If the Suns Go "Big" at #4, #5. or #6 .... The Pick Should Be ....

[AzStevenCal]

I don't think statistics really play a role this year as far as the number 1 pick goes. Think about it, the basketball gods always revel in screwing the Phoenix Suns and this year presents them with another golden opportunity to do it. The Phoenix Suns have gone longer than any other NBA team without a #1 pick so this year the gods have a chance to finally give us that coveted pick - yet still screw us over because the #1 pick can go so badly awry this year. If you pick Noel he could well have an Odenesque career and if you pick anyone else Nerlens could prove to be the only really worthwhile player in it. I really don't think there is a chance the gods pass on this opportunity.

And those of us with eyes on our backside will be sure to let the rest of the world know that whatever we did with that number one pick was clearly destined to be the worst possible move. This is such a strange draft. I counted something like 17 players that I thought had a legitimate chance to be the best player from this draft which is more than double what I usually come up with. On top of that, I wouldn't be all that surprised to find the best player not even among my group of 17.

I prefer to believe that we'll get lucky this year with either the lottery or our draft night selection. My reasoning is that by now the basketball gods surely must have reached the point where they've tired of mocking us. We're the equivalent of the mainstreamed but slightly challenged 4th grader with hairy arms and body odor (or whatever target/example of "kids can be cruel" that you grew up with) that even the bullies have decided to ignore as life has clearly dealt him one too many losing hands.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

It is not. For the Suns to draft 4th, no teams could move up into top 3, so teams that finished with the 3 worst records would each have to win one of the top 3 picks. That is very unlikely. The Suns probability of drafting 4th is 8.5%. They are more likely to win the top pick (11.9%) than to draft 4th. But they will most likely pick 5th (32.3%) or even 6th (15.6%).

Wow you are right but that's ridiculous.

Why doesn't the league just make it where the team with worst record gets the #1 pick, 2nd worst gets #2, so on and so forth?

Why even have the lottery, it would be much more fair the other way.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Wow you are right but that's really stupid.

Why doesn't the league just make it where the team with worst record gets the #1 pick, 2nd worst gets #2, so on and so forth?

Why even have the lottery, it would be much more fair the other way.

That's how it used to be but it makes sandbagging for a top pick much more effective. The lottery was put in to try and reduce the likelihood that a team would play for a pick rather than compete as your draft slot wouldn't be guaranteed even if you were to lose them all. They've changed it a few times since and IMO the tinkering hasn't really improved it.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

That's how it used to be but it makes sandbagging for a top pick much more effective. The lottery was put in to try and reduce the likelihood that a team would play for a pick rather than compete as your draft slot wouldn't be guaranteed even if you were to lose them all. They've changed it a few times since and IMO the tinkering hasn't really improved it.

Steve

Well I mean, the NFL is like that and we don't hear often about any teams tanking purposely tanking for a pick...

If a team had a bad record, its because they sucked and they don't have talent. It doesn't make sense to not give them their pick at the best available talent in the draft and putting the franchise's future on a bunch of ping pong balls.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Well I mean, the NFL is like that and we don't hear often about any teams tanking purposely tanking for a pick...

If a team had a bad record, its because they sucked and they don't have talent. It doesn't make sense to not give them their pick at the best available talent in the draft and putting the franchise's future on a bunch of ping pong balls.

One player does not make as much of a difference in the NFL as it does in the NBA. The sheer volume of players on a squad indicates that. You also only have two rounds.

As with every other rule in the NBA. It was a reaction. This was put in place when the Spurs shamelessly tanked for David Robinson. I wouldn't be surprised if Jerry Colangelo was behind it. The Spurs tank job robbed the Suns of the first pick in the draft that year. The Suns were bad (drug scandal days) legitimately. We got Armen Gilliam instead.