Should the NBA Go Back to 3 Rounds In The Draft

[Tugg Speedman]

Here is the highest paid undrafted players in the NBA

http://www.thesportster.com/basketball/top-15-highest-paid-undrafted-nba-players-for-201314/?view=all

T14. Udonis Haslem, Miami Heat – $2,732,000
T14. Brian Roberts, Charlotte Hornets – $2,732,000
13. Anthony Tolliver, Detroit Pistons – $3,000,000
12. Chris Copeland, Indiana Pacers – $3,135,000
11. Anthony Morrow, Oklahoma City Thunder – $3,200,000
10. Gary Neal, Charlotte Hornets – $3,250,000
9. Alexey Shved, Houston Rockets – $3,282,056
8. Mirza Teletovic, Brooklyn Nets – $3,368,100
7. Joel Anthony, Detroit Pistons – $3,800,000
6. Timofey Mozgov, Cleveland Cavaliers – $4,650,000
5. Chris Andersen, Miami Heat – $5,375,000
4. Chuck Hayes, Toronto Raptors – $5,958,750
3. Jose Calderon, New York Knicks – $7,097,191
2. Wesley Matthews, Portland Trail Blazers – $7,245,640
Matthews is likely the best undrafted player on this list in terms of his NBA impact, especially over the last few seasons. After four standout years at Marquette, Matthews saw every team pass over him in the 2009 NBA Draft. He joined the Utah Jazz for the Summer League that year, earning a contract with the club for the upcoming season. He appeared in all 82 games in his debut season for the Jazz, averaging 9.4 PPG in 24.7 minutes per game, leading him to receive an offer sheet from the Portland Trail Blazers worth $32.5 million over five years. That contract has worked out exceptionally well for the Blazers, and Matthews is averaging 16.5 PPG and 3.5 RPG on a very good Portland team. Matthews’ outside shooting has also earned him a place in the 3-point contest at this year’s All-Star game, and the undrafted shooting guard recently passed Terry Porter as Portland’s all-time franchise leader in career three-pointers.
1. Jeremy Lin, Los Angeles Lakers – $8,374,646

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And not on this list is Matthew Dellavedova, who, in the absence of K Love and Kyrie, is emerging as a critical reason the Cavs are tied 2-2 with Golden State

Should the NBA consider three rounds for the draft?  Would that make the draft more interesting TV?

Thoughts?

[brandx]

no

[GGGG]

Should the NBA consider three rounds for the draft?  Would that make the draft more interesting TV?

Thoughts?

No.  Just pointing out a few free agents doesn't change that.  Most second round picks don't make NBA rosters their first year out.

Not interesting television either.

[4everwarriors]

Maybe Gardner woulda got drafted, hey?

[Coleman]

No

[MerrittsMustache]

Only if they were going to make the D-League a legit minor league system, but that's not happening any time soon.

It'd be interesting to see the NBA completely do away with the draft and just make all eligible college players free agents with a 30-day window to be signed. It'd be a total free-for-all and instead of tanking, you'd see teams clearing cap space to sign the top picks.

[Wojo'sMojo]

Only if they were going to make the D-League a legit minor league system, but that's not happening any time soon.

It'd be interesting to see the NBA completely do away with the draft and just make all eligible college players free agents with a 30-day window to be signed. It'd be a total free-for-all and instead of tanking, you'd see teams clearing cap space to sign the top picks.

Yeah, that would be a great idea and build parity throughout the league 

[MerrittsMustache]

Yeah, that would be a great idea and build parity throughout the league 

In the last 31 seasons, only 8 franchises have won NBA titles. It's not like there's great parity to begin with. The NBA is all about stars.

[GGGG]

Only if they were going to make the D-League a legit minor league system, but that's not happening any time soon.

It'd be interesting to see the NBA completely do away with the draft and just make all eligible college players free agents with a 30-day window to be signed. It'd be a total free-for-all and instead of tanking, you'd see teams clearing cap space to sign the top picks.

I think the draft should remain, but I like the "wheel" concept.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/27/re-inventing-the-wheel-mike-zarren-presents-modified-nba-draft-lottery-reform-proposals/

[tower912]

No.   And Davante would not have been drafted even in the third round. 

[chapman]

If anything they should just eliminate the second round.  Half the selections lock up players who probably won't make the team or will be relegated to the bench, the other half are picking overseas players with no intention of bringing them over to play because they don't actually want the draft picks and couldn't give them away as trade throw-ins.

[Galway Eagle]

If anything they should just eliminate the second round.  Half the selections lock up players who probably won't make the team or will be relegated to the bench, the other half are picking overseas players with no intention of bringing them over to play because they don't actually want the draft picks and couldn't give them away as trade throw-ins.

I disagree and agree. I think the second round is fine with the summer league and gives players like Jae crowder a chance to earn s spot.  But I do agree the majority aren't picked to earn a spot or with an intention that they'll get one

[WarriorFan]

A 3rd round - without other rule changes - would just lock players to teams unnecessarily and eliminate their chance to find a best fit team where they have a better chance of sticking.  A list of a few undrafted but successful players going back 14 years certainly doesn't warrant a change. 

[Eldon]

If anything they should just eliminate the second round.  Half the selections lock up players who probably won't make the team or will be relegated to the bench, the other half are picking overseas players with no intention of bringing them over to play because they don't actually want the draft picks and couldn't give them away as trade throw-ins.

+1

I don't think they should eliminate the second round, but I think that would nevertheless be a better idea than adding a third round.

I went to the NBA draft a few years ago and the whole lower bowl cleared out after the first round.  If people in attendance won't stay for the second round, then surely people at home won't tune in for a third round.

[Warrior Code]

The NBA should keep adding rounds until I get drafted. The dream is alive.

