Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V5 #244

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 04:00 PM 7/8/98 -0400, Tom Bisson <tbisson@doe.state.vt.us> wrote:
<snip>
>The draft is presented as a way to rebalance the league, in reality,
>it's a marketing tool for the NBA and the rookies. The draft generates a
>lot of publicity and excitement.

Actually, in reality, it's both. See Duncan/San Antonio for most recent
example. Failures in redistributing talent to rebalance the league have more
to do with bad management by the teams in question than the draft itself.

>The draft is also a way to keep teams bidding against each other for new
>talent.

How? If team A drafts a player, team B cannot bid against them for him. The
draft specifically prevents this. If you're talking about the bidding wars
after the first contract, that's nothing to do with the draft. The same
would occur if the same players were finishing off FA contracts.

> That effect saves teams a lot more than the guaranteed rookie
>contracts cost.

Again, how?

>The current draft serves the interests of both the rookies and the
>league and, posturing aside, neither would really want to see major
>changes. 

Don't kid yourself on this one. Rookies would LOVE to be able to go to their
choice of team for however much money/contract they can get rather than
being forced to go to a team that picks them. See the current increasing
trend in potential draftees announcing that they will not play for certain
teams, even if drafted by them.
<snip>

-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net