The NBA needs to relegate teams to the D-League

The Celtics beat the 76ers last night 105-87. It was the 22nd loss of the season for Philadelphia.

How bad are the 76ers? They're below .100. They're on pace to go 7-75. Fifteen NFL teams have more than 7 wins. Even the NFC South winner might win more than 7 games. And in baseball, 10 teams lost fewer than 75 times.

As bad as the 76ers are, they're only 2 games behind the 5-21 Knicks. The NBA cellar is cluttered with crappy teams. There are 6 teams below .300. Nine teams, including your Boston Celtics, have yet to reach double digit wins.

There is an incentive to play poorly in the NBA. The enticing allure of the draft lottery rewards bad teams. While the top 10 teams fight for playoff positioning, the bottom 10 fight for lottery positioning. Even if they're not tanking, the games are meaningless, especially when two basement dwellers face each other.

What would change that? What would not only motivate bottom third teams to win, but also add some interest and drama for the fans of those struggling teams? One word:

Relegation.

In European soccer at the end of the season the bottom teams in the league are demoted, while top teams from a lower level are promoted. In England, for example, the bottom 3 teams in the Premier League are relegated to the second tier league (called The Championship), and 3 teams from that level move up to the Premier League.

With relegation comes dramatically reduced TV money. And of course the top players don't want to play in the secondary league, so they leave. Stadium attendance goes down. It's a horrible fate that teams fight tooth and nail to avoid. Which is the exact opposite of how NBA teams at the bottom of the standings play.

The threat of relegation would make the bad teams at least try. It would also make make their games meaningful, especially when they faced each other. If the bottom 3 teams this season were to be demoted, the Celtics would currently stand 4.5 games clear of the danger zone. This proximity to danger would make their games much more relevant than they are now.

Oh, and if you get relegated, you don't get a top draft pick. The NBA wouldn't want its most talented and marketable rookies wasting away in a secondary league.

So I propose the NBA add 6 new teams for a total of 36, demote the bottom 9 teams from the current league, and then have a 21 team NBA, and a 15 team NBA Jr. No more east/west conferences or divisions, just 21 teams that play every other team 4 times (80 game season). At the end of the season the worst team in the NBA will be relegated, the best team in NBA Jr. will be promoted, the second and third worst NBA teams will play the second and third best Jr. teams in a single-elimination playoff, with the winner given a spot in the NBA. And for the draft lottery, NBA Jr. teams will be ineligible for the top 5 picks.

In the NBA the top 16 teams will make the playoffs, just as they do now. The 17th and 18th teams will be fighting for playoff spots but also fighting to avoid relegation. 19th and 20th will have to beat NBA Jr. teams to remain in the NBA. And 21st is automatically demoted.

The top NBA Jr. team wins automatic promotion. And the next 2 teams get a chance to join the NBA. We can even have 3rd through 6th play elimination series to determine the 3rd place team.

So instead of the 5 to 10 legitimate contenders with something real to play for (with the bottom 5 having something to lose for), we'll have about 30 teams, all with something to play for. Some teams contending for a championship, some to stay in the NBA, some to move up to the NBA.

Of course, this means that teams in New York and LA and Boston and Philly might find themselves being in a second level. But how is that significantly different from the NBA this season?

RELEGATORS...

Mount up.

Photo Credit:
The Revolving Door

After the 2014 Draft Lottery, I Hate the NBA Even More

I like basketball. It's not my favorite sport to watch, but I do like it. However, I cannot stand the NBA.

What determines victory and defeat in the NBA? Bad refs, worse rules, a handful of stars who want to play in warm weather cities with their pals, and of course, ping-pong balls.

I'm looking at a table of Draft Lottery probabilities, and I'm already pissed off. Why must there be such a complex process, necessitating such a table? Why is it that the Boston Celtics finished with the 5th worst record in the NBA, and yet they were most likely to be given 6th selection (which is what happened)?

