In a stunning defeat for Adam Silver and the NBA, the expected reforms to the NBA lottery system was defeated by the “Terrified Thirteen”.
Jun 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver addresses the crowd before the start of the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
13 NBA teams, mostly small market clubs with Chicago and Washington added in to make it palpatable, revolted at the last minute in a coup brought on by Sam Presti, general manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yesterday, Presti made an impassioned last minute plea to stave off the passing. With religiosity and precision, he explained how the new system, one in which the team with the 6th worst record would have a 10% chance at the #1 pick, slightly less favorable than the team with the worst record would have at 12%, would benefit large market teams. The system, Presti argued, is designed for the success of large markets. They have the most money to spend, can extend their rookies and are attractive destinations. Without a system prejudiced towards smaller markets, it would be harder for them to compete.
Translation: small market teams deserve an entitlement program, their version of welfare for billionaires.
As of yesterday, there were very few buyers to the Presti Principle but overnight, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports who spoke to a NBA owner, “Several teams started to wonder about unintended consequences and voted to be able to do further study.”
Translation: the Lakers can wind up with the #1 pick in 2015. Holy mother of God. Hell to the no.
Despite the fallacious reasoning of Henry Abbott’s (ESPN) article that shouted to the rooftops that Kobe Bryant has sold the Lakers down the polluted Los Angeles river, NBA general managers who choose to live in reality actually do look at the numbers. The Lakers won 27 games last year and profited $100 million dollars. It was a staggering number for a team mired in mediocrity. It was $40 million dollars more than the second most profitable team of 2013-14. With Kobe on the floor this year those numbers will exponentially increase as their local television ratings soar. Those revenues the Lakers share only with the Lakers.
If the Lakers are going to be as bad as everyone predicts, and ESPN has them finishing last in the Western Conference, it is conceivable that with the sixth or seventh worst record they snag the top pick. They already have Houston’s pick. They will have $30 million dollars in cap room. Henry Abbott may be right about free agents but, well, he’s probably wrong and who wants to chance it.
Hell to the no. Lakers stay in your hopeless lane.
It needs to be reminded that the same general managers who said no to de-incentivizing losing are the same general managers of which one of their holy fraternity told Chris Broussard, after watching Kobe Bryant in the pre-season, “he’s done.” Their judgment is often preceded by their overwhelming delusions and fear. And so they banded together like a block of sixth graders scared about the next spelling test. The Terrified Thirteen: Phoenix, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Utah, Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte and Chicago, waved their flags. Or their surrender.
There’s nothing like a Gettysburg style defeat while it’s still the preseason.
So, here we are. Philly will have the worst record in the NBA because they designed it that way. The Lakers will have Houston’s pick somewhere in the middle to the latter part of the first round. With a healthy Kobe all season, the Lakers won’t be bad enough to get into the top 5 and so Phoenix will get the Lakers lottery pick, if the Lakers don’t make the playoffs (thanks Steve Nash).
A general manager who has common sense and a brain told Yahoo Sports, “Well, we still have the ‘Be as crappy as humanly possible’ strategy.” Well, he didn’t say crappy but you get the point. The small market teams blinked.
It’s still a David Stern World.