[Herman Cain]

Would like a third round. I think it would help add some brand value to the players that get assigned to the D league.

[Tugg Speedman]

Kelly: Should The NBA Draft Expand?
June 25, 2015 3:03 PM

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/06/25/kelly-should-the-nba-draft-expand/

By Ross Kelly

In terms of size, the evolution of the NBA Draft has operated inversely as compared to the NBA as a whole. In other words, one got bigger (NBA) while the other got smaller (NBA draft). In the early years of the league, teams would select players until they literally ran out of prospects. The NBA began to modernize the draft in 1974 when they established a fixed number of rounds (10) to accommodate the 18 teams in the league. The number of rounds was then reduced to seven in 1985, three rounds in 1988, and two rounds in 1989 which is where it currently stands. But the NBA was increasing in size during this time by adding the Hornets and Heat in 1988 and the Timberwolves and Magic in 1989. Since then the Raptors, Grizzlies, and Hornets have joined the league as well. With fewer players drafted and more teams/roster spots, that meant that those who were drafted had a better chance of making a team which was the main point of the reduction. The numbers certainly back this up as in 1984 just 25% of the 228 players drafted actually played a game in the NBA. By 1989 the draft was down to 54 selections but 89% of those drafted played in the NBA. Thus, the reduction of the draft served its purpose to only allow the “best of the best” a shot to make a team.

Another reason the NBA says it shortened the draft is to allow undrafted players the chance to try out for any team. But by applying that logic you could theoretically shorten the draft to just one round and have even more players try out for teams. The point is that no matter the length of the draft, there will always be a large pool of players who will have to go the route of trying out for a team over a guaranteed contract. Second round picks don’t have guaranteed contracts so adding more rounds wouldn’t affect the “try-out” process for those picked after the first round.

No matter the length of the draft, there will always be players that fall through the cracks and that goes for every sport. But by expanding the draft, you reduce the probability of that happening as more players will be on each team’s radar. Virtually all drafted players make it to the preseason roster and coaches/GMs tell those at the bottom of the depth chart, “Your play isn’t just an audition for this team, but for every team.”

With the influx of international players to the NBA over the last 25 years, it’s quite obvious that there is just more basketball talent out there aged 19-23 than there was in 1989. That has created a surplus of capable NBA prospects that cannot be contained in just two rounds of a draft. Players like Ben Wallace, Wes Matthews, John Starks, Brad Miller, and Udonis Haslem have gone from being undrafted to having lengthy NBA careers. But all of those guys should have been drafted and there are dozens more like them every year. Part of the joy in being drafted is just to hear the NBA call your name. I’m sure there are many players that have kept that video of the commissioner calling their name once they are selected. Why not give that opportunity to more players?

There have been informal suggestions previously thrown out about what to do with the NBA draft and how to improve it. One idea was to allot compensatory picks to teams that lose players to free agency like the NFL does. But that would benefit teams that make no effort to re-sign their players, either for financial reasons, or as part of a long-term, multi-year rebuilding plan. The current draft lottery already rewards teams for tanking games while compensatory picks would seemingly reward teams for tanking seasons.

Another idea was to have only the lottery teams receive an extra draft pick and I think that notion seemingly could work. Teams will tank in order to improve their position within the lottery (top 14 picks); but they are unlikely to do so for picks after the first round. I would propose that these picks be sandwiched in between the first and second rounds. But knowing how much the NBA values uniformity (sometimes over logic); I just don’t see the league handing out extra picks to some teams and not all 30.

So how many rounds should the draft be? I think going back to three rounds would be a start. The contract rules (non-guaranteed) in place for the second round would carry over to the third. I think the third round should be in place for at least 3-4 seasons as anything shorter would be too brief to gauge its success. Who knows, after a couple of seasons, maybe the NBA decides that it needs a fourth round. Implausible, but not impossible. There are a myriad of changes that could be hitting the NBA over the next decade including the pool of eligible prospects. If the NBPA gets its way and high school seniors can forgo college and either enter the draft or go straight to the D-league, and then the talent pool will grow even more. Remember, players can be drafted straight from the D-league so a fourth round in the future is not unrealistic.

The NBA certainly doesn’t need to go the route of MLB and have so many unnecessary rounds that GMs start drafting their nephews, athletes in other sports, or offspring of former players. (FWIW when the NBA draft did have 10+ rounds, athletes such as Carl Lewis, Jim Brown, and Dave Winfield were picked). Three rounds would increase each team’s preseason roster size by just one player and would allow the evaluation of 30 more players under NBA watch. Much like the current second round, I’m sure the draft-and-stash philosophies would be in place for the third round as well. But that could then have a positive effect on the D-league as well as teams could “stash” their own players down there just as the Thunder did last season.

Adding a third round may seem like a big change but its effects would likely have a bigger effect on the D-league more so than the NBA. The NBA rosters could stay at 15, but the D-league teams’ rosters could grow by one or two players. That would be less of a financial burden than increasing an NBA roster size would be. More D-league players would eventually create a need to have more D-league teams and that is seemingly what the league has been pushing for in hopes of creating a true minor league farm system similar to MLB and MiLB.

How likely do I see this actually happening? I think, eventually, the league will expand the draft but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. The current CBA has an opt-out after the 2016-17 season and I wouldn’t expect the topic to even be discussed at that point. Commissioner Silver has other pressing needs that directly involve the product of the game. But I think that the NBA and NCAA will modify their one-and-done rule for college players which will lead to high school players again having the option to declare for the draft. Once that happens, then even more prospects will become draft-eligible and that should, in turn, pave the way to the draft being expanded.

Ross Kelly is an Associated Producer for CBS Local Sports. He is from Louisiana and is a fan of all sports, but not of any teams (except LSU). He can be reached at ross.kelly@cbs.com.