AROUND the NBA:

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Here's how I would deal with tanking.

2) Break teams up into groups 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-14. They play each other at the end of the year to determine the draft order within that group.

No offense, but wvery time I see this suggested I smack my head.  Imagine your company having a department contest where the winners' jobs get outsourced.

Seriously,  you think tanking causes problems? Watch how players "play" if they think a pick is going to cut into their positional livelihood.

[loki]

No offense, but wvery time I see this suggested I smack my head.  Imagine your company having a department contest where the winners' jobs get outsourced.

Seriously,  you think tanking causes problems? Watch how players "play" if they think a pick is going to cut into their positional livelihood.

It's one pick, the whole team doesn't lose their job if they pick 6th instead of 7th. A good chunk of the team would probably love the higher pick if it meant they had a better shot at winning next year. The fallback option would be to use coin flips within each group, but I'd personally be interested to see them play.

Edit: If you were referring specifically to players who are becoming free agents, I think that's probably the biggest hurdle. Why risk injury if you might not even be back next season?

[loki]

I think it’s even more simple than that.  $500k fine for first obvious tank.  $1M for the second tank infraction.  And after the 3rd infraction, the team is ineligible for the draft lottery and is moved to the 14th draft slot. If there is more than one team ineligible, then there is a coin flip of sorts for who drafts 13,14 or for whatever number of teams there may be.

I'm all for punishing the more egregious cases of tanking, but losing a lottery pick entirely is pretty harsh. You're going to have everyone finger pointing at the other guy claiming they did it too (and they'll probably be right).

[RGP1981]

Adam Silver needs to go, he appears to have lost his integrity.

He just fined the Jazz for 'tanking a game' that they won? (Jazz 115 - Heat 111, Feb 9th). Someone please make that make sense. The Jazz have also won 3 of their last 5 games... and only 'tanked' for 3 of 52 seasons, despite being a small market team. (To be honest, it could be argued the Jazz only tanked 1 season for Flagg, as the 2 seasons prior were definitely not all out tanks like so many other teams have done in the past). The Jazz have been one of the more noble franchises in the league's history.

Silver has a hidden agenda here. I think he wants to have sole and complete control over the draft in order to send draftees wherever he wants to meet his desired story-lines. Teams that actively go against his desired story-lines by trying to control their own destiny will be fined and 'managed' through fines.

This farce of a fine together with the farce that was the 2025 NBA draft (where the NBA stepped in to send the Top 3 picks to Silver's desired locations) is why I feel he needs to go.

[cow]

The Jazz might have failed at what they were trying to accomplish, but what they were trying to do was obvious. I like the fine as a shot across the bow. Is that enough to discourage tanking? Doubtful.

[OBX Maverick]

Hell, the Mavs are doing a wonderful job of organically tanking tonight!!!  Give me more Khris Middleton!

[F Gump]

Adam Silver needs to go, he has lost his integrity. He just fined the Jazz for 'tanking a game' that they won?

They stepped over the line. The teams KNOW what the line is. Smart teams can tank and still avoid penalties. UT had the nerve to be stupid as they tanked, and it cost them not only a fine but also a warning that they are on notice. 

Most fans don't know the line, however, so they get all up in arms over BOTH tanking and fines for tanking.

[RGP1981]

They stepped over the line. The teams KNOW what the line is. Smart teams can tank and still avoid penalties. UT had the nerve to be stupid as they tanked, and it cost them not only a fine but also a warning that they are on notice. 

Most fans don't know the line, however, so they get all up in arms over BOTH tanking and fines for tanking.

Other teams have done worse and more blatantly. This is targeted stuff from Adam Silver, IMHO, because the Jazz are going against his desired story-line and desired outcome. The Jazz were supposed to be 'satisfied' and 'content' with the consolation prize of JJJ, who was supposed to make up for having Cooper Flagg yanked away from them and sent elsewhere. Adam Silver and the NBA does not want the Jazz deciding to also get a high draft pick in addition to JJJ. That is the real reason for this fine. Of course, they couldn't fine only the Jazz and show their intentions so blatantly, so they gave the Jazz a $500K fine and threw the Pacers in there too but at a lowly $100K fine. The NBA has got to stop working their desired outcomes into the fabric of the league, because then this is no longer a sporting competition.

Here's another fun fact... only 2 teams have never benefited from the NBA Draft Lottery: The Utah Jazz & Indiana Pacers. 

