Should the NBA change its Lottery System? I think so...

Even after 45 losses and counting the chance of us winning the lottery is at 1.7, thus only 17 combinations out of 1000. There have been teams tanking since December: Washington, Sacramento, Clippers to name a few and this is really bad for the sport.

In my opinion, there should be only 14 ping balls for each of the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs. That way each team has the same exact chance of winning the lottery at .07%. This way teams on losing ends don't sit their star player for the last month for mysterious injuries. Also, it adds competition between all 30 teams making the league more watchable. And also never make fans like me root againts my own team, only because it increases our chances of winning the thing.

This is just a thought. Any other way to fix this mess?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/lottery2009/mockdraft

nah you can't do that because then you'll have a 45 win team like Phoenix having equal chance at the #1 pick as the Kings.

I don't mind the way it is now. I think the worse teams deserve to get the better chance at the top picks. It would be unfair to see the 9th worst team get the #1 pick.

What I do think should happen though is that the order should alternate between east and west teams.

I think the bottom 6 teams in the West are better than their record, but they have to play the other elite teams in the west all the time. You put the knicks in the west and they are a 20 win team easy.

Trying to give some balance to the draft and the league..I say get rid of the lottery and make the order alternate leagues.

1. Sacramento
2. Washington
3. Clippers
4. Toronto
5. Memphis
6. New York
7. Oklahoma
8. New Jersey
9. Minnesota

We would be in the 6th spot right now instead of 9th..and a game behind Toronto for the 4th spot.

If this strategy was used last year..this is what the draft order would have been in 08:

1. Miami
2. Oklahoma
3. New York
4. Minnesota
5. Milwaukee
6. Memphis

Dave,

But you rarely see the worst team get the first pick. So why even have a lottery even if alternating spots between conferences. It has just been heartbreak city for the Vancouver/Memphis franchise over the years. They have never held the number 1 pick:

<table class="tablehead" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr class="stathead" bgcolor="#b96c00"><td colspan="3">Past First-Round Picks</td><td colspan="3" align="center">NBA Career Averages</td></tr><tr class="colhead"><td width="10%">YEAR</td><td width="10%">PICK</td><td width="50%">PLAYER</td><td align="right" width="10%">PPG</td><td align="right" width="10%">RPG</td><td align="right" width="10%">APG</td></tr><tr class="oddrow"><td>2008</td><td>5</td><td>Kevin Love</td><td align="right">11.0</td><td align="right">8.9</td><td align="right">1.1</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>2008</td><td>28</td><td>Dont'e Greene</td><td align="right">3.9</td><td align="right">1.6</td><td align="right">0.5</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>2007</td><td>4</td><td>Mike Conley</td><td align="right">9.9</td><td align="right">3.0</td><td align="right">4.2</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>2006</td><td>24</td><td>Kyle Lowry</td><td align="right">8.5</td><td align="right">2.8</td><td align="right">3.6</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>2005</td><td>19</td><td>Hakim Warrick</td><td align="right">10.1</td><td align="right">4.3</td><td align="right">0.7</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>2003</td><td>27</td><td>Kendrick Perkins</td><td align="right">5.5</td><td align="right">5.6</td><td align="right">1.0</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>2003</td><td>13</td><td>Marcus Banks</td><td align="right">6.0</td><td align="right">1.5</td><td align="right">2.2</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>2002</td><td>4</td><td>Drew Gooden</td><td align="right">12.0</td><td align="right">7.9</td><td align="right">1.1</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>2001</td><td>6</td><td>Shane Battier</td><td align="right">10.0</td><td align="right">4.8</td><td align="right">1.9</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>2001</td><td>3</td><td>Pau Gasol</td><td align="right">18.8</td><td align="right">8.7</td><td align="right">3.2</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>2000</td><td>2</td><td>Stromile Swift</td><td align="right">8.4</td><td align="right">4.7</td><td align="right">0.5</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>1999</td><td>2</td><td>Steve Francis</td><td align="right">18.1</td><td align="right">5.6</td><td align="right">6.0</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>1998</td><td>2</td><td>Mike Bibby</td><td align="right">16.5</td><td align="right">3.3</td><td align="right">6.1</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>1997</td><td>4</td><td>Antonio Daniels</td><td align="right">7.7</td><td align="right">1.9</td><td align="right">3.4</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>1996</td><td>3</td><td>Shareef Abdur-Rahim</td><td align="right">18.1</td><td align="right">7.5</td><td align="right">2.5</td></tr> <tr class="evenrow"><td>1996</td><td>22</td><td>Roy Rogers</td><td align="right">4.8</td><td align="right">3.5</td><td align="right">0.4</td></tr> <tr class="oddrow"><td>1995</td><td>6</td><td>Bryant Reeves</td><td align="right">12.5</td><td align="right">6.9</td><td align="right">1.6</td></tr> </tbody></table>