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Woj: NBA draft lottery reform could be voted in before start of this upcoming season

LionPride

Banned
They're both still kids under years of team control. You know how you keep a Giannis or a Gobert around once their free agency hits? Find another superstar to pair with them.

You know how to keep em happy?

Not fuckin tanking trying to strike rich on an unknown commodity when your team is playoff good in an era where unless tragedy strikes, the Warriors will likely win for a couple more years
 

iamblades

Member
NBA has a bad parity problem. Only 3 teams have a remote shot at winning every year and this would make it even worse.

Stop trying to be special with the draft system and just do it like MLB and NFL.

The only thing the NBA can do to increase parity is to eliminate the max contract.

If a team wants to pay LeBron 90% of the cap per year and fill out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts, they should be able to do it.

The problem with max contracts is that eliminates the disincentive for super star players to team up together, because they will never lose a substantial amount of money by doing so.

The draft lottery doesn't help things, but it's not the cause of the issue. The cause is that top tier talents in the NBA are very rare and the contract structure prevents them from getting fair market value.
 

jdstorm

Banned
The best way to end tanking is to ban players from being traded on rookie contracts.

Right now tanking and aquiring rookies is a way of laundering basketball value and storing it in cheap contracts. By forcing teams to lose rookies they can't afford for nothing it disincentivises storing assets in draft picks as it becomes an unsustainable practice.
 

Duxxy3

Member
I don't think draft reform will fix the league. I'm not sure what will. The super team (the only one left) is going to run through everybody for the next few years, without any real competition.

edit: Maybe iamblades is right. Get rid of the max contract. Lebron, Durant and Curry could eat up more than half of a teams cap space on their own. Durant probably would have seen offers for 50+ million if it were allowed.
 
NBA has a bad parity problem. Only 3 teams have a remote shot at winning every year and this would make it even worse.

Stop trying to be special with the draft system and just do it like MLB and NFL.

That has nothing to do with the draft and everything to do with the way the owners have bottle-capped player contracts. Players got free reign to join up to form Super Teams because Owners no longer wanted to lock them down to 6-7 year deals, and then when owners no longer wanted their franchise players to bail on them, they created this Super Max stuff that led to the current parity where there's only like 2 or 3 teams with a shot.
 

mjp2417

Banned
The only thing the NBA can do to increase parity is to eliminate the max contract.

If a team wants to pay LeBron 90% of the cap per year and fill out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts, they should be able to do it.

The problem with max contracts is that eliminates the disincentive for super star players to team up together, because they will never lose a substantial amount of money by doing so.

The draft lottery doesn't help things, but it's not the cause of the issue. The cause is that top tier talents in the NBA are very rare and the contract structure prevents them from getting fair market value.

This is the most obvious solution, but it also means that the NBA's middle class is going to get fucked over hard. There still probably needs to be max contracts, but they need to take up a larger percentage of the salary cap.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
Get rid of the draft. Create a real minor league. Let players sign with whoever they want out of high school.

And to this what Mark Cuban said and the team with the worst record is given the most money that year to spend on rookie contracts and the best team is given the least amount of money to spend. So the best rookie coming into the NBA can decide if he wants to play for a better team for less or a worse team and get paid more.
 
east teams will still be bad, they will just make dumb trades and sign dumb FAs forever. nothing's gonna change unless the teams get sold or the owners die.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
The only thing the NBA can do to increase parity is to eliminate the max contract.

If a team wants to pay LeBron 90% of the cap per year and fill out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts, they should be able to do it.

The problem with max contracts is that eliminates the disincentive for super star players to team up together, because they will never lose a substantial amount of money by doing so.

The draft lottery doesn't help things, but it's not the cause of the issue. The cause is that top tier talents in the NBA are very rare and the contract structure prevents them from getting fair market value.

This is the answer buy a lot of mid level guys will get screwed
 
And to this what Mark Cuban said and the team with the worst record is given the most money that year to spend on rookie contracts and the best team is given the least amount of money to spend. So the best rookie coming into the NBA can decide if he wants to play for a better team for less or a worse team and get paid more.