Neither the Jazz or the Pacers have EVER won a Top 4 pick since the inception of the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985. The Jazz have been in the lottery 11 times and the Pacers 10 times. Both teams have picked in the Top 4, but only once for the Pacers (#2 in 1988 for Rick Smits) and twice for the Jazz (#3 in 2005 for Deron Williams and #3 in 2011 for Enes Kanter). These picks were gotten from other teams through trades.

[Mavs2021]

I said it before you need to establish the NBA´s version of relegation.

Worst team = No 1st round pick
2nd worst team = 29th pick
3rd worst team = 12th pick
4th to 8th team = equal odds (10.4%)
9th to 14th team = equal odds (8%)

Also no pick protections, otherwise the punishment becomes ineffective.

Effects:

1.) Nobody can fully tank in the off-season/trade deadline, cause you know that being in the bottom three FOR REAL means you get 12th pick at best. Teams will at least try to build coherent "winning" rosters.
2.) Every team will try from day one/reduce the rest BS, cause you know there are consequences to falling behind.
3.) The bottom of the league actually becomes more interesting to the average fan, that wants to see a rival team suffer the humiliation of not getting a top pick.
4.) The incentive to tank nearly disappears completely, cause the punishment for bottom three is severe and the odds for finishing 4th from the bottom are barely any better than just making the play-in with additional income.
5.) Even the bottom three have an incentive to play hard until the end, since there is a major difference between picking 12th, 29th and no pick.
6.) The flattening of the odds makes it barely interesting to tank between 4th and 14th, especially with the looming threats of falling into the bottom three.

You want to eliminate tanking, punish poor work. It´s kinda ironic, that America has the hire & fire workplace culture, while Europe is very protective of labour rights to the point that even firing a poor worker is difficult, but in sports Europe has promotion and relegation, while America has the social security net for poor franchises.

I know the system sucks for teams that are genuinely terrible, but then get better at your job and don´t plan your stink starting on July 1st.

[RGP1981]

I said it before you need to establish the NBA´s version of relegation.

Worst team = No 1st round pick
2nd worst team = 29th pick
3rd worst team = 12th pick
4th to 8th team = equal odds (10.4%)
9th to 14th team = equal odds (8%)

I'm sorry but this idea does not make sense, at all, and goes against the whole principle of the draft system. 

Proposals that could actually work and be fair to all teams could include things like:

1) Limiting the number of times a team can pick in the Top 4. For example, the team who gets the:

 - #1 pick can not get another Top 4 pick for 4 years.
 - #2 pick can not get another Top 4 pick for 3 years.
 - #3 pick can not get another Top 4 pick for 2 years.
 - #4 pick can not get another Top 4 pick for 1 years.
 
I'd stop at #4 with this particular proposal, as there should be no need to have a stipulation like this for picks #5 and beyond, but the scope could be extended.

2) Let the order of worst ranked teams be determined by multi-year standings. The WNBA uses results from the previous 2 years to determine draft lottery position for the Top 4. The NBA could do the same for the Top 14. They could even use 3 years of standings.

[RGP1981]

You want to eliminate tanking, punish poor work. It´s kinda ironic, that America has the hire & fire workplace culture, while Europe is very protective of labour rights to the point that even firing a poor worker is difficult, but in sports Europe has promotion and relegation, while America has the social security net for poor franchises.

The system that most European Leagues use is horrible for genuine and sustained competition by ALL teams in those leagues. Those systems were designed by the rich and established teams to protect themselves, and keep the poor where they are. The old rich established teams generally have a negligible risk of being relegated in reality. Even if they were in danger of being relegated mid-season, they are allowed to spend without limits and have no restrictions on tapping up or poaching players from other clubs. In other words, they can buy their way out of being relegated with impunity, and will be 'rewarded' with more money for doing so too. Matches can and have also been fixed to prevent rich teams from being relegated.

Another good example of this is the European Champions League. At one point in time, clubs from countries like Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Croatia, Romania, Turkey, etc were historically relevant. Has any club from these countries even reached a final in 20 years? All of them have been left by the wayside.

