Faced with “tanking”, the NBA does not rule out changing the draft

During his traditional All-Star sideline speech, Adam Silver mentioned the #1 problem at the moment, “tanking”. This week the league inflicted $500,000 fines for Jazz and $100,000 for Pacers because he voluntarily let the “healthy players” rest at the end of the game or during the entire match.

For the head of the NBA, “tanking” is reaching new heights this season and the sanctions will be even more severe in the future, with the possibility of removing draft picks. For him, just like in the All-Star game, which continues to evolveThe draft undoubtedly deserves to be reviewed and corrected.

“In the past there was a kind of implicit agreement between partners about the behavior to be had”, Silver explained.. “I think what we see today are the effects of modern statistical analysis, which clearly shows that the ‘rewards’ are out of sync. (…) Are we seeing worse behavior this year than we have seen in recent times? Yes, in my opinion. That led to these penalties, and not only these penalties, but also my statement that we will take a closer look at the situation the team is in this season, I wanted to take a closer look at the situation and the situation in the team. be informed »

“Real headache”

In conversations with general managers and other members of the league’s competition committee, Silver revealed that the work “lottery“, born in 1985, and the probabilities determined by the rankings, make it unclear that the worst teams are really the worst teams. But the Draft is supposed to “reward” the worst teams…

“If teams are manipulating their performance in order to get a higher draft pick, even in the ‘lottery,’ then the question is … are they really the worst performing teams?” Silver continues. “For example, it doesn’t seem obvious to me that the No. 30 team is objectively much weaker than the No. 22 team, especially if you have an incentive to play poorly to get a better draft. That’s a real headache. Like I said, the All-Star Game has been going on for 75 years. The league is 80 years old to see if this is new. doing things.

For Silver, it’s time for the collective consciousness of the 30 teams. It is the whole community that must come together and decide what is in the common interest”he concludes. “Part of my role is to remind everyone. (…) I understand what your short-term interests may be, but we must not lose sight of our fans. We must not forget the people who support this league day in and day out.”