Draft Lottery and Playoff reform (idea)

[CFAN38]

This is out of left field for this time of year and the thought was initially brought on by the east vs west talent discrepancy.

Playoff reform

It has been an obvious problem and has come up in the media recently. The teams in the west who will finish 9th and 10th (currently NO and OKC) would both (if playoffs started today) be in as 7th seeds in the east. This leads me to a simile idea. The top 6 in each conference make the playoffs then the next 4 best records regardless of conference. Out of those 4 they are divided by their divisions. If more then 8 teams are represented from each division then the team with best record choices where they want to go.

As of today the playoff would look as follows

East ATL, WIZ, RAPT, Bulls, Bucks, Cavs

West War, Blaz, Griz, Rockets, Mavs, Clip

Wild Cards Spur, Suns, NO, OKC   

The Spurs would be left to pick. They likely would go east. Suns may stay out west do to travel. Then NO would go east.


This also lead me to an semi easy draft reform idea.

The 14 teams that miss the playoffs are now the 14 worst records in the league.

These 14 teams all have an equal shot at the 1st and 2nd pick. This is the top 2 lottery. The team that gets #1 is top 2 lottery ineligible for the 3 following years, team that gets #2 ineligible for the 2 following years.

After those two spots are set the remaining 12 teams are split into the top 6 and bottom 6 groupings. These teams all have equal chances with the bottom 6 pulling for spots 3-8 and top 6 9-14.

I think this would work because I makes tanking less appealing. If a team tanks they are only helping themselves get a 3-8 pick with no guarantee its not the 8th.

I like this idea better then the previously proposed wheel. Like the current system this still sends the elite top talent to the bottom half of the league. The wheel runs the risk of the champion getting a top pick in the same year while leaving the worst teams fans with little hope for retribution.

[Wretch]

My idea is rather than have a draft lottery, have a draft tournament, like the NCAA tourney seeded by record.  It would be a 1 and done style tourney, maybe played on the off days during the playoff.  the winner of the tourney wins the first pick in the draft and the runner up gets the number 2 pick and you could either play a consolation game for picks 3 and 4 and slot teams by their record after pick 4 or just slot teams by record after pick 2.  The worst teams by record could get first round byes to give them an advantage and massage the brackets/rounds.  This would hopefully stop teams from getting intentionally bad as they would never have a shot at winning the tournament.  You would probably see the teams competing for the last lottery/tournament spot seed tank to enter the draft tournament, but they would be better than teams like the 76ers are now.

[CFAN38]

My idea is rather than have a draft lottery, have a draft tournament, like the NCAA tourney seeded by record.  It would be a 1 and done style tourney, maybe played on the off days during the playoff.  the winner of the tourney wins the first pick in the draft and the runner up gets the number 2 pick and you could either play a consolation game for picks 3 and 4 and slot teams by their record after pick 4 or just slot teams by record after pick 2.  The worst teams by record could get first round byes to give them an advantage and massage the brackets/rounds.  This would hopefully stop teams from getting intentionally bad as they would never have a shot at winning the tournament.  You would probably see the teams competing for the last lottery/tournament spot seed tank to enter the draft tournament, but they would be better than teams like the 76ers are now.

One problem with this idea is what happens to the naturally bad teams? The Cavs or Raptors of 2010-11 would be an example. When James/Bosh left they they where left high and dry with no franchise direction and no compensation for their lost star. With this plan they would be terrible all season then left at the end of the season to play in a single elimination tournament to try to get a pick. This plan works to eliminate the Tankers but also barriers the legitimate bad teams.

[obnoxiousmime]

My idea is rather than have a draft lottery, have a draft tournament, like the NCAA tourney seeded by record.  It would be a 1 and done style tourney, maybe played on the off days during the playoff.  the winner of the tourney wins the first pick in the draft and the runner up gets the number 2 pick and you could either play a consolation game for picks 3 and 4 and slot teams by their record after pick 4 or just slot teams by record after pick 2.  The worst teams by record could get first round byes to give them an advantage and massage the brackets/rounds.  This would hopefully stop teams from getting intentionally bad as they would never have a shot at winning the tournament.  You would probably see the teams competing for the last lottery/tournament spot seed tank to enter the draft tournament, but they would be better than teams like the 76ers are now.

One problem with this idea is what happens to the naturally bad teams? The Cavs or Raptors of 2010-11 would be an example. When James/Bosh left they they where left high and dry with no franchise direction and no compensation for their lost star. With this plan they would be terrible all season then left at the end of the season to play in a single elimination tournament to try to get a pick. This plan works to eliminate the Tankers but also barriers the legitimate bad teams.

Exactly, any reform that is designed to totally eliminate tanking will also prevent the worst teams from actually getting the best picks, which is ultimately the goal. Actually there is an argument to be made that the current system doesn't reward bad teams enough because teams like the Bulls the Derrick Rose year and the Cavs last year will win the top pick every once in awhile.

Fans want to hate on tanking but the distinction between tanking teams and ones that are legitimately bad is largely based on perception. The Sixers got so much flak but why aren't people outraged at the Knicks or Lakers this year? Ainge just traded almost all his veterans but I don't hear anybody giving him as much hell as the Sixers got last year.

[obnoxiousmime]

Also the problem with the tournament ideas for the top pick(s) is that the crappy playoff teams will have an incentive to not make the playoffs and instead dominate the tournament and get a great pick instead of taking a beating against the one seed in the playoffs. How does that help the bad teams?

Last year a team that didn't make the playoffs like Phoenix would likely destroy all the teams in a lottery tournament. Would that be fair? Suddenly a 48-win team gets Andrew Wiggins?