The biggest soccer clubs from a few countries (England, Italy, Spain and Germany) are the ones who wrote the participation rules for the Champions League a long time ago, to limit the possibility of them being excluded from it, and to keep their money rolling in... at the expense of everyone else. If not for the injection of massive amounts of Arab oil money into some clubs in those leagues, the winners would never have changed beyond the established old guard. For example: Manchester City could never have challenged Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal in the EPL; Paris Saint Germain could never have been able to challenge the other old European teams in the Champions League.

The American draft lottery system in sports is much more equitable and fair, a little tweaking is all it needs.

[OBX Maverick]

I'm all for punishing the more egregious cases of tanking, but losing a lottery pick entirely is pretty harsh. You're going to have everyone finger pointing at the other guy claiming they did it too (and they'll probably be right).

It’s pretty harsh, but if more significant measures aren’t taken, teams are gonna continue to do it…

[Chicagojk]

Bucks beat the stumbling Magic last night.  There two new players: Dieng score 17 and Cam Thomas score 34.  Not bad for first impressions.

Grizz lose Nuggets.  Omax maybe has his best back to back games.  He went 6-7 from the floor.    He missed a game in between but the last game he played he it like 6 threes.

Quite the homecoming for Dieng.  19-11-6 as the bucks go to OKC and get a win.

Mavs OKC pick now #29

[Chicagojk]

fixing teams trying to tank is tough.   Basketball is one of the few sports where that right guy can change a direction of a franchise.  I think the reduced lottery odds work.   Sure, tank half the season like Utah did.  Make basketball miserable for the fan base than drop to 5 in the lottery.  I think that is good incentive showing losing all your games is not a surefire way to get lucky.    This year is a little different because there are 3/4 top guys in this draft.  It doesn't appear at this point that the next two drafts have this issue.  

I think removing pick protections is an easy step.    Having teams with all sorts of pick protections really messes things up.    Take that away and I think that takes care of one of the bigger issues.

[Winter]

I think removing pick protections is an easy step.    Having teams with all sorts of pick protections really messes things up.    Take that away and I think that takes care of one of the bigger issues.

Is this on Silver's menu now? I haven't been reading what the plan is for tanking. Is this a serious option?

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I think it’s even more simple than that.  $500k fine for first obvious tank.  $1M for the second tank infraction.  And after the 3rd infraction, the team is ineligible for the draft lottery and is moved to the 14th draft slot. If there is more than one team ineligible, then there is a coin flip of sorts for who drafts 13,14 or for whatever number of teams there may be.

Good idea, that might work.

[mvossman]

Removing protections would be a good start. I have always thought protecting picks is devaluing your assets. You have a limited number of picks to trade and protecting that pick when you trade lowers its value. I get that protections are risk averse and sometimes there is no other way to dial in the value, but when you protect a pick you are willingly reducing your asset pool value.

[Mavs2021]

I think it’s even more simple than that.  $500k fine for first obvious tank.  $1M for the second tank infraction.  And after the 3rd infraction, the team is ineligible for the draft lottery and is moved to the 14th draft slot. If there is more than one team ineligible, then there is a coin flip of sorts for who drafts 13,14 or for whatever number of teams there may be.

Do NBA athletes waive doctor/patient confidentiality, when they sign their contracts? At least here an employer does not even have any legal rights to know the illness/injury of an employee, so how can the league verify the validity of an injury.  So you´d basically rely on the players telling on their teams to actually prove tanking. You really want to be known as a player that snitches on their own team, when the next max contract negotiation comes up?

That´s why they do these lame fines, that nobody will bother to challenge. It´s all about saving face. The Jazz paid Dybantsa 7M to play at BYU. You really think they care about this fine?

[Jmaciscool]

What about having a designated portion of cap that is specific to drafting new players that starts off equal between all teams. Each team bids an amount to acquire a draftee and the highest amount gets the player. You can spend it all to get a really great prospect or split it between other players.

But for trades, instead of trading picks you trade amounts of this special cap space, so you give another team a certain amount of space that they can then use (and thus have more to offer draftees than other teams).

Seems like this would reward skilled front offices, removes any tie to record determining draft placement, and doesn't affect small/big markets differently. Rebuilding teams can acquire this space to get young players but without depending on lottery luck.

[DallasMaverick]

@TheSteinLine
Says NBA commissioner Adam Silver in explaining the punishments: “Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games.”

It’s all about the optics. The NBA needs to maintain the appearance of real competition.

But there’s so many different and creative ways of tanking that the NBA couldn’t possibly stop all of them.

It’s the visible ones they want to shut down.