00:00Do you have an initial reaction here?
00:04Because I'm going to pull up the specifics that Sean tweeted out
00:07to the NBA's draft lottery overhaul.
00:10You know, Kevin, it's not like the worst team in the NBA
00:13every year is getting the number one pick.
00:16We obviously saw that with Cooper Flagg.
00:18So I understand the integrity of it, right?
00:23You want these teams to make an effort to win games
00:28for the fans' sake.
00:31So I understand it.
00:33We also saw – I think the team that really messed this up was Utah.
00:37When Utah, after the Jaron Jackson trade, was winning games
00:40and then they were benching their starters in the fourth quarter
00:42and they were blowing leads left and right.
00:44And then not even blowing leads, Kevin,
00:46just getting smoked in the fourth quarter kind of forced the NBA's hand.
00:51So I get it.
00:53Do I like it?
00:55Not necessarily.
00:58But at the end of the day, the NBA is a business.
01:04And we have to have teams that are trying to compete
01:09and teams trying to win games even at the end of the year.
01:14I don't know if it's going to – I don't think it's going to completely take away tanking
01:21because if you're a team that didn't pick in the top five the year before
01:26and your team struggled with injuries, I still think you may tank
01:32because there's still more balls in the system.
01:34I think what you're going to get is the perennial teams, the Utahs, the Brooklands, right?
01:43The teams that have lost year after year after year.
01:47It's going to make them not want to tank because of this whole rule.
01:52What I think it is is you can't have the number one pick two years in a row
01:56and you can't have a top five pick three straight years.
01:59So, it takes away excessive tanking.
02:02But if you're outside the top five, like Brooklyn right now picks six.
02:06Next year, Kevin, they may tank because they just picked us out of the top five.
02:11So, I still think there's ways around it and just get you away
02:14from trying to tank multiple years in a row.
02:18So, I am, and just quickly, the bottom three teams will have two lottery balls.
02:28Teams four through ten all receive three lottery balls.
02:35The nine and ten in the play-in tournament will get two lottery balls,
02:42so the same as those bottom three teams.
02:44And then the seven, eight will actually get one lottery ball.
02:50So, we are now bringing in more teams into the lottery.
02:55But the league did do that because they were going to get close to incentivizing
03:00losing in the play-in, which would have been a whole thing.
03:04And who knows?
03:05We still might get there, quite frankly, because of the way teams prioritize lottery balls.
03:10Overall, I've said this.
03:12I hate this.
03:13I don't like it.
03:14I actually think we should have just gotten rid of the lottery.
03:16We should have had a set draft order.
03:18It works in the NFL.
03:20There's no reason it cannot work here in the NBA.
03:24However, the other angle on this whole thing is it's going to work somewhat by how they've structured it
03:36and somewhat by coincidence, as long as you judge working by our teams egregiously tanking.
03:49Because I think it is so on the board that we have unintended consequences here that the winners and the
03:57process is a mess.
03:58And you have teams that are just stuck in the team that you have teams that are just stuck in
04:01the basement for what will feel like eternity in this league.
04:06Like, how were the Brooklyn Nets supposed to get out of this basement, right?
04:11Like, the Wizards finally got the first pick after years and years of being bad, all of those things.
04:17But if you're just looking at this through the lens of tanking and that's stopping, you'll feel better about this.
04:26Now, the major reason is because we used to coach media and smart fans, you know, people online, understandably, call
04:39for teams to blow it up.
04:40Whoa, need a reset here.
04:42Time to trade your top guys and get yourself to the bottom of this league.
04:46Well, that doesn't exist anymore now, right?
04:49Because now you want to be the fourth team or the fifth team or the sixth team.
04:52But again, the odds are all so flattened.
04:55It is what it is, right?
04:57Teams will still do resets, but it won't be as drastic, ultimately, I don't believe.
05:05Because it's also just very, it's all jumbled up, right?
05:11Like, I don't think a lot of people will be able to follow this, you know?
05:15Like, you know, I know some of these things come around.
05:19My dad will ask me, hey, Kev, what's up with this new lottery?
05:21I'll be like, dad, don't worry about it.
05:22It doesn't matter.
05:24It's, I don't know.
05:25We don't need to know.
05:26At some point, the odds are going to get set.
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