Ideas to End Tanking

[NHHillbilly]

The Celtics proposed a draft permutation list where every team is guaranteed to pick at every position in the draft once every 30 years. I think the draft was split up into 6 sections of 5 picks. So a team cycles through the sections every 6 years. For example, Celtics would pick somewhere 26 - 30 year 1, then year 2 would pick 1-5, year 3 pick 6 - 10, year 4 pick 11 - 15, year 5 pick 16 - 20, year 6 pick 21 - 25, year 7 back to pick 26 - 30 again.
Using this system, every team gets known draft picks and your record has nothing to do with it. Teams can make better trades with known value. Every team will get a number one pick every 30 years, but every team will get a 1-5 pick every 6 years. I think pick swaps would become a common trade item: with known value, a team might want to move up a certain year for someone they like a lot, or because they have too many good players and want to push a higher pick down the line to when a top five player fits in with the timeline better.

[Sophomore]

Wrong thread

[johnnygreen]

Why not just eliminate the lottery. Give every team the same odds. Keep it simple, each team gets one ball. A situation like this forces every team to be competitive, since it alleviates excuses.

Every team? Or the bottom 14?

All 30 teams.

Could you imagine how interesting it would make the trade deadline too.

I really dislike that idea. Imagine if the Shaq & Kobe Lakers got LeBron, or the Warriors got Luka?

I still think the league would be better overall from a competitive standpoint. Besides, wouldn't the Celtics have the same chance to get that LeBron or Luka?

[nickagneta]

Why not just eliminate the lottery. Give every team the same odds. Keep it simple, each team gets one ball. A situation like this forces every team to be competitive, since it alleviates excuses.

Every team? Or the bottom 14?

All 30 teams.

Could you imagine how interesting it would make the trade deadline too.

I really dislike that idea. Imagine if the Shaq & Kobe Lakers got LeBron, or the Warriors got Luka?

I still think the league would be better overall from a competitive standpoint. Besides, wouldn't the Celtics have the same chance to get that LeBron or Luka?

Does it matter?

The very best players would sign, probably even taking less money, to play in the big, desirable markets. How would Portland, OKC, Memphis, Orlando, New Orleans, Cleveland, Washington, Sacramento and teams like that ever get top notch talent so they wouldn't suck forever?

Boston might get the occasional rookie star but teams like LAL, NYK, LAC, MIA, PHX, BRK and DAL would probably hoard the best young talent

[#1P4P]

Eliminate the draft. Rookies go straight into free agency. Eliminate rookie scale contracts. Rookies can get max deals.

A few years ago Washington spent loads on Bertans and Thomas Bryant; similar to a max contract. As a fan, would you rather see your team sign those two guys or Paolo Banchero? Obviously Banchero.

Can you imagine the complaining on this site, when the Lakers get to sign the #1 overall prospect every year?

😂

They would have a substantial competitive advantage over the rest of the NBA of being in LA, The glamour franchise of the league, and having had two of the most influential players of all time, in the past 26 years.

I prefer the idea you mentioned in your other post (even odds for teams), with a few restrictions to reduce complaints. The previous season’s conference semifinalists would be excluded and a multi year restriction on winning the 1st pick more than once (unless it’s traded).

This would prevent incentives for borderline playoff teams from tanking (if even odds were limited to lottery teams), while maintaining parity; 1st round pick value would increase exponentially.

[bdm860]

I think a great way to eliminate tanking would be if no teams control their own picks.

Have a special draft every few years where teams select which team they want to tie their pick to.

First special draft happens like the regular draft, so 2022 maybe looks like:

#1 Orlando selects OKC
#2 OKC selects Houston
And on and on

So Orlando's 2023 pick is based on OKC's record,, OKC's 2023 pick is attached to Houston's record, etc.

Only rule being you can't select yourself.

