2023-06-20 17:32:00
D-2 before this Draft 2023 which already promises to be historic (Hello Victor). Want to know more regarding the history of the Draft? Bingo, you’ve come to the right door. So we waste no time and rewind to the premises of the Great League to understand the evolution of an unmissable meeting in the NBA!
From its early years until 2023, the NBA Draft has seen many changes in its various aspects. It’s sometimes easy to get lost between eras, so let’s start at the beginning.
1947, birth of the BAA and its Draft
For those who wonder when the Draft was invented, know that its first edition was born in 1947 with the very first BAA season (ancestor of the NBA). That is to say that we quickly understand that in 30 years, the current players will be 60 years old… Hence the need to constantly bring back young people to maintain the level of the league, while replacing the old ones veterans who hang up the sneakers. After having necessarily finished their 4-year university course, young players might register without incident for this famous NBA Draft.
Ok but how was this Draft organized? ? Nothing might be simpler: the lowest ranked got the first choice for the following year and so on… At the time, we did not yet anticipate the advantage of losing to be better placed in the Draft so we do not advocate the lottery system as we know it today. Another particularity, teams can choose as many players as they want since there is simply no draft round limit (unlike 2 today). This anomaly at the time can be explained quite easily by the few teams in the Great League, but also by a much lower number of talents compared to today.
More the great peculiarity of the premises of the Draft remains the territorial pick. It offered the possibility to each franchise to draft in priority a young player who played in the same geographical area of a team. If the guy was playing within 50 miles, the franchise might, only in the first round, use their territorial pick to secure it, even before the Draft begins! A practice popularized in the 1950s with considerable power. The proof, Minneapolis was able to steal Elgin Baylor in 1958, and Philadelphia did the same with Wilt Chamberlain the following year. Just that. Good… we quickly realize that this mechanism can be nice to create an identity for the different franchises, but that it is above all deeply unfair. Imagine if Victor Wembanyama had played in Colorado and been drafted by the Nuggets, the defending champions. Yeah we agree…. it’s not crazy. The whole context is set for the first major reform in the history of the Draft…
1966, the introduction of the lottery
Here begins the story of the NBA lottery. It took a first draft, far from perfect, to throw this famous territorial pick which favored the big cities of the orange ball. Once the level of the league gradually balanced out, some tanking came into being. Tanking, the flagship expression of the Draft, is simply the fact of voluntarily losing during the season to be better placed in the next NBA Draft. This is where the lottery comes in to counteract this unsportsmanlike attitude. With this element of chance, we limit the contest of defeats between the teams at the bottom of the table. And in 1966, this lottery concerns the last teams of each conference by being played on a… coin flip. Not very fair if the two worst records in the league are in the same conference… Lottery which is therefore far from perfect while remaining at the experimental stage.
It was still necessary to wait until 1984 before the league decided to bang its fist on the table with this famous tanking. Although this strategy of defeat is generally unofficial, the Rockets are publicly accused of it that year. The first lottery systems were overtaken by the extension of the NBA : nice coin toss when you’re 9 in the league, but a little cheesy when you’re 23… The more teams there are, the tougher the tanking battle becomes for this coin toss. And when we realize that the 1984 Draft can potentially be one of the greatest vintages in history, there is enough to give arguments to struggling teams like Houston for miraculously no longer knowing how to play basketball, for better nab a certain… Hakeem Olajuwon
All this merry-go-round does not amuse David Stern, new commissioner of the Great League, since from 1985, the lottery was extended to all teams not qualified in the Playoffs. The goal ? Minimize tanking by also giving less well placed a chance to get a high draft pick. Goodbye heads or tails, hello lotto!
But the lottery, while central, isn’t the only shakeup in Draft history. The age required to enter the NBA has also been a central debate. Since the beginnings of the Great League, a young player had to finish his university course to be able to register for the Draft. Except with the Spencer Haywood fight, the league eases its admission criteria by allowing high school students to directly join the Big League. The goal? Make entry into the NBA more accessible, both for young talents who do not need to wait 4 years in university, and for the most disadvantaged who cannot afford a full university course. It is in this that in 1975, the young Moses Malone aged 19 became the first NBA rookie directly out of high school without going through the university box.
At the same time, the league is considerably lightening its many draft rounds. Initially unlimited, reaching a peak of 21 in 1968, to fill the league with potential young people as quickly as possible, the draft rounds were set at 2 in 1989. No more extended Drafts, only the best are taken!
With doors open to as many people as possible, clean draft rounds and a fairer lottery, we have reason to think that the Draft should no longer know any changes. Except that…
1993, the last of the lottery wins the… first choice
While everyone thought that the NBA had (finally) found the perfect formula, everything was called into question 4 years later following the somewhat…controversial 1993 lottery. After getting the first pick of the 1992 Draft to nab Shaquille O’Neal, the Magic achieves the back-to-back of the first choice in 1993 while being… last in the lottery. A scenario that had a 1.52% chance of happening… It must be understood that the Magic was launched in its construction with a record of 41-41 last year by failing on the edge of the Playoffs. So obviously, a feeling of injustice, or at least bad luck, reigned the day following this famous 1993 lottery. Imagine if Victor Wembanyama was drafted by the … New Orleans Pelicans. Not really fair we agree. As a result, a smoothing of the chances to favor the last took place from the 1994 lottery : the last in the ranking goes from 16.67% chance of getting the first choice to 25%, and the last from 1.52% to 0.5%.
But the lottery is not the only debate still pending around the Draft since the age of entry into the NBA is still debated. By having authorized high school students to directly set foot on its floors following their course, the Great League has exposed itself to potential young players who are still too immature in their game to compete with the greatest in this sport. But in reality, many young people attached great importance to the university course to mature their game: few young people jumped directly into the deep end, except for the need of money.
It was not until 1995, with the arrival of Kevin Garnett in the NBA, that this trend really became popular. Seeing the immediate success of the Big Ticket in the Great League, a string of promising young players will follow in his footsteps by registering for the Draft without going through the university box. Among them guys like Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady or LeBron James. Just that. But also a lot of kids who had eyes bigger than their stomachs…
As a result, to protect its (too) ambitious young players as much as possible, the new 2005 CBA establishes a minimum legal age of 19 to be eligible for the Draft. The birth of what is now called the one-and-donenamely a university year following high school while waiting to have 19 years and to be drafted.
But despite a lottery that is beginning to calibrate, we still see the tanking pros swinging the white flags as early as February. It must be said that with a 25% chance of nabbing the first choice by being last in the league, there is enough to force yourself to lose matches! As a result the NBA will once more change its lottery odds in 2019: the last 3 have the same chance (14%) of winning the first choice. What to avoid defeat records to nab the next generational nugget (hello the Sixers).
We might even mention the Play-In, introduced in 2020, in this story of the Draft. Having an immediate impact on tanking by encouraging mid-table teams to fight until the end of the season, the Play-In, following a few years, is clearly presenting itself as a success for the fairness of the Draft. We can’t say that Adam Silver did nothing for this event!
After several decades of calibration to the evolutions of the league, to the desires of youngsters to jump into the deep end, and especially to the dunces who voluntarily organize their defeats, the NBA Draft has always been able to respond to its various fairness challenges. But as so often, solving one problem leads to another… So do we stay like this or are there new changes to come?
Sources : ESPN, The Athletic
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