I agree, unfortunately the NFL makes more money by generating high scoring, offensive shootouts that help to develop offensive superstars that act as faces of the NFL, look at top jersey sales, Dak, Zeke, Gronk, Brady, OBJ, AB. Wouldn't be surprised to see that the only defensive player in the top 10 of jersey sales is JJWatt.
IMO the best system by a MILE would be what I heard Mike Greenberg say on ESPN radio years ago ... The team with the BEST record that did not qualify for the playoffs picks first. (We would have picked first after that choke job in Buffalo) The team with the next best "playoff missing" record picks next. And so on. Once all those teams pick, the teams that made the playoffs pick in reverse order ... same as now. This is the perfect system because it absolutely does not reward tanking and it makes sure every team is playing hard until the end and trying to win as many games as they can --- not cheating their fan base because every game literally matters. Why this hasn't been instituted already is a mystery to me. IMO losing and incompetence should NEVER be encouraged or rewarded in any area of life. This system also guards against the "Colts Effect" ... win 12 games every single year ... lose your QB and suck for one season ... get the best QB in the draft.
This is simple and applicable: after 10 (or 12?) games, the bottom 7 teams are locked in for the top 7 picks of the draft, which are determined by hopper lottery. 15 balls, 12, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1 or whatever, worst to best. The final games of the season have no draft relevance for these bottom teams. They are locked into their spots and have nothing to gain through further losses. The remaining 25 teams draft in reverse order of total 16-game record, as per usual. (edit: can't stop tweaking the numbers myself. lol) (Br4d, I don't think you have to worry about incentivizing winning for bad teams at season's end as long as you totally disincentivize losing. Take away the prize for losing and teams will play to win.)
The idea was to make winning and losing less important for lottery teams in the last quarter of the season. If you're in the bottom 5 and qualify for a lottery pick a win that drops you lower in the lottery pecking order is no less valuable than a loss that keeps you at the spot you are in. However a win that drops you to 6th position would still be bad from a draft position perspective. I'd really like to see a system that gave the top picks to the bad teams in a given year but also gave them incentive to try to improve in the second half after a horrible start. I think giving fans a reason to come out late and buy tickets is an important incentive the NFL should take into account in a lottery system.
Of course I understand what you're going for, and it's a great inspiration. See my follow-up post above. edit: For example, after the first ten games, a single team starts 0-10, another team starts 1-9, and five other teams start 3-7. No matter what happens to these 7 teams during the last 6 games of the season, the 0-10 team will have 15 balls in the lottery hopper for the upcoming draft. The 1-9 team will have 12 balls. The 3-7 teams will split the remaining 25 balls. That's locked in. These teams are then free to play to win during the last six games of the season.
When you start looking at the formulas that are needed to figure out the different strategies or rules for a lottery, that in itself is reason enough not to do it. It's too complicated, if a team sucks they pick first, keep it simple.
How can you say that? Is Chamberlain, West in the HOF? How bout Magic Johnson, Worthy and Jabbar? The entire New York Knicks starting five from the 1969 and 1973 team is in the HOF. Need I go into the the Celtics dynasty decades. Many factors into what separated them with coaching be the best one. You had Auerbach, Holzman, Riley, Heinsohn, Fitzsimmons, Shue, Jack Ramsey.
You said every team had 3 stars. You didn't just name every team, you named the best teams. The best teams today also have 3 stars. The Warriors have Curry and Durant who are first ballot locks plus Green and Thompson who could also easily get in. Last year the Cavs had 2 surefire Hall of Famers in James and Irving, plus Love who has a chance too. Leonard, Parker, and Ginobili on the Spurs will be HoFers, etc. Hall of Fame coaches today include Popovich, Kerr, the recently retired Phil Jackson (you named across eras, so can I), possibly Spolestra, and if he keeps it up Brad Stevens. Anyway you're dangerously close to "Kids these days" territory and my next argument will be the meme.
LOL. I didn't name different era's I named pre lottery and how the talent level is concentrated on maybe 5 teams now. Sure it might seem like the NBA is better now and certainly the money is there but it's crap. I hardly watch it now because there is no team play except for San Antonio. I like how they play solid all around offense and defense. Just not exciting anymore.
There doesn't even need to be some crazy overhaul of the current rules. They just need to allow defensive backs to handcheck and feel where the receivers are without altering their path. Corners stand absolutely no chance if they get flagged for touching the receivers. They shouldn't allow them to mug them ala Ty Law used to do, but jesus let them feel where the guy is.
You named across eras in pre lottery. Red Auerbach and Pat Riley were not the same era. Auerbach was the 40s and 50s and Riley was the 80s and 90s. That's how you were able to name so many HOF coaches. Also there wasn't much parity back then; the Celtics and Lakers dominated. And the quality of the games is pretty good nowadays, it isn't like 10 years ago. Here's my favorite kids these days meme, it's for my generation.
Yeah not getting the two nerd kids in this post but anyways I could name every roster from the 70's till today just didn't want to waste your time and keep you away from the geek squad pic's. Yes the Celtics and Lakers dominated because they have better coaching and players. No denying that. But it doesn't take away from the talented players they had on other roster and the other league like the ABA. Talking to people and players from that older era there is no comparison. The NBA today is watered down garbage. They do a horrible job with their draft unlike the NFL which does not have a lottery and their draft process has multiple stages ad they do a great job with it. Now you can post some Einstein baby pictures now lol.
It's scary how little physical activity kids actually get these days. My generation (60's/70's) spent like 4 or 5 hours a day running around outside after school and did maybe an hour and a half of homework. This generation spends like 2 hours a day at an organized school sport, 3 hours doing homework and 2 to 3 hours on the couch playing video games (or playing on their phone under the covers after bedtime).
Old guys like to complain about young people. When you were young, old people were calling your generation garbage too. The meme compares a 90s kid playing on his Gameboy to a 10s kid playing on his iPhone.