The NBA lottery is all the teams that don't make the playoffs and then depending were the finish depends on how much chance the have of getting the number 1 pick. If you finish last you can only fall as low as the 3rd pick (i think) and the 2nd can only fall as low as the 2nd (and so on).

Almost correct, Big Sexy. I believe they pick out 3 combinations of balls, so any of the non-playoff teams can be in the top 3, but after that, it all just falls into order of where you finished. So the team with the worst record is guaranteed to pick no lower than 4th.

So essentially tanking is quite likely to happen in the NBA every year, especially in seasons with strong drafts, but this is probably considered a smart move by NBA experts.

A lottery system eliminates the absolute certainty of rewarding the lowest ranked positions and performance for season . Enough Said .

The NBA lottery is really only for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd selection. Everything after goes by team records.

The last team with the worst record in the NBA to win the lottery was back in 2004 when Orlando won it and selected Dwight Howard.

When Chicago won the draft and selected Derrick Rose they had 17 chances out of a 1000 to win it.

Wasn't the Lottery introduced as Ewing was about to enter the draft? To stop tanking?

Yeah Phizzer, prior to the lottery the draft was ordered by record, and if two teams had the same record then a simple coin toss decided who got the pick. There are strong rumors that the Rockets tanked in 1984 to gets the 1st pick to select Hakeem Olajuwon.


The 1985 Draft Lottery wasn't really a lottery, it was a selection. 7 teams had equal chance of getting the number 1 pick. There are conspiracy theories about this draft. The rumors of Stern placing the envelope on dry ice before pulling it out the box still live strong in draft history.

The draft was we know it today commenced in 1990, were team with the worst records were given more chances. It was updated again in 1994 (I think) after Orlando won back-to-back draft, despite having the best record of all non playoff teams in the league.

hoop addict thanks for correcting, all i remebered is the the lowest team couldn't fall that low. I like the idea for afl

I am not sure that it is as important for the AFL. One player in 18 on the field has (relatively) a smaller impact than one player on a basketball team on the games' outcome. Accordingly, the difference between pick 1 and pick 5 in the AFL draft ought not be as significant as the same picks in the NBA.

The real traversty of the AFL system is that if you perform badly enough you get an EXTRA low placed pick. Because of this, teams in the past have been able to get picks 1 and 3 (for example). I think this has now been changed so that the priority picks come after the first round (but I am not sure).

The other travesty of the draw which has advantaged Geelong in particular was the Father-Son rule, which allowed a team to nominate any Father-Son and select that player in advance with their last pick in the draft. Accordingly, players like Gary Ablett Jr went with picks in the high 80's. I think this has also been changed now, so that if any team other than Geelong selected Gary Ablett in the draft, Geelong would need to then immediately use their next pick in the draft to override that pick.

If the above changes have been made (which I think they have) it really makes the AFL draft reasonably fair. As far as I can see, there is no evidence yet this year that teams are tanking in any event, with a number of low placed teams getting recent wins.

That's effectively how the Father-Son works XY.
Now, since they changed the rule, about a month or so before the draft (and before trade week), any Father-Son eligible kids are basically put up for auction. Teams can bid say their second round pick for that player. Whatever the highest bid is, the team eligible for the Father-Son selection then needs to counter the bid with their next pick in the draft. Most recent was Ayce Cordy who was eligible for the Bulldogs. Brisbane I think it was bidded their first round pick (pick 7) for him. The Bulldogs then were forced to bid their first round pick (14) to get him. That pick is then locked in and can't be traded or changed.
It used to be if you have an eligible player, you can just elect to take them and they are yours for your final pick in the draft (say you have 5 spots left on your list, it would be your 5th Rounder).
They've basically made the Father-Son rule stricter and replaced it with the NSW-Scholarship program. Teams can go to any NSW club and sign a player to the NSW Scholarship program (even if the player is in their early teens) and when they are old enough to be drafted, the team can elect to take them with their last pick in the draft, or offer them a rookie pick, or just release them from the Scholarship.

The Priority pick system is still in place. If you win less than 5 games for the year, you are given a priority pick. The first year you do, you are given an extra first round pick at the end of Round 1 (eg. pick 17). If you then go out and don't win 5 games again the following year (2 years in a row), you then get the priority pick at the start of round 1 (eg. you get pick 1 and 2)

Hendo, same Hendo from BF and my DT league?

It is pretty simple really, ditch the priority picks, bring in a lottery (top8 IMO) and tanking is gone. If Demetriou wasn't so freaking stubborn and blind it would've happened already.

Luckily, I think they've got the father-son rule spot-on now (after screwing the Crows on the way there) and the NSW-ACT scholarship program has already been great for the teams that do the scouting (Tex Walker(ADE), Scott Reed(COL), Ranga Ediriwickrama(GEE).

On the nsw scholarship system, collingwood actually has set up its own team in sydney, employed a coach and uses it as a development team called 'sydney university'. It has various training venues all over sydney because there are so many players from so many different areas. They recruit all the best players under 18 in sydney to this team in the hope that one of them will be good enough to be picked under the nsw scholarship scheme. Subsequently many of the best young players have left their original clubs 'to play for collingwood' and the clubs are much worse off, particularly in western sydney. seems stupid given the thought of a new western sydney team.