That seems like an awful idea. Would you rather be paid less but play for the Lakers or more and play for the Magic?
 

thefro

Member
This is the most obvious solution, but it also means that the NBA's middle class is going to get fucked over hard. There still probably needs to be max contracts, but they need to take up a larger percentage of the salary cap.

The worse your team, the more $$$ you should be able to offer free agents.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
That seems like an awful idea. Would you rather be paid less but play for the Lakers or more and play for the Magic?

Depends how much money we are talking. These are kids who haven't made a dime yet. If that difference is say 5 mill and that top prospect comes from a poor background then I would say bring on the magic
 
Depends how much money we are talking. These are kids who haven't made a dime yet. If that difference is say 5 mill and that top prospect comes from a poor background then I would say bring on the magic

Endorsements alone for a top prospect in one of the premier cities would make up that difference. Don't you think Nike or any other brand would be steering those kids to LA/New York?
 
if we are already going down the cap on individual salaries road, why not cap max rookie salaries and let them sign with which teams have space.
 

shira

Member
90% of the games are unwatchable but if even some kind of interest is sparked in China like a Chinese player or super dunker and BAM +5 million viewers

Tank strat is the best strat. I'm not even sure what happens if tank is not viable because these teams are built to tank, not to play.
 
90% of the games are unwatchable but if even some kind of interest is sparked in China like a Chinese player or super dunker and BAM +5 million viewers

Tank strat is the best strat. I'm not even sure what happens if tank is not viable because these teams are built to tank, not to play.

What the hell are you talking about?
 

Ronin Ray

Member
Endorsements alone for a top prospect in one of the premier cities would make up that difference. Don't you think Nike or any other brand would be steering those kids to LA/New York?

No I dont I think so at all because there are lots of factors. If the top prospect is a pg maybe team A can offer more playing time then team B. What if team A is small market but better at developing players then team B and that will help the prospect get a bigger second contract etc.
 
If they wanted more parity they should get rid of a bunch of teams so that there would be a greater concentration of superstars on each team. Essentially just have fewer teams, but each team is a superteam. You'd have better parity then.

Sorry if your team is in a a city nobody wants to play in you're just never going to be consistently competitive no matter what changes they made.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
If they wanted more parity they should get rid of a bunch of teams so that there would be a greater concentration of superstars on each team. Essentially just have fewer teams, but each team is a superteam. You'd have better parity then.

Or get rid of max contracts and have the super star players more spread out instead of eliminating a bunch of jobs and stuff
 
Or get rid of max contracts and have the super star players more spread out instead of eliminating a bunch of jobs and stuff

That wouldn't fix anything because star players who are usually hyper competitive and want to leave their mark on the game will group up to win a championship to avoid being the next Charles Barkley.

Players take less money all the time just so they can group up. Even if you get rid of max contracts and Philadelphia can pay the same as Golden State, every single person will still want to go to Golden State and likely go to Golden State even if they get less.
 

natjjohn

Member
What the hell are you talking about?

Who knows. NBA is doing well but it's confusing why.

No competition. Regular season relatively pointless, post season not competitive and a foregone conclusion mostly. Not to harken to old NBA, but while there were dominant teams/dynasties didn't feel as foregone of a conclusion. There was some intrigue. Right now there is none IMO.

Agree with poster above that max contract needs to go. Super max addition didn't do enough and the way it's determined I'm not a fan of. Should be simply up to the team to decide into give or not
 

Admodieus

Member
Max contracts are indeed the issue. If a team wants to break the bank for Kyle Lowry in free agency, then they should be able to do so. It is insane that LeBron makes basically the same amount of money that dozens of other players in the league.
 

shira

Member
If they wanted more parity they should get rid of a bunch of teams so that there would be a greater concentration of superstars on each team. Essentially just have fewer teams, but each team is a superteam. You'd have better parity then.

Sorry if your team is in a a city nobody wants to play in you're just never going to be consistently competitive no matter what changes they made.
Getting rid of teams is not an option.

Actually I'm not even sure what would happen if the league contracted because it's more cost efficient to have younger stars that can output the same production as a 10 year veteran who will have a massive salary, injuries, etc. Tanking is ingrained in some franchises because fans follow and support their team no matter what.

