SI’s Interesting take on a 2012 draft if whole season is canceled

 It’s not at all fair for a team like Utah or Cleveland they are not a playoff caliber teams anymore, teams change to much over three years it’s only fair from the previous year.

I think the system needs to be even more compliated, because even teams like the Lakers, Bulls, Mavs, Blazers, Magic, Celtic, and Knick have a two percent chance, and those teams would be absolutely stacked with a Barnes or Drummond. Imagine OKC putting out Westbrook-Durant-Barnes-Ibaka-Perkins with Harden-Collison-Sefolosha-Cook coming off the bench, Or having Orlando land Drummond, and then having Howard dciding to STAY. Drummond and Howard, gives me the shivers just thinking about it.

I think teams like Sacramento, Toronto, and Golden State need to have around 8-9 times as much chance to land a high pick, not 3 times as much.

 I think its sort of ok for cleveland and Utah, because each had 2 lotto picks in last year’s draft even though it wasn’t near as deep as the potential 2012 draft, they still got some nice talent(Irving,Thompson,Kanter,Burks).  Also i guess as stated by the article Cleveland can even switch picks with the heat if they want to. Plus in the end David Stern will work his magic and rig it so the team of his choice gets thee top picks. In the end it works out pretty well..every proposed system will have its flaws, so teams are always going to be making excuses if they don’t get the right pick, but It should definately throw in a nice twist of what would be an already exciting season…but hopefully we will never have to experience it because hopefully the lockout will end on time.

"The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." That would be the motto after the draft if this is how they plan on doing it. I absolutely gurantee an elite team (Miami, Bulls, Boston, Lakers, Mavs, Thunder) one of them would get a top 5 pick in an incredibly loaded draft.

If they want to talk about competitive balance and all this they need to stick to the records last year and draft off that, I’m serious. Look at lottery teams of 2011, those teams are not going anywhere fast those teams NEED talent that is coming from 2012 draft. The only teams I can see making noise that were in the lottery and are possibly headed for the famous ‘Thunder Draft Route’ Minnesota, Washington, Golden State, and Sacramento. All the other teams have decent teams but lack that elite young talent, so I am not a fan at the elite teams getting even lottery pick in such a loaded draft.

There is a ten percent chance that the Bulls, Lakers, Mavs, Celtic or Thunder land the number 1. (I didn’t count the Heat because the Cavs can swap.) The same percent chance remains for the rest of the lotto, so an elite team will probably get a great prospect for the future, and be even more beast.

There should be even more talent with the amnesty clause cuts. If the entire season is indeed lost, the loaded draft and free agents could decide if a team is willing to scrap their roster and rebuild. Some small market teams might be able to attract some talent with the new CBA. I think the league will have more parity come 2012.

This is a draft that can really turn a franchise around. It is the most talent-driven draft since the class that featured Rose and Love. Its early but this class has the potential (depending on who comes out) of the 1996 Draft. I would hate for there not to be a season and an elite franchise ends up with a top 5 pick or even top 10. I would have traded my picks in last year draft, but picks in this years draft.

 There is no way to ensure perfect parity or fairness with any objective system.  I think the system recommended by SI is better than drafting based solely off of last years record because drafting off last years record would be almost overkill given that they already had the worst teams get high draft picks last year.  I think it is a good idea to have some of the draft based on consistent struggling.  

If a top team gets a high pick, than a top team does.  Deal.  The lottery isn’t rigged:  Look at the past results, and then tell me that the lottery is rigged to help the Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Mavs and other large market teams.  I know a bunch of people are going to point to the Bulls getting Rose, but I’m sure none will mention SA getting Duncan instead of, say, the Celtics. 

 It’s not fair because they both had to give up there franchise players for that(although Mo Williams wasn’t much of a franchise player, but they did lose Lebron)

If there was a total lockout and then some draft along the SI idea was done with top teams standing a chance of picking higher, I could well see just about every top prospect declaring as even if they fell a bit down the draft they could well land on an instant contender.

If you just based it on last season’s standings then the teams in transition could well be the most effected. Someone like NJ with D-Will and Brook Lopez could well gain another top talent if they had a high pick yet teams like Denver who may have been going into transition could well end up with a much lower pick than they would have got if the season had been played.

I wonder if the less hardline owners who may own contending teams would push for a lottery in their favour against the hardline owners who they might perceive to be more responsible for the lockout.

If you wanted to be cynical then if the NBA announced that the lottery next season would be less favourable to the less successful teams then I wonder if their owners would look to get a deal done to get the players back on court. This way even if they had a losing season they would be in line to have a shot at Barnes, Drummond and co.