OT: The NBA needs to eliminate tanking

[mudyez]

When I wrote "most balanced way" I thought about the balance between "giving worse teams some help (even though they might not deserve it)" and "don't help them to the point that the best way to be good, is to be bad."

While right now the worst record you can have in todays NBA is something around 41:41 (no chance/no good chances for a great pick). So teams that are 20:62 are in a better shape than you and its somewhat easy to sabotage your way to such a worse record.

82:0 perfect
62:20 great
41:41 (making playoffs) bad
41:41 (missing playoffs) not as bad
20:62 great
0:82 next best thing to a championship if the draft ist great

With giving every non-playoff-team the same chance at getting the #1 pick (and maybe all the way up to #14) you may still be better as a 41:41-team that misses the playoffs than a team that makes it and has no chance in round 1. but how often would a team purposely tank themself out of the playoffs (for a 1/14 chance of getting #1) without losing their whole fanbase? and you at least are in a better shape with 41:41-missingPOs than any team with a worse record.

82:0 perfect
62:20 great
41:41 (making playoffs) not so great
41:41 (missing playoffs) good
20:62 bad
0:82 your franchise will move

[ambchang]

In terms of lack of talent, I don't think the issue is with the players talents. Really, the difference between the 200th best player vs. the 300th best player in the league is minimal, as compared to the best player in the league (Lebron) vs. the 100th best player in the league, or even the 10th best player in the league. So shrinking down the number of teams will not really help immensely.

The issue with more teams is the spread in talent from a coaching and management perspective. You only need a one or two of these guys to make a good team, and there simply aren't 30 of them in the league right now. Some of those GMs and coaches are just horrible and do not deserve a job. They simply got it because there are 30 teams and every team needs one.

[Phillip]

Knicks are definitely tanking. It doesn't make any sense for them to be as bad as they have been.

[Captivus]

Maybe teams that have more than X salary shouldnt get a lottery pick or something like that.
So if the franchise has money (Nets) they dont get a lottery pick. This makes sense. Team would stop overpaying players, these players will be in other teams and there will be more balance.
IDK...

[Chinook]

HarlemHeat37 Chinook what are yalls thoughts on this?

Why not use a split lottery system in which both the worst and best lottery teams have the same odds? That both incentivizes trying for the playoffs and allows the truly horrible teams to get talent. Sure, there will be some tanking, but because there are essentially only half the spots to tank toward, the teams have just as much enssentive to get better.

So a horrible team like Utah or Milwaukee would still tank, but decently bad teams like Phoenix, Boston and Philly would not have to dump assets just to make sure they don't win themselves out of a good draft pick.

Cons: teams at the end of the playoffs will try to lose out--who cares? It's not like they were going to be good anyway; it just further incentivizes getting a high playoff seed.

Hurts mid-lottery teams--again who cares? They were stuck in no man's land anyway.

The East sucks so much that it's hard to grab a low-lottery spot without accidentally making the playoffs or tanking--indeed. Hopefully that changes some time soon.

[phoenix219]

Phoenix is decently bad?

Are we watching the same league?

[Chinook]

Phoenix is decently bad?

Are we watching the same league?

Of course they are. They aren't likely to make the playoffs, but they aren't mailing it in either. So I think they'd do really well with a high pick. Philly is tanking hard but in the split system would probably just play normally.

[angrydude]

The real problem is the conferences splitting the playoff teams.

In order to make the playoffs in the west you have to be pretty damn good. In order to make the playoffs you NEED a good organization that drafts, trades, decently well or you're at the bottom and nobody goes to your games and you make no money.

Out east, lots of bad teams make the playoffs and are therefore "playoff teams". Since they made the playoffs the owners can say "we're a pretty good team, we made the playoffs last year!" get people to buy tickets so they make money even though their team sucks. They don't have to fire the GM/coach and hire people who know what they're doing and stay the same ty team year after year.

Hence the conference disparity.

[RsxPiimp]

Knicks are definitely tanking. It doesn't make any sense for them to be as bad as they have been.

Don't know why,coz they're not getting that pick

[spurraider21]

I think the equal odds system is the only way you can discourage tanking. Teams will still suck, but nobody will have incentive to artificially suck.

[Lulzaur]

I honestly do not believe it's possible to completely correct the system because fringe teams in the original solution will forfeit games in order to get that one draft pick to put them over the top. It also allows for the middle class to really separate themselves from the rest of the down trodden, which it not what you really want. That being said, it's a crap shoot anyways since the majority of teams haven't shown a logical capacity to draft well these days unless they're drafting 1-4 and still (Cleveland), some fail miserably. I think one solution that could be looked at is removing the playoff contenders from the first found entirely. Give the playoff contenders the top picks in the second round in ascending order from worst to best, and the remaining 16 to the lottery teams.


This way lottery teams get 2 picks in the first round and 1 in the second.

[phoenix219]

Of course they are. They aren't likely to make the playoffs, but they aren't mailing it in either. So I think they'd do really well with a high pick. Philly is tanking hard but in the split system would probably just play normally.

How are they unlikely to make the playoffs at 16-10, 2 games behind the Clips for the division, and in possession of the 6th seed, with a third of the season completed?

[Thread]

How are they unlikely to make the playoffs at 16-10, 2 games behind the Clips for the division, and in possession of the 6th seed, with a third of the season completed?

They're a team, and they know it. They've suppressed the egos (if there were any to speak of) and they fear no one. And in THIS NBA they can dance, and they know it. I'm just fortunate they're in the West instead of the East and they'll have to run a gauntlet before any kind of disaster could threaten the "owen."