After Baxter Holmes of ESPN reported on comments Adam Silver made during a Q&A with Suns employees, the NBA commissioner appeared on ESPN’s NBA Today on Monday to further discuss some of the points he made during that session. In addition to clarifying that he wasn’t “deadly serious about relegation” when he broached that subject, Silver explained why he believes the league’s revamped draft lottery system reduces the incentive for teams to tank (link via Tim Bontemps of ESPN).
“You’re dealing with a 14% chance of getting the first pick,” Silver said. “I recognize at the end of the day analytics are what they are and it’s not about superstition. A 14% chance is better than a 1% chance or a no percent chance. But even in terms of straightforward odds, it doesn’t benefit a team to be the absolute worst team in the league, and even if you’re one of the poor-performing teams, you’re still dealing with a 14% chance.
“It’s one of these things where there’s no perfect solution, but we still think a draft is the right way to rebuild your league over time. We still think it makes sense among partner teams, where a decision was made where the worst-performing teams are able to restock with the prospects of the best players coming in. So we haven’t come up with a better system.”
Silver also addressed the topic of expansion. As Marc Stein relays (via Twitter), the commissioner said that Las Vegas would “make a great location from a franchise someday,” but repeated his usual line about the need for patience. Expansion won’t be on the table, according to Silver, until after the league has a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and television deal in place. The current CBA will expires in 2024, while the TV deal runs until 2025.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Senegalese guard Babacar Sane, a graduate of the NBA Academy, has signed with the G League Ignite, according to a press release from the team. Sane, 19, has represented Senegal in World Cup qualifiers and played in the Basketball Africa League. He signed with the Ignite for two years and will be eligible for the 2024 draft. Marc J. Spears of Andscape talked to the young guard about his G League deal and a potential path to the NBA.
- NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars spoke to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today about his new role, explaining how he has adjusted to acting in the best interest of the league instead of any particular team. Dumars, whose position was previously held by Kiki VanDeWeghe, is in charge of player discipline — he was the one who announced, for instance, Grant Williams‘ suspension on Wednesday.
- Veteran Israeli point guard Gal Mekel, who attended Wichita State and played for the Mavericks and Pelicans from 2013-14, has retired, according to agent Misko Raznatovic (Twitter link). Although Mekel’s time in the NBA was brief, he has enjoyed a 14-year professional career, playing in Israel, Italy, Russia, Serbia, and Spain during that time.
The lottery should block teams from getting more than one number one pick per decade or even make it so every team gets a number one pick before any team gets too.
Not all teams are in markets that allowing tanking for a decade but that shouldn’t prevent them from ever having a great player under 35 years old.
As a fan of a team that has NEVER got a #1 pick I def would ride with that idea
I can’t see it. What have Kwame Brown, Andrea Bargnani and Tim Duncan in commom? They were all 1st picks. There are drafts loaded with talent and others loaded with BS. Imagine you have to wait for 30 years to pick first and you come across the 2000 draft…
In terms of Talent/Quality of play the law of diminishing returns kicked in when they expanded beyond 26 teams. Please No expansion. Just relocate a few teams.
Congrats to Silver on doing his predecessor and mentor proud in addressing and disposing of the tanking issue. First, mischaracterize the problem to narrow its scope. Second, indicate that you’re taking the problem seriously, while reciting ridiculously flawed alternatives. Finally, dismiss the alternatives as ridiculously flawed, while concluding that you were right all along. Having completed all three steps in sequence (aka a “Full Stern”) then dismiss any further mention of the issue. In other words, LET the tanking begin!
Well said. That is indeed the formula.
Having said that, tanking is hard to do. Utah could not be doing a worse job. Others whom were expected to in a more natural your team sucks this year aren’t holding up their end either.
It is hard, and like most things that are, you get better with experience. The rookies to the game (UTH, etc.) were bound to struggle at first. Even Pop. He’s one of tanking’s architects, but it’s an art form that’s evolved in the last 20+ years. I don’t think you’ll ever see the old hands, OKC/ORL, or even the younger vets, HOU/DET struggle like that. On the other hand, IND, with no history until the second part of last year, has looked like a natural.
As long as you’re not the Kings, you can tank and succeed.
The NHL and MLB both juat implemented new systems for lotteries that include rules regarding keeping certain teams from picking 1st x number of years in a row or picking in a certain range too many times in a row. No reason the NBA can’t have such a system.