Van Gundy doesn't like that lottery rewards losing

ESPN.com news services

The Dallas Mavericks with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft? If Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy had his way, that could happen.

Van Gundy wants to open up the NBA draft lottery to all 30 NBA teams in an effort to keep teams from losing intentionally to hopefully secure the No. 1 pick.

"I think every team should have an equal chance at winning the lottery, from the best team all the way down," Van Gundy told The Houston Chronicle. "I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. I would say to take away any possible conflict of interest, everyone should have an equal chance at the top pick all the way down. That way there would be absolutely no question by anybody about anything.

"If it's better for the game, they should do it. I never quite understood why losing is rewarded, other than [for] parity."

According to The Chronicle, Van Gundy presented his proposal to the NBA, but wasn't taken seriously.

I've been thinking about this for a few days now, and while I agree that teams tanking it at the end of the season is a problem, I don't see this, as JVG explains it, as the solution.

I know the lottery was put into place to make sure that tanking the season didn't automatically result in getting the first pick (well, that and to make sure that the Knicks got Ewing) but having the Mavericks get Greg Oden doesn't seem right either.

Is there a better way to do this?

I don't like his idea. I don't like the whole tanking thing but that is part of life. Even if say Boston tanked games to get the #1 pick, that pick isn't going to have a huge impact on the league. Now if a team like Dallas or Phoenix or even Detroit got the #1 pick, it would put a great team in an even better spot and would have more of a significant impact on the league. There is already too much seperation between the great teams and the shitty teams and JVG's idea could cause even more of a disparity.

There might be a few ways to tweak it to make it more fair or maybe more exciting.

Instead of drawing for the top 3 spots, they could draw for the top 5.

Instead of only including the non-playoff teams in the draw, include every team, but really weight it so the good teams only have a super small chance to win.

How much more exciting would it be if every team was in the drawing? I know that it's fun to watch now, even when the Pistons aren't in it, but even if they had a .1% chance in the drawing, it would be so much better.

Maybe even combine those two ideas, only the non-playoff teams are eligible for spots 1-3, but all the teams are eligible for spots 4 & 5, then slot the teams by record after that.

I'm torn on this issue... I obviously understand why they do it the way that they do but it does have many flaws...

Why should teams be rewarded for virtually making a bunch of bad decisions and not making the playoffs?

There are plenty of teams that are good enough to win 40-46 games a year, have no chance at a high pick and are capped out which gives them 0 chance to get to contender status.

I see JVG point

Charles Barkley had a better idea.

Just give all the lottery teams the same amount of balls in the machine.
It would end game tanking.

That's how it was originally. They didn't like it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Draft_Lottery

ha ha I read that wiki page yesterday too, "Fingerbang".

I bet Uncle Mxy could come up with a better system.

I could conceivably come up with a better system if I had a strong handle on:

1) What -should- the reward for winning games be?
2) What should the draft's purpose be?

Let's take two franchises that have lost a lot in games the 21st Century -- the Knicks and the Hawks. The Knicks piss away money on suck contracts like there's no tomorrow but their franchise keeps on growing in value. By contrast, the Hawks are a ghost town, their franchise ownership a shambles. Should both get lottery picks? Do you reward:

- The Knicks, who persist in bringing value to the NBA despite losing and appearing to be dumbasses
- The Hawks, who appear to need the help the most but are possibly even dumber than the Knicks

If not, who do you reward and on what basis?

ha ha I read that wiki page yesterday too, "Fingerbang".

http://www.detroitsportsrag.com/phpBB2/images/avatars/14601460d1bf55abdc.jpg