The Association: The Tank Solution

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April 13, 2006

The Tank Solution

by Craig Kwasniewski

Maybe I suffer from short-term memory loss (too much THC?), but I don't recall such a blatant amount of ~~repositioning~~ tanking since the 1996-97 season and the Tim Duncan sweepstakes. (Remember M.L. Carr bragging that he's losing games to improve the Celtics' chances?) We've already pointed out several examples of where it's happening: Manipulating The Standings and Betting Tip: Minnesota is Tanking

Well, here's a few steps that The Association could take to remedy this... The Tank Solution:

1. Eliminate Trades involving Lottery Protected Draft Picks: NBA Execs need to be more careful when they throw future first round picks into trades for what usually are overrated mid level players. The Cassell - Jaric trade last summer is a great example. Minnesota threw in a 1st round pick to entice the Clippers into taking Cassell off their hands because he's a free agent this summer. Minnesota should live with their mistake; instead they’re "resting" Garnett to guarantee a bottom 10 finish for their "lottery protected" pick.

2. Eliminate Divisions: There's no real purpose for division alignment anyway. The schedule is not weighed toward divisions, but rather conferences (conference teams mostly play each other 4 times). Plus, with the constant roster changes and shared agents, there are very few interdivisional rivalries. The only reasons why divisions exist are for T-Shirts and Banners. Teams try to spin an average post-season (Denver?) by dropping a division championship banner on opening night and selling "Division Champs!" t-shirts.

Eliminate the divisions and just seed the top eight teams in each conference for the postseason. Even most newspaper sports sections just list conference standings the last 5 weeks anyway. Does anybody really care about divisions titles?

This eliminates the Dallas-San Antonio 1 or 4 seed issue and the embarassing Clipper-Grizz lose fest so they can host the Nugs in the first round.

3. Eliminate the Weighted Lottery: Ever since the Orlando Magic won back-to-back lotteries to get Shaq and Penny, the league has weighed the lottery to increase the odds for the worst teams to get a high pick. What the hell for? There should be no reward for being the worst team in the NBA. Look at franchises like Indiana, San Antonio, Sacramento and Dallas; they have been in the playoffs every season since 2000 and maintain competitiveness despite having low draft picks. Draft positioning is only a small portion of a teams success. Just give every team that did not make the playoffs an equal chance at the top pick. There's no need to reward futility at all.

Plus, this will bring back the entire “Stern will fix it for New York” talk that I miss.

If there's any other ways to reduce the blatant tanking that's going in these days let me know....

Posted at 01:14 PM | Permalink

Comments

If the NBA eliminated divisions, what would you do for clothing without all of your Laker Division Champs shirts?

Posted by: Brett | April 13, 2006 at 01:37 PM

The Association may appreciate Clipperblog (who is similarly embarrassed by the losefest) and its proposal for the postseason:

http://www.clipperblog.com/item/43

Posted by: Clipper Blog | April 15, 2006 at 07:59 AM

I don't think anyone will ever be happy with the draft structure. I think they should keep the ping pong ball system in tact, but dump the ability to protect picks within the lottery. If it's #1 or #14, it's safe. If not, you're SOL.

The problem with eliminating the weighted draft structure is that a team like Atlanta or Portland will whine about being the crappiest team and not being able to compete without a system that helps compensate for a shit roster. And to some extent they would be right, but they should have safeguards against tanking. Numerous DNP-CDs without a valid reason (injury, personal reasons, etc.) should result in a fine, suspension next year, etc. The problem with the Inactive List is that teams don't need a reason to send players on there anymore.

Either way, David Stern's press conference on Thursday was pretty telling about how he doesn't really give a shit about tanking.

Posted by: dave | April 16, 2006 at 03:49 PM

A good GM will conpensate for poor draft positions. Just look at how Indiana, Sacramento, Dallas and San Antonio have all been competitive since 1999. They continue to roll out decent squads despite poor draft positions.

I agree that many teams will bitch about losing out on the lottery. They should just stop using it as a crutch and spend money on scouting or find a GM with basketball knowledge.

Posted by: Craig | April 16, 2006 at 07:50 PM

Forget the lottery all together and use a split draft.
Have the team with the best record not in the playoffs get the first pick. Second goes to second best record on down. After the worst team do the reverse order for the teams in the playoffs.

this year would be:
1. Utah
2. Philly
3. NO/OKC
4. Orlando
5. Houston
6. Boston....
then after portland picks it would be Milwaukee, sacromento and so on.

This would make teams play hard all the way to the end to either make the playoffs or improve their draft position. Also teams in the middle would have the chance to get an impact player and make a jump to the top of the league the very next season. crappy teams like my Blazers would cry but NBA teams need to improve effort late in the season, but they need an incentive.

Posted by: Ryan | April 19, 2006 at 11:54 AM

Remember, Houston tanked for Olajuwon, SA tanked for the Admiral and Duncan and Orlando did really well with their first round picks.

Tanking obviously works in the NBA and that's the problem.

How about a system tied to the salary cap? You have to spend money on draft picks. Teams in the luxury tax shouldn't get to draft in the first round and teams that have no talent like Milwaukee would be better off than teams that already have a Garnett.

Should the Knicks be rewarded for incompetence? As a Knicks fan, I say no.

The NBA is so player dependent, it needs a draft system that can't easily be gamed. Especially when the entire Atlantic division seems so eager to play the lottery.

Posted by: solomonrex | December 21, 2006 at 12:52 PM

I actually have the perfect solution, and it would be entertaining, too.

Take the bottom 8 teams and have a single-elimination tournament to
determine who gets the top 4 picks. Seeding will be random.

After the tournament, picks 5-7 will be determined by weighted lottery
and everyone else picks in order of finish. It can run concurrent to
the first round of the playoffs.

That or they could hire the BCS to come up with some kind of archaic
formula to determine draft order.

Posted by: basketballjones | April 16, 2007 at 05:35 PM