Draft Lotto Thread (2025 edition)

The nba is in shambles. What kind of f***ery is this? Lotteries are rigged, multiple teams tanking, no defense, regular season is a mess, no element of surprise, no rivalries. What is the point?

The only hope now is that the NBA going back to NBC does actually put some of that grind back in. Then Perry won't be so far off because only physicality and defense can even the playing field.
 
The only hope now is that the NBA going back to NBC does actually put some of that grind back in. Then Perry won't be so far off because only physicality and defense can even the playing field.
I see only one way of saving the league:

Keep the length of the season the same(October to April).

Reduce the games from 82 to 60.

No more back to backs.

Reduce playoff teams from 16 to 14. Seeds 1 & 2 in each conference each get a bye round. The 1st round is best of 3. This also means getting rid of the stupid play in. We already had more than 50% of teams make the playoffs. Now it’s basically 60%. Absolutely ridiculous.

Make divisions MATTER.

Let defense thrive. Stop incentivizing pace and points. Allow for a more 1/2 court set.

This will undoubtedly make every game matter almost as much as every football game matters. Competition will naturally be born from this. The ratings per game will rise as fans will be more inclined to want to watch more games.

I don’t know, this is just my opinion, what do yall think?
 
So glad I opted out of tickets next year.
Ditto. Can't even imagine how bad next season will be. Kings refusing to blow it up when they have no paths to be a top 6 team.

all clearly better
OKC (SGA/Chet), +15 Traore 24 Gonzalez
Dallas (Davis/Kyrie), +1 Flagg
Houston (Thompson/Sengun), +10 Jaku..
Denver (Jokic/Murray),
Minnesota (Ant/Randle) +17 Wolf
Memphis (Ja/JJJ)

How fast in the group above
San An (Wemby/Fox)+2 Harper 14 Bryant
Portland (Sharpe/Scoot) +11 Queen

Better but aging sign free agents
Lakers (Luka/James),
Golden State (Curry/Butler)
Clippers (Leonard/Harden) + 30

Wanna be teams
Sacramento (Sabonis/LaVine)
New Orleans (Zion/Murphy) +7 Maulauch
Pheonix (Durant/Booker) +29
 
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I see only one way of saving the league:

Keep the length of the season the same(October to April).

Reduce the games from 82 to 60.

No more back to backs.

Reduce playoff teams from 16 to 14. Seeds 1 & 2 in each conference each get a bye round. The 1st round is best of 3. This also means getting rid of the stupid play in. We already had more than 50% of teams make the playoffs. Now it’s basically 60%. Absolutely ridiculous.

Make divisions MATTER.

Let defense thrive. Stop incentivizing pace and points. Allow for a more 1/2 court set.

This will undoubtedly make every game matter almost as much as every football game matters. Competition will naturally be born from this. The ratings per game will rise as fans will be more inclined to want to watch more games.

I don’t know, this is just my opinion, what do yall think?

What’s reducing games gonna do these idiots will still load manage and sit games
 
All y'all folks talking conspiracy, but I love this result! I love it because it's a giant double bird to the tanking teams. I don't care about Dallas one way or the other, but I love the fact that a team that was fighting to make the playoffs until the very end got the #1 pick, and the two teams that raced each other to the bottom both ended up out of the Top 4.

**** tanking.
There’s definitely no way i can see any good justification for tanking. It’s more pointless than ever to practice that now
 
There’s definitely no way i can see any good justification for tanking. It’s more pointless than ever to practice that now

Tanking for number 1 never worked anyway, you just usually don't want to be outside of the top 5 year after year after year. Monte had the right idea of taking the dropper though if you are but that doesn't always happen.
 
The sad part of all of this, is IF the Kings tanked that last game against Phoenix like I was rooting for, the Kings would have been tied with Dallas and may have held the winning lotto ticket for Flagg instead of Dallas.

Honestly, the NBA is so rigged!
 

The Mavs would somehow be playing three elite defensive bigs at once while also being terrible at defense because Klay and Kyrie both have no ligaments left in their legs haha

Compete for a title right now??? LOL Irving is missing most of next season, Klay is close to washed, Flagg is a rookie, and AD will miss at least 20 games. In the West, that team is hoping to stay in the top 6.
 
The Mavs could lowkey really use DeRozan since Kyrie is going to be out for most of the season.

I have been saying for several months that a DDR for PJ Washington trade makes sense for both teams. Even moreso now. PJ is stuck on their bench with Gafford, and DDR gives them an offensive star who can help take pressure off a lineup missing Kyrie, going through Flagg rookie growing pains, and dealing with a washed Klay...

Meanwhile, Domas-PJ-Keegan is actually a nice frontcourt, with great complimentary defense and shooting to go around Domas...
 