If cities stopped buying tickets you would have huge problems, but they don't
 
I think this kinda sucks and doesn't solve tanking at all. Making it harder for bad teams to improve is the opposite of what you want.

First thing I disagree with Silver on.

Bad teams are always going to be bad teams. There's no coincidence in the bottom barrel teams constantly showing up in the lottery in the same positions.

Let a fringe playoff team add a significantly talented piece to their roster. Could be the missing piece they need plus would actually help a player develop. Too many rookies are put into positions and expected to be MJ/LeBron-like. They'll benefit from being surrounded by actual NBA players and not d-leaguers to keep the tank going.
 
Max contracts are indeed the issue. If a team wants to break the bank for Kyle Lowry in free agency, then they should be able to do so. It is insane that LeBron makes basically the same amount of money that dozens of other players in the league.

You're just gonna get a situation like in baseball where LA and NY can pay more than everyone else, except each player affects the probability the team will win WAY WAY more than in baseball. This works fine in baseball because even an entire lineup of highly paid players doesn't guarantee a championship. Imagine if you had that in the NBA. If you have 5 max+ contracts on your team, it's basically over for every single other team who can't afford the same.

Also, look at the Lakers, they can't get anyone right now even though they can offer multiple max contracts. Nobody wants to play there because it's not just always about the money. Every single person on this planet, especially Kevin Durant, knew that a championship was guaranteed if he went to Golden State. Who cares about taking a contract that's above max, if you have that guarantee.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
That wouldn't fix anything because star players who are usually hyper competitive and want to leave their mark on the game will group up to win a championship to avoid being the next Charles Barkley.

No they wouldn't at all. If bad teams said fuck it I am going to offer you 90 mil a year but we're going to suck because your are only good player a bunch of players would take that over grouping up and making 30 mil a year. Your answer of eliminating teams hurts the league less games less revenue etc.

Also this notion that Superstars just get together and dominate The League is completely false the Warriors built their team from the ground up and added 1 Superstar player and it took insane circumstances for that to happen. The heat only won two rings when they joined up. NBA championship teams are built from hitting in the draft and then adding pieces. Also the parity of the NBA is the same now as it has always been.
 

Admodieus

Member
You're just gonna get a situation like in baseball where LA and NY can pay more than everyone else, except each player affects the probability the team will win WAY WAY more than in baseball.

Also, look at the Lakers, they can't get anyone right now even though they can offer multiple max contracts. Nobody wants to play there because it's not just always about the money. Every single person on this planet, especially Kevin Durant, knew that a championship was guaranteed if he went to Golden State. Who cares about taking a contract that's above max, if you have that guarantee.

Baseball has no salary cap. It's not quite the same situation.

And yes, the situation in the last few years has been messed up because max contracts exist. Wouldn't Durants decision be more difficult if teams other than the Warriors could offer him twice as much?
 
Who knows. NBA is doing well but it's confusing why.

No competition. Regular season relatively pointless, post season not competitive and a foregone conclusion mostly. Not to harken to old NBA, but while there were dominant teams/dynasties didn't feel as foregone of a conclusion. There was some intrigue. Right now there is none IMO.

Agree with poster above that max contract needs to go. Super max addition didn't do enough and the way it's determined I'm not a fan of. Should be simply up to the team to decide into give or not

Despite the playoffs being quite predictable, outside of a few decent series, I thought the regular season was one of the better ones we've had in years and next year should be even better.
 

Ronin Ray

Member
You're just gonna get a situation like in baseball where LA and NY can pay more than everyone else, except each player affects the probability the team will win WAY WAY more than in baseball. This works fine in baseball because even an entire lineup of highly paid players doesn't guarantee a championship. Imagine if you had that in the NBA. If you have 5 max+ contracts on your team, it's basically over for every single other team who can't afford the same.

Also, look at the Lakers, they can't get anyone right now even though they can offer multiple max contracts. Nobody wants to play there because it's not just always about the money. Every single person on this planet, especially Kevin Durant, knew that a championship was guaranteed if he went to Golden State. Who cares about taking a contract that's above max, if you have that guarantee.


