MY TOTALLY AWESOME PLAN TO REVAMP THE NBA DRAFT

The NBA Draft kind of sucks. It is nowhere near as exciting as the NFL Draft and by its nature it rewards bad teams and their mediocre to poor management and ownership.

There has to be a better way – and now, there is and it would work like this

Allow players to decide where they play, just like every other business in America.

How it works:

1.       Every NBA team submits a list of 60 NBA eligible players to the league office. The 60 names most often sited create a pool of that year’s selectees.

2.       Any NBA-eligible player not on the initial list is free to sign with any team as a free agent after the selection event is completed.

3.       Have each of the 60 players pick a number – 1-60 – out of a hat. Players select from the hat based on some kind of random computerized process.

4.       The player who selects the #1 can go to whichever team he wants. The player who selects the #2 can go to whichever team he wants, except the team selected by the prior player. On it goes.

5.       Every team gets the same amount of money within the salary cap to sign two players from the pool. The contracts are 2-year guaranteed deals.

6.       If a team and a player cannot reach a deal, the player’s recourse is to forgo selecting a team and wait until the following year. If that happens, he retains amateur status and can back to school or retain pro status and play overseas.

7.       A player can opt out of a team selection, only once.

It solves everything wrong with the current NBA Draft system.

• It stops teams from tanking, because there is no longer any incentive to lose on purpose.
• It creates a system that is inherently fair to players, teams and fans. Players choose the place they want to work, franchises are forced to spruce up their image and winning to attract those players, and we finally end a situation where teams are like plantation owners and players are like the help.
• It would be ungodly exciting for everyone to watch.
• It creates a system where the best of all possible synergies between player and team is created. Players inherently want to go to a place they can succeed.
• It provides more, not less, opportunity for players to succeed and franchises to get it right. Players can find the best situation for them and franchise get to test-drive players for two years and not be forced to lock into a three-year deal on a player that isn’t working out. In the current system, teams hate to give up on a Kwame Brown because it makes them look bad, but if Kwame selected them and it didn’t work out, they can let him go and move onto the next opportunity without blame.

I welcome any additional thoughts and comments.