This is why we must tank
This is exactly why you can't reliably tank. The odds are against "tanking for the top pick" and some horrible teams got pushed aside for a possible franchise changing player by a team that was in the play in.
All y'all folks talking conspiracy, but I love this result! I love it because it's a giant double bird to the tanking teams. I don't care about Dallas one way or the other, but I love the fact that a team that was fighting to make the playoffs until the very end got the #1 pick, and the two teams that raced each other to the bottom both ended up out of the Top 4.

**** tanking.
I'm not going to disagree. I hate tanking. I severely dislike Dallas, but I hate tanking.
If the odds over the last couple of lottos are to be believed, the best option might be to just half ass a rebuild, end up in the play-in and then randomly move all the way up to first overall anyways.

The ultimate horror of this lotto is that the same teams tanking this season are still going to be stuck tanking next year haha
There's some truth to this. With the lottery odds the way they are you can't reliably tank for a top pick for that "franchise" player. The odds are too flat to do that. The worst team in the league expects to pick around 3-4, if I remember correctly (and I'm too lazy to look it up again for the exact number). You might get a good player (or draft a bust), but if you are aiming for a Cooper Flagg, you can't feel good about even being within several picks of #1.
 
This is exactly why you can't reliably tank. The odds are against "tanking for the top pick" and some horrible teams got pushed aside for a possible franchise changing player by a team that was in the play in.

I'm not going to disagree. I hate tanking. I severely dislike Dallas, but I hate tanking.



There's some truth to this. With the lottery odds the way they are you can't reliably tank for a top pick for that "franchise" player. The odds are too flat to do that. The worst team in the league expects to pick around 3-4, if I remember correctly (and I'm too lazy to look it up again for the exact number). You might get a good player (or draft a bust), but if you are aiming for a Cooper Flagg, you can't feel good about even being within several picks of #1.

Nobody likes tanking. There comes a point in time when taking your medicine and realizing that a rebuild is the way to improve for the future. Part of that process is that you generally acquire a higher pick than you otherwise would have, if fighting for an 8-10 seed
 
Nobody likes tanking. There comes a point in time when taking your medicine and realizing that a rebuild is the way to improve for the future. Part of that process is that you generally acquire a higher pick than you otherwise would have, if fighting for an 8-10 seed

And if you have young talent, those minutes are much more valuable to them in the interim. Building a team is about all 3 areas of drafting, development, and cap control. The Kings bypassed steps every year when it came to the latter two and ended up nowhere for nearly 20 years. The Kings wasted the rookie contracts of Cuz and Fox. It's not a debate, it's much more difficult to build a team once you are paying even younger players rookie max/max money. The Kings combined corner cutting with making their young assets look about as bad as possible because "winning".

The only true mistake Perry can make now is trying to build a big 3 around LaVine and Domas by trading any rebuild assets without knowing what his current roster actually is. Just like the first year of the Beam team, that deadline teams in the Kings direct vicinity jumped. Left behind again tonight perhaps. Literally every single thing right now says no including the results of the lottery. At this point hopefully Perry isn't lying when he says they want to build a defensive team because that's about the only thing you can do to matter unless you have a generational talent or two at the top of your roster and right now the Kings certainly don't. They have some decent youngish defenders though. Run it back? OK, then you have like 2-3 prove it months. That's the only sensible thing. Teams like the Suns, Kings, Grizzlies, etc. will probably be drawing straws to see who gets the others leftovers. Don't play that game Perry. Not unless it's for free.
 
Nobody likes tanking. There comes a point in time when taking your medicine and realizing that a rebuild is the way to improve for the future. Part of that process is that you generally acquire a higher pick than you otherwise would have, if fighting for an 8-10 seed

I don't think anyone disagrees with this. Unfortunately, the guy in charge, will not let it happen.
 
Nobody likes tanking. There comes a point in time when taking your medicine and realizing that a rebuild is the way to improve for the future. Part of that process is that you generally acquire a higher pick than you otherwise would have, if fighting for an 8-10 seed
I don't necessarily think that a rebuild = tanking. I think that is one of the disconnects here. I'm not necessarily against trading players for good young talent that can compete. I am against tanking. And I think the way the current odds are stacked it helps dissuade teams from doing it to a certain extent.
 
I don't necessarily think that a rebuild = tanking. I think that is one of the disconnects here. I'm not necessarily against trading players for good young talent that can compete. I am against tanking. And I think the way the current odds are stacked it helps dissuade teams from doing it to a certain extent.
Lots of fans not only can't tell the difference between rebuilding and tanking, they can't even tell the difference between regular degular losing and tanking.
 
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