THE NBA DRAFT

Today is the day. The 2019 NBA Draft. I thought that this would be a good point to explain how the NBA Draft works and a brief look at some of the major story lines surrounding this years draft.

The NBA Draft is a yearly event that takes the best players from the college basketball system in the US, the NCAA. Players also come from around the globe if they chose to forgo college basketball and played overseas. This is the final stop in the journey for athletes that have been climbing the ranks for years and chasing this dream, many for their entire lives. The format of the draft has undergone a drastic change this year and for good reason. In previous years, it was set out in such a way that almost guaranteed that the worst performing teams in the league each year secured the top picks in the draft. This led to the rise of ‘tanking’. Simply put, tanking is when the teams in the league with the worst players and the lowest likelihood of making the playoffs actively try to be the worst in the league. They do this in an attempt to get the next best rising talent.

The Draft Lottery

The first thing that is decided is the Draft lottery. This is the top 14 spots in the NBA draft, and each spot is a pick designated to the 14 teams who didn’t make the NBA playoffs in that season. Over the course of the year or previous years, it’s often the case that many of these teams don’t actually end up drafting a player because they traded the pick(s) to other teams. Before this year, the team with the worst win/loss record was guaranteed the highest probability of securing the best player in the draft. The probability then decreased slightly for the next worst team and this continued for the rest of the 14 teams. Under the new format, the three worst teams each have an equal chance of getting the top pick, and the next two teams have a probability not much less than this. This was to tackle the tanking problem as mentioned earlier. As mentioned in the last blog post, the New Orleans Pelicans got the top pick this year, event though they only had a 6% of securing this. The New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns each had an equal 14% chance of getting the top pick. Let me put in a different way to properly convey just how crazy this is. They had a 6% chance compared to the 42% chance of it falling to one of the other three teams. That’s insane if you ask me. A wise man once said: “I AM PUZZLED.”

The teams are selected, in pretty much a bingo format if you will. Balls with numbers corresponding to each team are put in a container and picked out for each spot.

The NBA Draft

The NBA Draft is the actual event where the players are selected by the teams. The players are actually selected based on a number of variables but for the most part often boils down to team needs. That’s after the top 3-5 picks really. From picks 3-5, it’s simply the most talented players in the draft, irrespective of if the team really needs them or not. The team often begins finding ways to incorporate them through trading away players that play in their position if not needed and trading for players that would accompany them well. All of that perfectly explains the situation with the college sensation Zion Williamson this year. Physically speaking, he is one of the most abnormal people to have ever graced professional basketball. Maybe even professional sports as a whole. He is 18 years old, 6’7 inches tall, 129kg (284lbs), has a 6’10 inch wingspan and clears over 40 inches with his vertical leap. None of that is normal. Not even slightly. People could hardly even imagine something like that before him. Also, let’s not forget, he can actually play basketball and he can do it pretty well. He is a lock for the first pick. ABSOLUTELY NOBODY is expecting New Orleans to pass him with the first pick. After him, it is certain that the Grizzlies will take point guard Ja Morant with the second. This was further confirmed with yesterday’s trade sending their star point guard Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz. Then with the third pick, the Knicks are widely expected to go with Zion’s former college teammate RJ Barrett, who is also one of the most coveted players in a while with his skill set. The Knicks did also look at and are heavily considering other players it is believed, but many are still sure that they will select Barrett with the third pick.

That’s the NBA Draft made as simple as possible from me. I hope that you guys are looking forward to what this draft holds, and what the future of the NBA holds, as much as I am.