NBA discussion creating a tourney for bad teams to avoid tanking & determine draft order

I actually mistyped a word. "... if a team gets a top 3 pick, they are ineligible for another top 3 pick in the next 3 years." So you can only get one shot at a top player for multiple years tanking.

 

Silver would rather throw darts and come up with absurd ideas than enforce the rules that are in place to prevent issues like this.

 

“Over-unders are at stake. You know, player props are at stake. If coaches are just willy-nilly not playing guys the entire game, and they’re not letting people know in advance that they plan to do that, you’re going to have a lot of angry gamblers and a lot of angry gambling companies as well.”

Spoiler

 

The gambling thing is making everyone very cynical and rightly so.

 

Why the NBA should embrace tanking -

The NBA has kate been misguided thinking that fans want to see their teams compete every night with a chance to win. It’s never been that way that way.

When I got into the nba, they thought they were in the basketball business. They aren’t. They are in the business of creating experiences for fans.

Few can remember the score from the last game they saw or went to. They can’t remember the dunks or shots. What they remember is who they were with. Their family, friends, a date. That’s what makes the experience special.

Fans know their team can’t win every game. They know only one team can win a ring. What fan that care about their team’s record want is hope. Hope they will get better and have a chance to compete for the playoffs and then maybe a ring.

The one way to get closer to that is via the draft. And trades. And cap room. You have a better chance of improving via all 3 , when you tank.

We didn’t tank often. Only a few times over 23 years, but when we did, our fans appreciated it. And it got us to where we could improve, trade up to get Luka and improve our team.

The nba should worry more about fan experience than tanking. It should worry more about pricing fans out of games than tanking.

You know who cares the least about tanking , a parent who cant afford to bring their 3 kids to a game and buy their kids a jersey of their fave player

Tanking isn’t the issue. Affordability and quality of game presentation are.

 

Kind of sad but probably correct about the business. It causes my eyes pain to read that the NBA isn't selling basketball as a product, and that squares with my experience when I went to a recent game. It was all noise and show with a little basketball happening in the center of it. Kinda sad versus when I went to games as a kid, but whatever. I get it.

 

I don't get it. If I just wanted to have a good time with my friends or family, why would I pay a high price to go to a basketball game? I'd just party in someone's house.

 

Cuban's take is very obviously dumb as hell.

He describes a parent who can't afford to take their kids to a game without recognizing that's the exact type of fan that tanking negatively impacts.

I'm not a parent, but I can't imagine gathering all my kids up, paying hundreds of dollars to get decent seats and some food, only to find out that several of the star players are "resting" or "injured" because the team is racing to the bottom. What a fun thing to explain to them.

This b**** is talking about experiences? Hey kids, remember that time I took you to the game and your favorite player wasn't even there? What an experience!

 

I agree with embracing tanking.

Affordability...who knows....give every kid a voucher for a hot dog and coke for $5. Stop gouging for shitty merch too.

Cool $60 shirt.

 

To me, the problem isn't teams tanking. I mean: if you are adam silver and can't stomach tanking, but you are fine with games that the final score is 131-111.
Tanking isn't the problem. The problem is your sport is broken. Who gives a rip, if a team plays "hard" and you lose by 20 anyway.

My thing is that games are terrible due to many factors: and tanking is the least of them in my mind. Here is the list of what's more important.

1. The first problem is: the mantra of more is better -- and every damn team makes the playoffs. How the hell does that make the product on the floor better on a night to night basis? It doesn't. First of all, it incentives load management. The front office of these playoff teams have no desire to play a star because there is no fear on not making the playoffs. If you limited the teams that make the playoffs to the 6 best team regardless of conference, that would make a significant difference. Because now, you are not guaranteed a spot in.
2. De-incentivizing defense. First of all, why do I care about what a tanking team does, when even when the best teams play each other it looks like a glorified all-star game. And the team that wins is whichever team hit their 3 pointers that night. And while analytics have a lot to due with it, there are active rules (the hand-check rule) that makes games nearly unwatchable at this point.

I just think that I don't understand what is supposed to be considered a "competitive game" anymore. The nba is a terrible sport to watch and I haven't watched it for years now.
When you prioritize 3 point players, you are going to get 3 point players. There is no balance starting lineups anymore. You would never even see a rick mahorn in the starting lineup because the game is 3 points or bust. If you want a better game, you could bring back defense to the game. Recently I heard the head coach saying something about how they didn't get into their defenses properly in the 4th quarter as a reason for their loss. I think that the other team had like 128 points. That is to say: how teams view good defense is far different than what it used to be.
There are no detroit piston type teams anymore: the old grit and grind grizzlies are a thing of the past. Every team is a carbon copy of every other team, for the most part.

I would be in favor of making draft picks free agents and having a hard salary cap, if for no other reason than to make decisions matter. Like I said many years ago on this board: if you want to pay a draft pick, a lot of money, fine: but you are going to use your limited salary cap to do it and if you are wrong, you are wrong.

 

Should probably fine them. And fine them again when they shut down Flagg! This blatant tanking will not stand!

 

Space lasers got him again

 

Jazz must’ve really pissed someone in the league/league office off.

Do you really care that the Jazz are tanking? That the Mavs, the Wizards, the Jazz, the Pacers, the Bucks, the Kings are sitting/shutting down players?

On a scale of 1-10, how much does it bother you?

It’s a good/great draft class! Next year, (2027 class, which they say sucks) there won’t be as much “tanking” and everyone will go back to not caring.

 

https://bsky.app/profile/shamsbot.bsky.social/post/3mfalgu4ll227

 

Where was this energy for okc tanking? Where was this energy when the warriors were fully throwing games to keep the barnes/klay picks? Almost ever meaningful run teams have had has been a result of either 1. tanking or 2. having the best player in the league (lebron, shaq) sign with your major market.

 

- First-round picks can be protected only top-4 or top-14+
- Lottery odds freeze at trade deadline or later
- Teams can’t pick top-4 in consecutive years and/or after back-to-back bottom-3 finishes
- Teams can't pick top-4 the year after making conference finals
- Lottery odds based on 2-year records
- Lottery extended to include all play-in teams
- Flattened odds for lottery teams

 

This would create more imbalance between big market and small market teams.