Possible solution to NBA’s tanking problem worth considering

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The NBA needs to find a fix for its tanking problem.

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Wednesday’s Raptors-Sixers game was a bit of an abomination, in large part because both franchises get far more benefit from losing games from now until the end of the season than they do from winning. They need a high draft pick (and Philadelphia only gets its pick if it stays in the Bottom 6 after May’s draft lottery, similar to how Toronto needed to stay in the Bottom 7 last year to keep its pick, but ended up losing it to San Antonio).

Toronto didn’t play most of its rotation players (Jakob Poeltl and 12 minutes of Jamal Shead aside) even the healthy ones, and Philadelphia has been ravaged by injuries. It’s not that paying fans don’t get to see the top players in too many games in March and April of every NBA season.

So, what can the league do? There are a number of options, all with pluses and minuses. Some of our favourites:

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Flatten the lottery odds for the bottom eight teams: Right now the three worst teams get equal odds (14% of drafting first, 13.4% of second, 12.7% of third, 12% of fourth). The odds drop progressively from there as you go down with the eighth-worst team having 6% odds at the first pick, 6.3% at 2, 6.7% at 3, 7.2% at 4. Flattening would give each of the eight worst teams 10.9% odds at drafting first. The 9-14 teams would retain the current odds. Would that solve the problem? Not completely, but it might be a good start.

Copy the PWHL system: The Professional Women’s Hockey League rewards teams eliminated from the playoffs who fight hard to the end of the season. Every point earned after elimination improves their draft status. Most points after being eliminated earns the top pick of the draft. The issue here is the NBA has way more teams, and would some just tank early on to get eliminated quickly? There would have to be safeguards.

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Add another tournament: Maybe the non-playoff teams should meet in a tournament, with the winner earning the top pick. Would players be into it though? Some might be ready to be done with a lost season. Others might not want to help their employer land a guy who might end up replacing them in the lineup.

NURSE TRYING TO STAY UPBEAT

It has been a rough season for Nick Nurse, the only head coach to lead the Raptors to a championship. HIs 76ers were expected to be a contender in the Eastern Conference, yet instead are desperately trying to get a Top 6 pick at next June’s draft. Falling out of that spot would surrender the pick to Oklahoma City.

Since four straight wins took the Sixers to 19-27, the team has gone 3-15, before Wednesday, and lost Joel Embiid for the year.

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Nurse was asked when he accepted reality and accepted that the season was lost.

“I don’t know what point I made peace with it, but (he talks) every day about, like, staying positive and coaching the guys that are there the best you can, and trying to help them give them a great chance to look good individually and as a team,” he said.

“Obviously, very, very difficult … really, really difficult at times, what makes it most difficult is when you actually go on a run and you think you’re like, really making some progress. And always, after the game always get a report from the medical team (that somebody else has gotten hurt),” Nurse said.

Nurse reference the runs the team has gone on, but said things always turned.

“Obviously the Joel thing’s the centerpiece of it. But the hard part was always having six other guys (hurt as well). And that gets difficult when you’re juggling that many things. There just never was great flow, or it just never too many games of not feeling super organized, what we were doing, guys playing out of position and all kinds of stuff.”

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HIGH PRAISE FOR SHEAD

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic is clearly a fan of Shead, his rookie point guard.

Though he gave former Raptor Davion Mitchell plenty of starts when Mitchell was here and Immanuel Quickley was injured, Shead was always praised by Rajakovic, who made sure to also give him lots of playing time.

Shead has turned in a strong first season, with encouraging signs of what’s to come.

“He’s a very smart basketball player, he has a very high IQ, and at the same time has a high level competitor,” Rajakovic said. “During the draft process last year, he was one of the most amazing players that we had in that process. Just sitting with him, talking basketball, analyzing the film, he’s so into it, so intelligent, so observant of all the details and all those qualities of a point guard, that’s why he’s able to go out there on the court and command any team he has around him, any group he has around him. I’m big Jamal Shead,” Rajakovic said.

@WolstatSun

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