I think ideally you do this draft every 4 years (either you're picking a team to attach your pick to for 4 years, or there's 4 rounds and you have to pick a different team every round). But 2 or 3 years would work too (even ever year works, but then it wouldn't be as effective).

Is any team really going to tank to tie their pick to another team over such a long time frame?

I think it would greatly eliminate tanking.

Fans wouldn't have to root for their teams losing, and get to actively root for another team too.

Reward teams for making good long term predictions (which team is going to suck 2, 3, 4 years down the road). Teams aren't just scouting players, but front offices too.

[ozgod]

Eliminate the draft. Rookies go straight into free agency. Eliminate rookie scale contracts. Rookies can get max deals.

A few years ago Washington spent loads on Bertans and Thomas Bryant; similar to a max contract. As a fan, would you rather see your team sign those two guys or Paolo Banchero? Obviously Banchero.

Can you imagine the complaining on this site, when the Lakers get to sign the #1 overall prospect every year?

It would be like European soccer, where the biggest name teams (Man City, Real Madrid, PSG, etc) sign the best talent early.

At least in European soccer they do have promotion and relegation. Not sure if that would work in the NBA where teams are trying to make money.

[JSD]

Have an age limit to play in the NBA, but not to be drafted. Expand to 4-5 rounds. Fill the Gatorade league up with NBA prospects between 16-20 year olds.

Buggy would have been drafted 5 years ago as a 13 year old prospect. Tanking would be eliminated, scouting and development would be emphasized, there would be no sure thing in the draft.

[Jvalin]

Step 1
Expand the league to 32 teams. It's a matter of time anyway.

Step 2
Divide the league into two divisions of 16 teams. Bottom 2 teams of the first division get relegated to the second division. Top 2 teams of the second division get promoted to the first division.

Teams from the same division play each other 4 times. Teams from different divisions play each other 1 time. Second division teams always play in their home court against first division teams to increase their revenue and to make the games a bit more competitive. Each team plays 76 regular season games.

Step 3
The winner of the second division earns the #1 pick in the draft, the second best team of the second division gets the #2 pick and so forth and so on.
The worst team of the first division gets the 17th pick, the second worst team gets the 18th pick and so forth and so on.

I doubt any team would willingly lose games for a chance to get the #1 pick one whole year after being relegated.

[Who]

Eliminate the draft. Rookies go straight into free agency. Eliminate rookie scale contracts. Rookies can get max deals.

A few years ago Washington spent loads on Bertans and Thomas Bryant; similar to a max contract. As a fan, would you rather see your team sign those two guys or Paolo Banchero? Obviously Banchero.

Can you imagine the complaining on this site, when the Lakers get to sign the #1 overall prospect every year?

There is still a salary cap. Does the best young player take $30mil from Sacramento Kings or $5mil to play for the Lakers?

Well we see that scenario year in year out and the player almost always goes for the money when there is such a large difference in the payout.

[nebist]

This is the way to abolish tanking:

NBA Schedule Proposal

Eastern and Western Conference is abolished.

Regular Season:
All 30 teams play 58 games. The 58 games consist of a home and home with the 29 other teams.
After the regular season, there is a 2-week “break”, which includes All-Star weekend, the trade deadline, buyouts deadline, etc. This time also allows the league to finalize the schedules for the Seeding Season and Draft Season.
The top 22 teams by record qualify for the Seeding Season.
The bottom 8 teams by record qualify for the Draft Season.

Seeding Season:
Teams 1-22 play each other once each.
Their record adds to their initial record from the first 58 games, so they will have played a total of 79 games at the end of the Seeding Season.
Seeds 1-11 get 11 home games and 10 away games during the Seeding Season.
Seeds 12-22 get 10 home games and 11 away games during the Seeding Season.
After the Seeding Season is complete, the top 16 records make the playoffs. Playoffs follow traditional formatting (7 game series) but matchups are based on 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, etc.
After the Seeding Season, records and draft order is set for the teams that finish 17-22.
17th best record receives 9th pick in draft.
18th best record receives 10th pick in draft.
19th best record receives 11th pick in draft.
20th best record receives 12th pick in draft.
21st best record receives 13th pick in draft.
22nd best record receives 14th pick in draft.

