Everything Tanking ;) Raptor still have a long shot at 3rd worst record...

[Apollo]

Without defeating the key principal of the draft You'll never find a way to prevent teams from cutting talent so that they're even more outmatched down the stretch.

The idea of having them awarded a better slot for winning games after being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs runs counter to the point of the draft. Teams get high draft picks in part due to their lack of competitiveness. Flipping the concept at the last moment to me seems... Well, stupid. I think the draft is as good as it gets.

[mcHAPPY]

Hahaha And there is the 'flaw' I was looking for. Thanks Matt!
It'd be a race to see who can be eliminated from the Playoffs first.

But I guess since that makes very little FINANCIAL sense, its a little less of an option.

I like the idea though. Realistically most teams are going balls out in the first couple of months. In a normal season it is usually not until January when teams start to lose faith, hope, effort, or whatever you want to call it..... oh yeah, tank.

[DoubleD]

What about a playoff bracket for losing teams ?

14 lottery teams ranked from 1 to 14 based on W/L record.

Best 2 teams are exempted of 1st round, teams 3-14 play to go to last 8 in a single game, March madness style.

At the end, winner of the bracket gets pick #1, finalist gets #2, #3 and #4 are determined by a "losers' game". Then from #5, you go as usual (from worst to best record).

Cool things about this :

# Teams will fight for their seed til the end of the season
# All teams get a bit of postseason action
# Sure, best teams (or should i say least sucking teams) are advantaged, but everything can happen in a single game.

I really like this idea... as would the NBA and most teams, as it would create more games and excitement for all teams.. leading to more revenue. And everyone wants a way to create more revenue.

The only problem with this is that the worst teams now have pretty bad odds of getting the first 3-4 picks. They need a handicap to INCREASE their odds in winning this mini tournament.
Maybe the worse 2 teams get the By!?!

[Joey]

That is interesting.

So teams will start the season 3-38 and then really come on strong over the last 41 games

Hahaha And there is the 'flaw' I was looking for. Thanks Matt!
It'd be a race to see who can be eliminated from the Playoffs first.

But I guess since that makes very little FINANCIAL sense, its a little less of an option.

[mcHAPPY]

Apparently the NHL was tinkering with the idea of having a points-based system to determine lottery balls. That is, once a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, every win they accrue from that point on, goes towards their lottery fund. In such a scenario, teams have motivation to win games down the stretch, even if the playoffs are a pipe dream.

That is interesting.

So teams will start the season 3-38 and then really come on strong over the last 41 games

[mcHAPPY]

My idea was inspired from a Jeff Van Gundy interview. Why should bad performance or to be more blunt, intentional losing be rewarded? The NBA is putting out some horrible product out there depending on what the match up is. Perhaps 50% of the teams could be looked at for possible tanking. Those teams that have no hope of making the playoffs and the marginal playoff teams also looking to stay or drop into a lottery position.

The product is not going to get better without giving less talented team an opportunity to receive a talent influx.

I like the way the current system is currently set up.

The real issue here might be contraction if the goal is to put out a good product across each of the teams in the league. More talent on less teams will lead to a better product, in my opinion.

[Nilanka]

Whoa ... this just blew my mind.
I've spent 4 minutes trying to find a flaw in this system, and have yet to do so.
If I can't find one in 4 minutes, then there likely isn't one. hahah

Unfortunately, it's human nature to resist change (no matter how much it makes sense). And this since scenario is so drastically different than anything we've seen before, it's almost guaranteed to never happen

[Nilanka]

My idea was inspired from a Jeff Van Gundy interview. Why should bad performance or to be more blunt, intentional losing be rewarded? The NBA is putting out some horrible product out there depending on what the match up is. Perhaps 50% of the teams could be looked at for possible tanking. Those teams that have no hope of making the playoffs and the marginal playoff teams also looking to stay or drop into a lottery position.

From a moral perspective, you're right. Intentional losing shouldn't be rewarded.

But from a business perspective, you need the current system to give each market an "opportunity" to compete.

[Joey]

Apparently the NHL was tinkering with the idea of having a points-based system to determine lottery balls. That is, once a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, every win they accrue from that point on, goes towards their lottery fund. In such a scenario, teams have motivation to win games down the stretch, even if the playoffs are a pipe dream.

Whoa ... this just blew my mind.
I've spent 4 minutes trying to find a flaw in this system, and have yet to do so.
If I can't find one in 4 minutes, then there likely isn't one. hahah

[saints91]

The lottery was built to stop teams from attentionally tanking. It used to use the NFL style but they introduced this style which I think works. Since 1985 the last placed team has won it 4 times, 2nd last 4 times, 3rd last 5 times, 4 worst - 0, 5th worst- 5 times, 6 th worst 3 times, and so on. The 11th worst team has actually won the lottery. It's a good system, and I think it gives the league parody.

It still allows some tanking, but it still gives the teams that aren't a fair chance to improve.

[Fanchie]

What about a playoff bracket for losing teams ?

14 lottery teams ranked from 1 to 14 based on W/L record.

Best 2 teams are exempted of 1st round, teams 3-14 play to go to last 8 in a single game, March madness style.

At the end, winner of the bracket gets pick #1, finalist gets #2, #3 and #4 are determined by a "losers' game". Then from #5, you go as usual (from worst to best record).

Cool things about this :

# Teams will fight for their seed til the end of the season
# All teams get a bit of postseason action
# Sure, best teams (or should i say least sucking teams) are advantaged, but everything can happen in a single game.

[Nilanka]

Apparently the NHL was tinkering with the idea of having a points-based system to determine lottery balls. That is, once a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, every win they accrue from that point on, goes towards their lottery fund. In such a scenario, teams have motivation to win games down the stretch, even if the playoffs are a pipe dream.

[stretch]

My idea was inspired from a Jeff Van Gundy interview. Why should bad performance or to be more blunt, intentional losing be rewarded? The NBA is putting out some horrible product out there depending on what the match up is. Perhaps 50% of the teams could be looked at for possible tanking. Those teams that have no hope of making the playoffs and the marginal playoff teams also looking to stay or drop into a lottery position.

[Nilanka]

Yup, the current system is designed to help improve poor teams. Why would we change that?

Having a few teams "tank" every season is far more tolerable than the disparity that would result with the suggested scenarios above.

[Apollo]

The current draft lottery system needs to be fixed in a big way. All this tanking is ultimately bad for business.

My fix (until I think of something better): All teams get one ball. The first 5 balls that come up are the first 5 picks and then picks 6 onward are determined by worst records. Every team plays to get into the playoffs, losing is not necessarily rewarded, tanking becomes a non issue.

I disagree. The lottery weights in the favor of those who need influx of talent the most but there are no guarantees and the worst team rarely gets the top pick. This system is far more balanced than say NFL football which uses inverted standings to determine the order. I'm happy with how the NBA draft works. The bad teams need help and counter to Doug Smith, the draft is very important to develpment of a team in most cases.