We are all ears right now to new ideas to replace the NBA Draft Lottery. The much-maligned system has resulted in teams tanking to get the 25 percent chance at getting the top pick, although just three teams have actually accomplished that since the league went to its current lottery iteration. Many are expecting some change to the Lottery in the near future — perhaps an evening out of the odds or a switch to the Wheel floated around through various media reports.
How about an auction style draft? This is what Gabriel Allen of The Lottery Mafia suggests. He explains:
Each team would be afforded a budget of $1,000 “draft dollars,” which it would be allowed to use in biddings. To begin the draft, the team with the worst record would announce its opening bid on the projected top pick of the draft or pass to the team whose record was the next worst (teams would nominate players to be bid on in reverse order of the standings). In the event that multiple teams were willing to spend their entire budget on one player, the team with greater actual cap space, i.e., the more fiscally responsible team, would be awarded the player. The players would receive regular compensation based on the draft position at which they were selected, so teams couldn’t drive the price of the players down by continually passing in the first round. The second round would abandon the auction style, and teams would have the option to forgo their pick, trade it, or select a player and pay him no worse than equal value of the No. 30 pick, with the worst team receiving the 31st opportunity to select someone and the team with the best record receiving the 60th chance to claim a player.
It is certainly a very interesting idea. Obviously a bit rough around the edges. Click the link above to read Allen’s full proposal for the idea.
We do this fantasy football, why not try it in the NBA, right? What do you think?