Draft Season:
Teams 23-30 play an additional 14 games. The 14 games consist of a home and home with the 7 other Draft Season teams.
Their record adds to their initial record from the first 58 games, so they will have played a total of 72 games at the end of the Draft Season.
Their 72-game record becomes their 1-8 seed for the Draft Tournament. The team with the best record is the 1 seed, etc.
The Draft Tournament is an 8-team, double elimination tournament where the high seed plays at home.
It determines the order of picks 1-8 in the draft.
You can play as little as 2 games in the Draft Tournament if you lose your first 2 games.
You can play as many as 5 games in the Draft Tournament if you win the whole thing while losing 1 game along the way. So teams in the Draft Tournament would play a total of between 74 and 77 games combined in their complete season.
The bracket for an 8-team, double elimination tournament is included below.
The losers of the A/B game and C/D game pick 7 and 8 in the draft. The higher seed picks 7 and the lower seed picks 8.
The next two teams eliminated (loser of E vs. A/B and loser of F vs. C/D) pick 5 and 6 in the draft. The higher seed picks 5 and the lower seed picks 6.
So on and so forth. The team that wins the Draft Tournament picks 1st in the draft.




Possible Cons:
Owners would lose a couple of regular season home game gates.
Would be more travel (at least in the regular season) with the balanced scheduling (no conferences).

Benefits:
Every team would have to play to win for the entire season. It essentially abolishes the concept of tanking altogether as every part of the process prioritizes winning.
The increase in travel would be more than offset by the extra breaks afforded by having 3 fewer regular season games and a 2-week break around the all-star event and trade deadline.
The Seeding Season and Draft Season/Tournament would be must-watch TV for fans of all teams. Fans of bottom 8 teams would still be heavily invested in rooting for their teams to win to earn a high draft pick all the way until they are eliminated. The Draft Tournament in particular would likely get big ratings in home markets, especially when there is a generational talent in the draft like a LeBron or a Zion.
The Seeding Season would be great basketball. The bottom 8 teams would be out of the picture, eliminating blowout games between two teams with seasons going in different directions. All 22 teams would be scrapping for playoff spots and/or playoff positioning.
I would have to think whatever revenue lost in dropping some home gates would be more than made up for in the far more consistent TV ratings this schedule would generate.

[Goldstar88]

I’m not sure tanking is as much of a problem since the league changed the odds. Below are the lottery results from 2 years ago. Only a couple of those teams will likely be picking in the top 10. Would guess none of the teams that drafted 1-6.

2020 NBA Draft

FIRST ROUND
1. Timberwolves draft Anthony Edwards

2. Warriors draft James Wiseman

3. Hornets draft LaMelo Ball

4. Bulls draft Patrick Williams

5. Cavaliers draft Isaac Okoro

6. Hawks draft Onyeka Okongwu

7. Pistons draft Killian Hayes

8. Knicks draft Obi Toppin

9. Wizards draft Deni Avdija

10. Suns draft Jalen Smith

[wdleehi]

How about connecting records to a percentage of the TV revenue?  Let's say 15% of the total is distribution to the teams based on regular season records.   

Now the owners care more about winning as much as possible.    Have one or two bad seasons because of the nature of sports, sure.   Tank for a few years, not likely.

Can also be connected to the GM's salary.


This ways teams that are bad will still have the chance to add the needed talent while mid range teams may try harder to push to get into the playoffs.

[Redz]

This is the way to abolish tanking:

NBA Schedule Proposal

Eastern and Western Conference is abolished.