I don't think you know the difference between Max contracts and the salary cap. Also baseballs is a bad way to make your point when they have the most parity in all sports
 
Baseball has no salary cap. It's not quite the same situation.

And yes, the situation in the last few years has been messed up because max contracts exist. Wouldn't Durants decision be more difficult if teams other than the Warriors could offer him twice as much?

He was tired of constantly being on a team that everyone said was good, but never getting close to winning it all. He's got plenty of money, Twice as much wouldn't have mattered.
 

Bread

Banned
Despite the playoffs being quite predictable, outside of a few decent series, I thought the regular season was one of the better ones we've had in years and next year should be even better.
The league is full of talent, people just focus on the finals for some reason to act like the league is boring. The regular season was great last year.
 

blakep267

Member
Majority of the teams suck in every sport. Parity is just a buzz word.
Not really in baseball. It's much easier to get better than any of the other sports and there's more parity. Ex the Yankees and Redbox don't always win. You have the giants and cardinals and dodgers, phillies and cubs etc that can all be good.

Th NFL isn't even as bad as the NBA where you're can guarantee that the champ will be any one of 4 teams for years and years. The NFL has a tom Brady and belicheck problem. Not nearly the same level as the NBA where stars shuffle every year to chase rings and create super teams that put "super teams" of the past to Shame
 
Baseball has no salary cap. It's not quite the same situation.

And yes, the situation in the last few years has been messed up because max contracts exist. Wouldn't Durants decision be more difficult if teams other than the Warriors could offer him twice as much?

Durant going to the Warriors last year was an anomaly that will probably never happen again, there's no need to drastically change rules to stop that from happening.
 
I don't think you know the difference between Max contracts and the salary cap. Also baseballs is a bad way to make your point when they have the most parity in all sports

There's a salary cap, but there's also a luxury tax limit. It doesn't really matter when you have a bunch of teams that can't even get near the salary cap and then you have teams like the Lakers that have no problem paying whatever luxury tax.
 
Durant going to the Warriors last year was an anomaly that will probably never happen again, there's no need to drastically change rules to stop that from happening.

I think we'll see this happening more and more as it's becoming basically a necessity to have a superteam to win it all. Sure if you are happy with just winning some games in the regular season that nobody really cares about, you don't need that.

The warriors are a lock for the next championship with the teams as they are now unless another superteam is created, unless something catastrophic happened like their plane going down.
 

Bread

Banned
I think we'll see this happening more and more as it's becoming basically a necessity to have a superteam to win it all. Sure if you are happy with just winning some games in the regular season that nobody really cares about, you don't need that.
The regular season is 6 months long, it's ok if you want to look back and say "Oh the Clippers never won a title" but saying "Oh the Clippers never won a title so they should have just tanked instead" is stupid. Watching your team win lots of games in the regular season is very fun.
 
The regular season is 6 months long, it's ok if you want to look back and say "Oh the Clippers never won a title" but saying "Oh the Clippers never won a title so they should have just tanked instead" is stupid. Watching your team win lots of games in the regular season is very fun.

And this is why for the most part nobody here in LA gives two shits about the Clippers.

Even when the Lakers are unwatchable people will still cheers the Lakers more because they've won it all and that gets loyalty like nothing else.
 
I think we'll see this happening more and more as it's becoming basically a necessity to have a superteam to win it all. Sure if you are happy with just winning some games in the regular season that nobody really cares about, you don't need that.

The warriors are a lock for the next championship with the teams as they are now unless another superteam is created, unless something catastrophic happened like their plane going down.

Like I said, it was an anomaly. Teams will literally not be able to do what the Warriors did without a million things, most of which are out of their hands, going perfectly right. It required an unprecedented jump in the salary cap, it required drafting Draymond in the second round and it required Steph to sign a below market deal because of his injury history and then turn into one of the best point guards ever.

You also don't need something catastrophic to happen for the Warriors to become beatable, there are a lot of good teams this year. One injury to the Warriors could change everything.
 

Bread

Banned
And this is why for the most part nobody here in LA gives two shits about the Clippers.
No one gives two shits about the Clippers because you've had a good team in the Lakers since basically 1960. Put that team with CP3/Blake/DJ in almost any city and they would have been extremely popular.
 
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