The NBA Draft

[Phishfan]

Does anyone care? Even the biggest NBA fans I know couldn't care less about this event. The ESPN analysts can even be heard talking about how there are lottery picks every year that are nothing more than marginal players. What are your thoughts?

[Dave Gray]

Yeah.  I enjoy the NBA....don't care about the lottery.

[Landshark]

 It's not like the NFL draft.  You usually don't find good value after the first 15 picks.

[el diablo]

Its kinda hard to get excited about players you don't know. Ever since the adaptation of the "1 & done" rules, its pointless to care. Imagine if the NFL ran the same way.

[Cathal]

I just don't know why they have a lottery. Why not just do it like the NFL?

[el diablo]

Because, its a sport where one player can make all the difference. There's too much of an incentive to "tank" games. There's only 2 rounds as opposed to 7. And the talent level drops way off after the first 5 picks. I'm not saying that "tanking" doesn't exist in the NFL (see Indianapolis circa 2011), but the NBA was trying to address that with the lottery.

[tubba marxxx]

Because, its a sport where one player can make all the difference. There's too much of an incentive to "tank" games. There's only 2 rounds as opposed to 7. And the talent level drops way off after the first 5 picks. I'm not saying that "tanking" doesn't exist in the NFL (see Indianapolis circa 2011), but the NBA was trying to address that with the lottery.

The Patrick Ewing sweepstakes was the Suck For Luck of the 1985 season, hence the lottery

[Dave Gray]

It's also the sheer amount of games that need to be tanked, if a team decides to pack it in.  In the NBA, halfway through the season, you still have 41 games.  In the NFL, it's 8.

The NFL also has the benefit of many different superstars across different positions.  In the NBA, you only have 3 positions, so the talent isn't as spread out.

[mecadonzilla]

The silly thing about the lottery is that the worst teams never get the first pick.

[Cathal]

Because, its a sport where one player can make all the difference. There's too much of an incentive to "tank" games. There's only 2 rounds as opposed to 7. And the talent level drops way off after the first 5 picks. I'm not saying that "tanking" doesn't exist in the NFL (see Indianapolis circa 2011), but the NBA was trying to address that with the lottery.

When I questioned why there was a lottery, I was thinking it had something to do with tanking. But, that's an awful lot of games to tank, so I didn't think it was possible. I mean, it seems like tanking in the NFL is far easier since you only really have to screw up a handful of games, while in the NBA, you'd need to lose, what, 60 or more?

[el diablo]

Look at it like this. The number of games need to tank in the NBA is far greater. However, the exposure is far less. By the time the national media pays attention to a team (like the Bobcats), they are already so far out of contention that its not funny. In fact, had it not been for the losing streak attached to MJ's involvement, would anybody even notice? At the same time, in the NFL we already have a pretty good idea who the top 5 may be in next year's draft. Can you say the same about the NBA? I can't. In the NFL its more about positional need once you have the "superstar".

[el diablo]

The Patrick Ewing sweepstakes was the Suck For Luck of the 1985 season, hence the lottery

You sir, are correct.

[mecadonzilla]

The Patrick Ewing sweepstakes was the Suck For Luck of the 1985 season, hence the lottery

Except, Ewing was the very first pick of the very first lottery.  The Knicks didn't necessarily have to tank to get him, right?  They were picked by the lottery system to draft first and actually had the 3rd worst record.

[Thundergod]

The Lottery blows. I understand the whole tanking theory (funny, people who don't believe in conspiracy theories...) I digress, but what if a team actually does suck huge donkey balls?  And why isn't the actual lottery shown? (conspiracy?  ) 

Anyway, found this interesting article on fixing the NBA Lottery:

I would do an inverted draft order so that the team with the best record that failed to make the playoffs would be given the top pick, while the team with the worst record would pick 14th. That way teams like Charlotte or Washington that stunk on a regular basis would get a valuable “lottery” pick to add to their roster, but they wouldn’t be rewarded for being horrible.

http://www.hoopsaddict.com/how-to-fix-the-nba-draft-lottery/

[Landshark]

Except, Ewing was the very first pick of the very first lottery.  The Knicks didn't necessarily have to tank to get him, right?  They were picked by the lottery system to draft first and actually had the 3rd worst record.

Who can forget the frozen envelope rumor?