Bill Simmons idea: JO+our two 2012 first round picks for Verajao

[Celtics18]

I'd love to see the NBA scrap the draft altogether, get us 30 true minor league teams in a hurry, and let young ballers be signed as free agents as soon as they turn 18.

Do you realize what wou ld happen under this scenario?  LA/NY would get just about every top flight player.

There is a (good) reason why leagues' have a draft.  Its unavoidable.

I don't think that's necessarily true, particularly if teams could sign 18 year olds right out of high school or overseas.  That's why you'd beef up the D league so that each team actually had their own farm team. 

I think this system would actually reward better scouting, talent evaluation, and development.  The current system is designed to hold the hands of GMs and to try to eliminate risk from the process of finding young talent.

Forget the NBA draft.  It's outlived its usefulness in my opinion.

[chambers]

If they won't move him via trade, they need to sit him and tank, because that organization isn't going anywhere.
Sit him for 5-6 games against easier opponents so their record suffers that extra little bit.

If you're going to tank, that is the wrong way to go about unless you just want to perpetuate a culture of losing.

You might as well sit Irving under the same conditions.

They should let Irving play, and let him carry the team.
But they NEED that higher pick to get anywhere in the next few years.
I am not a fan of tanking but their front office is so annoying/stupid. They have a chance here to get someone like Drummond to join Irving.
Hell, any of those top 5 picks would be unreal.
Who knows, they may get lucky and end up at 4 or 5.

Irving is not going to become a 'loser' by sitting Verajao for 6-10 games lol.
He gets a greater load and it probably helps his development- puts him in a lot of D. Rose situations with the ball in his hands.
Scrape for the 8th seed spot and then what?
Do it again for the next 5 years?
Must suck to have such terrible team management for that city.

[LooseCannon]

There's a right way and a wrong way to tank.  Sitting a healthy player when you don't have the pretext of an injury or some sort of disciplinary reason is the wrong way to tank.  If you want to tank in Cleveland, the right thing to do is bench Antawn Jamison and give his minutes to the other lottery pick, Tristan Thompson.

I also think that, if you want to trade Varejao, he would get more in return in the off-season.

[TripleOT]

Cleveland needs to lose as many games as possible this year if they want to be a true contender this decade.  They need to snag a top of the league player in this draft to pair with Irving.  I'd trade AV for a first round pick and a second, plus an expiring contract.

[chambers]

There's a right way and a wrong way to tank.  Sitting a healthy player when you don't have the pretext of an injury or some sort of disciplinary reason is the wrong way to tank.  If you want to tank in Cleveland, the right thing to do is bench Antawn Jamison and give his minutes to the other lottery pick, Tristan Thompson.

I also think that, if you want to trade Varejao, he would get more in return in the off-season.

So you're basically suggesting the same thing, except switching players around.
You realize that right? It's exactly the same thing lol

[LooseCannon]

There's a right way and a wrong way to tank.  Sitting a healthy player when you don't have the pretext of an injury or some sort of disciplinary reason is the wrong way to tank.  If you want to tank in Cleveland, the right thing to do is bench Antawn Jamison and give his minutes to the other lottery pick, Tristan Thompson.

I also think that, if you want to trade Varejao, he would get more in return in the off-season.

So you're basically suggesting the same thing, except switching players around.
You realize that right? It's exactly the same thing lol

Not the same thing.  A) Jamison sucks.  B) I'm suggesting giving his minutes to a specific younger player for the clear purpose of developing him, while you just seem to want to bench Varejao because he might help the team win.

If the Cavs had a young center who you wanted to give playing time to, then it would be the same thing.