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I just don\u2019t understand how any of these ideas are supposed to fix tanking in the NBA. If anything, I believe these measures would only make things worse. First off, I honestly just don\u2019t love the lottery in general. Yes, teams tank to improve draft position, but normally the team that finishes last finished there for a reason.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always been of the idea that a lottery only increases the number of teams that are going to tank. Unlike the three other major sports, there\u2019s normally only two to three teams max that have a real shot at the title. Because of this, teams are far more willing to blow a team up if they feel they don\u2019t have a real shot at the title.<\/p>\n
When this happens, you only need to be bad enough to make it into the lottery, then you can hope the balls fall into place, and you land the first pick. Dallas has been a fun landing spot for Cooper Flagg, but they really had no business getting the first pick to select him.<\/p>\n
Another suggestion that made no sense was freezing lottery odds at the beginning of the season. The NBA already struggles to compete with the NFL and MLB playoffs. If you change when lottery odds are decided, why wouldn\u2019t teams just start their tanks earlier in the year? If you already thought November basketball was a tough watch, it\u2019s going to get embarrassingly bad if they made this move.<\/p>\n
I also don\u2019t believe that banning teams from top four picks in back-to-back years is a great decision, especially when the lottery randomizes where you are picking.<\/p>\n
The MLB currently has rules that prevent teams from receiving top picks multiple years in a row, but that makes more sense for them. NBA revenue sharing is inherently fairer than MLB, and the NBA has a salary cap. The MLB punishes big market teams that tank more severely than small market teams that tank, but that wouldn\u2019t work in the NBA, where there isn\u2019t a significant imbalance in team payrolls.<\/p>\n