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The NBA Could Reform the Lottery as Early as Next Year
By Jim Adair
Published:
Is it just me, or is Adam Silver acting like his job is on the line, rather than acting like it was just handed to him months ago, as it was? With the Sterling situation, uni changes, the idea of a mid-season tournament, and now potential lottery reform, Silver has done more in his five months of Commissioner-dom than some of the other guys have done in five years.
According to Grantland, the anti-tanking inspired lottery reform could come as early as next season. A proposal is currently being discussed at competition committee meetings in Las Vegas, and it could do a big part in curtailing the current tanking trend. Sorry Hinkie.
According to Grantland:
“Under the current system, the team with the worst record has a 25 percent chance of snagging the no. 1 pick, perhaps the most valuable asset in the entire NBA. The team with the second-worst record has a 19.9 percent chance of winning the no. 1 pick, and the third-worst team enters the lottery with a 15.6 percent chance of moving up to the top slot. The odds decline from there, with the final five teams in the lottery — the teams with the five best records — each having a 1.1 percent or worse chance of moving up to no. 1.
The league’s proposal gives at least the four worst teams the same chance at winning the no. 1 pick: approximately an identical 11 percent shot for each club. The odds decline slowly from there, with the team in the next spot holding a 10 percent chance. The lottery team with the best record will have a 2 percent chance of leaping to the no. 1 pick, up from the the minuscule 0.5 percent chance it has under the current system.
The proposal also calls for the drawing of the first six picks via the Ping-Pong ball lottery, sources say. The current lottery system actually involves the drawing of only the top three selections. The rest of the lottery goes in order of record, from worst to best, after the top-three drawing is over.”
The Cavaliers would, of course, still be handed the top pick (or maybe the Heat now). There’s a lot more that goes into the actual implementation of this — and Zach Lowe does a good job of breaking that all down — but it just shows even further that Adam Silver isn’t messing around.
When he's not writing about sports here or ranting about them on Twitter, Jim is probably watching X-Files on Netflix or drinking a beer somewhere. Jim has nothing against hockey, it's just not his style. He once met Duce Staley at a Sixers game.