Regular Season:
All 30 teams play 58 games. The 58 games consist of a home and home with the 29 other teams.
After the regular season, there is a 2-week “break”, which includes All-Star weekend, the trade deadline, buyouts deadline, etc. This time also allows the league to finalize the schedules for the Seeding Season and Draft Season.
The top 22 teams by record qualify for the Seeding Season.
The bottom 8 teams by record qualify for the Draft Season.

Seeding Season:
Teams 1-22 play each other once each.
Their record adds to their initial record from the first 58 games, so they will have played a total of 79 games at the end of the Seeding Season.
Seeds 1-11 get 11 home games and 10 away games during the Seeding Season.
Seeds 12-22 get 10 home games and 11 away games during the Seeding Season.
After the Seeding Season is complete, the top 16 records make the playoffs. Playoffs follow traditional formatting (7 game series) but matchups are based on 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, etc.
After the Seeding Season, records and draft order is set for the teams that finish 17-22.
17th best record receives 9th pick in draft.
18th best record receives 10th pick in draft.
19th best record receives 11th pick in draft.
20th best record receives 12th pick in draft.
21st best record receives 13th pick in draft.
22nd best record receives 14th pick in draft.

Draft Season:
Teams 23-30 play an additional 14 games. The 14 games consist of a home and home with the 7 other Draft Season teams.
Their record adds to their initial record from the first 58 games, so they will have played a total of 72 games at the end of the Draft Season.
Their 72-game record becomes their 1-8 seed for the Draft Tournament. The team with the best record is the 1 seed, etc.
The Draft Tournament is an 8-team, double elimination tournament where the high seed plays at home.
It determines the order of picks 1-8 in the draft.
You can play as little as 2 games in the Draft Tournament if you lose your first 2 games.
You can play as many as 5 games in the Draft Tournament if you win the whole thing while losing 1 game along the way. So teams in the Draft Tournament would play a total of between 74 and 77 games combined in their complete season.
The bracket for an 8-team, double elimination tournament is included below.
The losers of the A/B game and C/D game pick 7 and 8 in the draft. The higher seed picks 7 and the lower seed picks 8.
The next two teams eliminated (loser of E vs. A/B and loser of F vs. C/D) pick 5 and 6 in the draft. The higher seed picks 5 and the lower seed picks 6.
So on and so forth. The team that wins the Draft Tournament picks 1st in the draft.




Possible Cons:
Owners would lose a couple of regular season home game gates.
Would be more travel (at least in the regular season) with the balanced scheduling (no conferences).

Benefits:
Every team would have to play to win for the entire season. It essentially abolishes the concept of tanking altogether as every part of the process prioritizes winning.
The increase in travel would be more than offset by the extra breaks afforded by having 3 fewer regular season games and a 2-week break around the all-star event and trade deadline.
The Seeding Season and Draft Season/Tournament would be must-watch TV for fans of all teams. Fans of bottom 8 teams would still be heavily invested in rooting for their teams to win to earn a high draft pick all the way until they are eliminated. The Draft Tournament in particular would likely get big ratings in home markets, especially when there is a generational talent in the draft like a LeBron or a Zion.
The Seeding Season would be great basketball. The bottom 8 teams would be out of the picture, eliminating blowout games between two teams with seasons going in different directions. All 22 teams would be scrapping for playoff spots and/or playoff positioning.
I would have to think whatever revenue lost in dropping some home gates would be more than made up for in the far more consistent TV ratings this schedule would generate.

Appreciate the thought process and detail.  Probably never gonna happen, but does seem to address things nicely.  I think I’d have the losers group start fresh with their records for the “second season” maybe.

[CelticsWhat35]

Worst record gets 30 balls.  Next gets 29 and so on until you get to the best record with one ball.  30 balls are picked for all 30 draft slots.  The worst teams still get the best odds, but the difference is so small and every team still has such a small chance at getting the #1 pick that it’s not worth tanking.  You’re also not guaranteed a top 4-5 pick based on your record because every slot is chosen by the balls.