The NBA's board of governors voted to pass legislation on draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of healthy players in the regular season. The NBA draft lottery reform passed 28-1-1 vote, with Oklahoma City voting against and Dallas abstaining. The NBA needed 23 of 30 teams -- a three-quarters majority -- to pass the legislation. The voting was part of a two-day meeting of the board in New York that concluded on Thursday. The lottery reform changes will be instituted for the 2019 NBA draft. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been a strident proponent of both legislative agendas, pushing owners and team executives on his belief that passage was important for elements of the league's economy, competitive balance and public perception. The NBA needed a three-fourths majority to pass draft lottery reform, which is designed to discourage teams from tanking to pursue the best possible odds to select highest in the draft order. The resting regulations deliver Silver the ability to fine teams for sitting healthy players in instances that include nationally televised games. That legislation needed a simple majority to pass. The three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, a change from the descending percentages of 25, 19.9, and 15.6 in the current system. Four teams -- increased from three -- will become part of the lottery draw, which means the No. 1 lottery seed could drop no further than fifth, No. 2 could drop no further than sixth, No. 3 no further than seventh, and No. 4 no further than eighth. Some small-market teams were hesitant on the plan, because officials believed it ultimately limited their odds of acquiring elite talent because free agency has traditionally favored big-market teams. In the new resting legislation, Silver will have the discretionary ability to fine teams for resting players in several instances, including sitting multiple players outside of unusual circumstances in a single game, and healthy players in nationally televised ESPN, ABC and TNT games. When teams decide to rest players in games, they'll be encouraged to do so for home instead of away games. Star players sitting out are expected to be on the bench during games and encouraged to be accessible to fans for interaction before the game. The NBA rid the 2017-18 season schedule of many back-to-back games around nationally televised appearances, giving teams presumably less to sit out players for high-profile games. Chart of odds vs previous format at the link below. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ery-reform-guidelines-resting-healthy-players
Initial thoughts: I hope this minimizes tanking. I know there is no full-proof way to get rid of it and I hope we never do it again. As for resting players, the goal is a championship, so I'm not entirely against resting players. No more back to back, so no real excuses. And the NBA is clearly focused on $$$, hence the TNT, ESPN and ABC games being cited. Gotta make the networks happy. It'll be interesting to see if and who Silver fines and who he doesn't.
bold to put it at commish's discretion, but at least he owns up and doesn't hide behind technicalities (*cough*cp3tradeveto*cough*). not sure how much the lotto changes impact things. i know it's arbitrary, but i'd have pushed for one more lotto spot (5 instead of 4). i want the worst team in the league to have a legit shot to pick 6th (instead of 5th). i'd also prefer some sort of limitation on the number of consecutive times teams can pick in the top 4. like, none. honestly, just that change would have helped avoid sixersville.