[slamtheking]

This is out of left field for this time of year and the thought was initially brought on by the east vs west talent discrepancy.

Playoff reform

It has been an obvious problem and has come up in the media recently. The teams in the west who will finish 9th and 10th (currently NO and OKC) would both (if playoffs started today) be in as 7th seeds in the east. This leads me to a simile idea. The top 6 in each conference make the playoffs then the next 4 best records regardless of conference. Out of those 4 they are divided by their divisions. If more then 8 teams are represented from each division then the team with best record choices where they want to go.

As of today the playoff would look as follows

East ATL, WIZ, RAPT, Bulls, Bucks, Cavs

West War, Blaz, Griz, Rockets, Mavs, Clip

Wild Cards Spur, Suns, NO, OKC   

The Spurs would be left to pick. They likely would go east. Suns may stay out west do to travel. Then NO would go east.


This also lead me to an semi easy draft reform idea.

The 14 teams that miss the playoffs are now the 14 worst records in the league.

These 14 teams all have an equal shot at the 1st and 2nd pick. This is the top 2 lottery. The team that gets #1 is top 2 lottery ineligible for the 3 following years, team that gets #2 ineligible for the 2 following years.

After those two spots are set the remaining 12 teams are split into the top 6 and bottom 6 groupings. These teams all have equal chances with the bottom 6 pulling for spots 3-8 and top 6 9-14.

I think this would work because I makes tanking less appealing. If a team tanks they are only helping themselves get a 3-8 pick with no guarantee its not the 8th.

I like this idea better then the previously proposed wheel. Like the current system this still sends the elite top talent to the bottom half of the league. The wheel runs the risk of the champion getting a top pick in the same year while leaving the worst teams fans with little hope for retribution.

not a bad concept on the playoffs.  I'd alter it a bit such that those extra teams from one conference don't get to choose where they go.  I'd let the top seeds determine which of the bottom teams they want to play in the first round -- either the worst team from their own conference or one of the 'last-in' teams from the other conference.

[CFAN38]

This is out of left field for this time of year and the thought was initially brought on by the east vs west talent discrepancy.

Playoff reform

It has been an obvious problem and has come up in the media recently. The teams in the west who will finish 9th and 10th (currently NO and OKC) would both (if playoffs started today) be in as 7th seeds in the east. This leads me to a simile idea. The top 6 in each conference make the playoffs then the next 4 best records regardless of conference. Out of those 4 they are divided by their divisions. If more then 8 teams are represented from each division then the team with best record choices where they want to go.

As of today the playoff would look as follows

East ATL, WIZ, RAPT, Bulls, Bucks, Cavs

West War, Blaz, Griz, Rockets, Mavs, Clip

Wild Cards Spur, Suns, NO, OKC   

The Spurs would be left to pick. They likely would go east. Suns may stay out west do to travel. Then NO would go east.


This also lead me to an semi easy draft reform idea.

The 14 teams that miss the playoffs are now the 14 worst records in the league.

These 14 teams all have an equal shot at the 1st and 2nd pick. This is the top 2 lottery. The team that gets #1 is top 2 lottery ineligible for the 3 following years, team that gets #2 ineligible for the 2 following years.

After those two spots are set the remaining 12 teams are split into the top 6 and bottom 6 groupings. These teams all have equal chances with the bottom 6 pulling for spots 3-8 and top 6 9-14.

I think this would work because I makes tanking less appealing. If a team tanks they are only helping themselves get a 3-8 pick with no guarantee its not the 8th.

I like this idea better then the previously proposed wheel. Like the current system this still sends the elite top talent to the bottom half of the league. The wheel runs the risk of the champion getting a top pick in the same year while leaving the worst teams fans with little hope for retribution.

not a bad concept on the playoffs.  I'd alter it a bit such that those extra teams from one conference don't get to choose where they go.  I'd let the top seeds determine which of the bottom teams they want to play in the first round -- either the worst team from their own conference or one of the 'last-in' teams from the other conference.

In retrospect I agree bottom teams should not be allowed to choose.

[jpotter33]

I think lottery reform must come in the mold of the "lottery ineligibility" idea that you had more than anything else.

Something like restricting the amount of times allowed in the top 3 of the draft in a given time period seems the most logical to me.

For example:
The 2014 #1 pick (Cavs) would be ineligible to pick in the top 3 in 2015 and top 1 in 2016.
The 2014 #2 pick (Bucks) would be ineligible to pick in the top 3 in 2015.
The 2014 #3 pick (Sixers) would be ineligible to pick in the top 2 in 2015.

This would greatly disincentivize the grand, multi-year tanking efforts that we're seeing today, because teams could only get the true gems of the draft (usually the top 2 or 3 prospects) every other year, while allowing truly bad franchises to still get decent picks (mid lottery).

Of course, it might have the disadvantage of having the # 4, 5, and 6 picks tank in 2015 due to their increased top 3 chances, but at least it would decrease the multi-year commitments to tanking and bad basketball. And I'm sure there are some other unforeseen problems I've missed, but tanking will always be around in some shape or form. The goal is just to eliminate the most egregious and obvious examples of it and decrease it overall.

[Csfan1984]

It's simple to reduce tank team #s you do the top 3 ineligible for 3 years rule. If a team lands a top 3 pick they can not pick in top 3 again for 3 years.

You also only do lottery for worst 11 teams since three teams won't qualify for top 3 picks

Lottery and draft should go only by record not by playoffs so East can balance itself back even for the bad teams that make playoffs.

BIG off topic competition/anti-tank idea is that worst record teams that pick after the top 10 get larger MLEs to sign FAs. This means decent teams that may miss playoffs keep fighting for a better record to add $ to get established talent.