So I'm listening to Mike and Mike in the morning on my way into work and the mention the fact that the Celtics have lost 15 in a row and that it is to their benefit to lose as many games as possible down the stretch to increase their odds of landing either Durant or Oden, very true. Then Greeny went off and said this is a disgrace and that the NBA should reward teams for winning and not losing and thus he would implement a rule that would give the best team that missed the playoffs the #1 pick. Personally I think this would quite possibly the dumbest rule change in sports history. Heres why...Shifting the Benefits of Losing
Contemplate this for a second, would you as a fan or GM of the Minnesota Timberwolves, currently 8th in the West, would you rather make the playoffs and get crushed by the Mavericks in the first round or would you rather tank a few games at the end of the season to match up Kevin Garnett with the superstar he's always needed, Durant or Oden. All your plan does is change who contemplates the benifits of losing and tanking games at the end of the season. And it ends up making the achievement of one of the final playoff spots more of a negative for the future of a franchise than a positive.
Punishing a Team For Injuries
Also, you make the assumption with your rule that teams are tanking games down the stretch. The Celtics were in first place in the Atlantic the week before Pierce was injured, the loss of the loan superstar of a team, as well as the second best player for much of the time (Wally World) is going to result in many losses. And you want to punish a team for its inability to win without their best two players on the court. Just in case you haven't noticed the Heat stink this season without Wade and Shaq on the floor and their the defending champion.
Basement Stays the Basement
Granted teams like the Clippers and Hawks never seem to improve regardless of their draft positioning, but by granting the mediocre teams the upper echelion of the drafts in the long run what you are doing is burying franchises. No team can compete in the NBA without a bonafide superstar by punishing the worst team in the NBA with the 14th pick you are almost guaranteeing that team never lands a superstar. Look at the last few #1 picks and where their teams are, Magic, Rockets, Raptors, Cavs all in the playoffs. Think they would be there without Howard, Yao, or Lebron. Ya I don't think so.
Conclusion
I'm sure there are more negative points I could come up with, but I think those three overwhelming point to the fact that Greenberg is a moron and this rule would be a miserable idea for the NBA.
Comments
His answer of "make them trade or pick up free agents to fix bad teams" just doesn't cut it - if a team is that bad, who do they have to bargain with? How are they going to get the quality of player needed to really turn a franchise around? Is a player of that level going to want to move to a team which is guaranteed to be in the toilet at least another year or two?
The fact that the NBA has already at least TRIED to address the game-tanking-for-draft issue (via the lottery) is more than can be said for other leagues - the NFL's worst team is guaranteed the #1 pick - not so in the NBA.
Is there a temptation to tank games for a great draft pick? Probably - but if it's that big of a deal, just adjust the lottery formula again...
Keeping teams buried only hurts the league in the long-run.