I should have worded that better. I think the maximum hard cap and minimum hard cap shoul dbe really close to each other preventing teams from beaing cheap. Right now the number is 75% (I think) of the tax level. I'd like to see that number raised to maybe 85-90%
Which would turn all the bad teams into farm teams for Miami, Boston, LA and NY. Isn't that what everybody wants? Go play a few years and learn how to play on a bad team, and then go by free agency to one of the 4 big cities where the winners are? This proposal changes nothing until they put controls in place to stop player movement like it is happening now.
The same teams are in the lottery all the time for the same reason the same teams are in the playoffs all the time--management and coaching matter. The Clips are a really talented team. Gregg Popovich could win 50 games with that group. Give Vinny Del Negro the Spurs and he struggles to keep them above .500.
How about this. Bottom 6 teams in the league are in the lottery for top 6 picks. Next 6 picks are by record. Rest of round (12 on) is by record starting with the worst team in the league BUT the division leaders do not get a first round pick at all. So, the worst team in the league will get the 13th pick as well as one of the first 6 picks in the draft.
Listen to all you pinko talent-distributing commies! First picks should go to teams who have shown they know how to use em. The teams should all be ranked by "wins per salary dollar". No lottery, no tanking, no nonsense. Thus, successful and frugal teams are rewarded, while poorly-managed losers get taught a lesson.
How about this. The worst 5 teams draft from the best 5, 1 round only, 1 superstar going to each bad team. This draft is held each year, plenty of time before the normal college draft, to give the best 5 teams time to cry and figure out how to salvage the next season. You might say, this permanently takes Kobe from the Lakers, but you would be wrong as usual. Because the next year, the Lakers, now one of the bottomfeeding 5, take him back, or at least one of those pretend superstars I've heard about. This is great for parity because Kobe is now shared around the nation. One year he graces one city and another, another. 4 other near-stars get moved around each year, if there are any besides him.
I think we should just hold a draft lottery that involves every team in the league, with every team having an equal chance at every draft position. One ball for every team in the NBA goes into the hopper, and the balls are drawn out one by one to set the draft order. That would be pretty exciting. Also, you could sell your draft spot for nothing but hard cash. So if the Clippers won the #1 pick, you'd also get an exciting, high-stakes auction (price paid doesn't count against any cap) and the additional plus of a top prospect not being on the Clippers.
My idea: a dispersion draft every five years, with seeding determined by random lottery (with equal odds for every team). Twelve rounds, no trades until one month after the draft is over. Salary is determined by the round in which the player is picked, all contracts are guaranteed for 5 years. 1st round = 10 mil 2nd round = 8 mil 3rd round = 6 mil 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds = 4 mil 7th, 8th, and 9th rounds = 3 mil 10th, 11th, and 12th rounds = 2 mil Every team would have a starting salary of $51 million, and a month to get their house in order. On the 3rd week of this month trade moratorium, the college draft occurs: Two rounds, with the order being the opposite of the Dispersion draft order on Dispersion years, or the current lotto-style order in non-Dispersion years. First rounders earn $2 million a year. Second rounders earn $1 million (non-guaranteed). No muss, no fuss. A Fifteenth Player budget of $1 million is allowed for signing a 15th player out of the pool of talent that is left. These players can be signed in the week after the draft, before the trade moratorium is up. Every team will have between $53 and $55 million dollars of salary on their team when the trade moratorium is lifted. They then have five years to fuck everything up or cleverly take advantage of idiots. Then, after 5 years, the wheel resets, and the dispersion happens again, moving everyone back to a similar salary situation. It'd be exciting, at least.
