the dead cap space of Carmelo Anthony’s contract. The Cavs gave away Rodney Hood, Kyle Korver, and George Hill. The Bulls and Knicks basically shelved anyone who will certainly be in the league in two years. The Mavs had one of the hottest rookies in recent memory, dealt for Porzingis, and then figured it was best just to cancel the second half of the year to give themselves a decent number of lottery combinations. All of these teams could have been better than they were. It was their choice to harm the parity of the league.

Also, the idea that a team would tank to miss the playoffs only to then think the team could come together to win four straight games is funny. Obviously, some team will have to win, but which 30-some win team really is confident enough to degrade their roster enough to make the playoffs but remain certain of being able to win four straight? There is no switch where mediocre teams can go from booking vacations to clicking on all cylinders, and both GMs and coaches who intentionally miss the playoffs to then pick #11-14 must not fear losing their jobs. The less weighted lottery resulted in a pair of teams that tried to be good getting #1 and #2. In my eyes, this is progress. Why not just take the next step? I think it is good that the Suns, Cavs, Bulls, and Hawks dropped. I wish the Knicks did as well. Instead of rewarding luck, reward the teams that can go on a little run.

[DareelParticipant]

like I said brody…GREAT IDEA….the ratings for that tourney for Zion would probably have been higher then playoff ratings for NBA championship. That is what this is mostly abour rt? And Why reward the losers? and punish middle of the pack teams who aren’t good enough to win, but not bad enough to draft high. you tank and want to lose…then stay down there forever…GREAT IDEA

[The GoatParticipant]

 Better to rank teams on a combination some factors with different weighting, like attendance, points per game, hours players have spent in NBA Cares or community programs, community funding and whatever else you can think of. You can subtract points for arrests, drug violations, whatever. Encourage players and organisations to be good or be buried in a hell of shit draft picks lol

[GronounoursParticipant]

 Something must be done to get rid of tanking.

That being said, a tournament is bound to reward the best (of the worst), so it kind of defeats the purpose of the draft.

I’d simply change the probabilities each team has to land a pick. It’s not that hard to find a balance that helps bad team without encouraging them to be even worse than they actually are.

[bimirudParticipant]

but I want even bigger changes than that. I can’t stand any system that rewards losing. Losers should always be punished, never rewarded in any way, shape or form. So I disagree with the entire premise of draft systems in North American sports. I could live with every non-playoff team getting one ball in the lottery but watching teams celebrate after tanking bugs me. I get no joy out of draft season.

[GronounoursParticipant]

"Losers should always be punished, never rewarded in any way, shape or form. So I disagree with the entire premise of draft systems in North American sports."

I once wrote on this website that the draft system was "socialist", and that it was weird to find in the US, of all countries. Most people thought I was crazy.

I don’t think losers should be "punished", but rewarding them is indeed stupid. Losers should be "helped" when they are not bad on purpose.

[SwatLakeCityParticipant]

I like this idea, and I’ve thought of it before too, but I think its too soon implement it. 3 middle of the pack teams just jumped up to the top 4. The worst teams, the teams that were constantly accused of tanking dropped to the middle of the lottery. I think the lottery is fine the way it is now. After a lottery like that, what benefit would a team like the Suns, or Bulls see to tanking? Let this go on for a few years (probably 3 or 4 and see if the tanking continues. (I really don’t think it will) But if by some chance it does, then maybe we can implement this idea.

[skip2.0Participant]

 The tournament is either a 3 on 3 tournament or a 1 on 1 tournament. That would be more entertaining and wouldn’t always punish awful teams.

 

 

[Kwame33Participant]

That’s too gimmicky  

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