The Bucks had the worst record, and were more likely than any other team to pick 1st. Although the pick they'd most likely get was the 4th. Why?

I get the idea behind the ping-pong balls and probabilities. You don't want to have teams tanking just to get the best pick. Quite clearly, no teams tanked in 2013-14, so the system worked. No teams tanked at all. Good system, NBA.

Should there be a new rule about teams that have recently picked high in the lottery, winning high picks in consecutive years? The Cleveland Cavaliers won the 1st overall pick last year. Maybe the NBA shouldn't allow the same team to pick 1st in back-to-back seasons, especially if they had the 9th worse record, and more than double Milwaukee's win total.

The salary cap once made it difficult to hoard multiple mega-stars. Now it's climate and exposure that guide basketball stars, who roam from warm city to warm city in a quest to play alongside their friends in a town with an enjoyable nightlife. NBA players want to be in the big market, preferably with warm weather, even if the team's owner has a checkered race-relations history. Playing home games in LA is much better than Milwaukee or Minnesota.

Climate, refs, and ping-pong balls determine the fate of NBA teams. I can't take a league seriously if such trivial matters have such powerful influence over who wins and loses.

According to the probabilities, 33% of the time the Celtics were going to get a top 3 pick, 34% of the time they were going to get the 6th pick, 24% of the time they were going to get the 5th, 9% of the time they were going to get a later pick.

And I hate that. I hate that ping-pong balls have more bearing on the future of an NBA team than anything a GM or an owner or a coach or its current players have. If the Celtics had gotten lucky, they could have moved into the top 3, even #1 overall. Had they been unlucky, they could have picked as low as 8th.

How can a GM's job performance be assessed when ping-pong balls determine so much of what happens to his team's fortunes?

I don't have any proposals to change how powerful these ping-pong balls are. Annually, you can count the meaningful draft prospects with one hand. That's why the bounce of the balls carries so much importance. Demand for star talent far outweighs supply. I don't know of any way to change that.

I would propose that if a team picks 1st one year, then finishes with the 9th worst record the next, they should be ineligible to win the 1st pick again. Don't just give them a small chance, give them no chance.

Aside from that, I'll simply continue to like basketball, hope the Celtics win, and criticize the NBA for being a horrible league.

Celtics Get Back on Losing Track Against Charlotte Bobcats

The Celtics have been struggling to stay in the race for the most ping pong balls in the 2014 NBA Draft. So this defeat was a much needed one. The Bobcats, after all, are one of the teams competing with the Celtics for top picks in that Draft. So this wasn't just one loss, it was like two losses. Double bonus time.

Vitor Faverani really stepped up in this game. Coming off the bench he was 2 for 8 from the field, he turned the ball over 3 times. He wasn't perfect though as he also collected 9 rebounds. The Celtics can't afford inconsistency like that.

Gerald Wallace and Courtney Lee had poor performances off the bench, each with 10 points. Lee amassed his 10 in only 14 minutes on the court. That's why these guys aren't starting. They're just too good.

And that's why guys like Brandon Bass (7 points, -9 on the floor) and Kelly Olynyk (6 points, 4 turnovers, -11 on the floor) are starters. They know how to lose games. Bass was an absolutely brilliant 2 for 9 from the floor. And don't forget about Avery Bradley who was 3 for 8.

Jeff Green also contributed. Despite his unfortunate 19 points, he missed three free throws and was only 1 for 5 with his three pointers.

The C's host Portland Friday night. This is a favorable matchup for the Celtics as the Trail Blazers are second in the Western Conference. Another good opportunity to add to the loss total.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Celtics Make Sensible Selections

The Celtics aren't rebuilding, they're adding. They were a few plays shy of an NBA Finals appearance and they seem to think that they're only a few pieces away from going further than that in 2012-13.

Their picks reflect that optimism. They selected big men with their back-to-back first round picks. These are guys who can fit into a role while Garnett, Pierce, and Rondo lead the way.

With the 21st pick they took Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, who fell in the draft because of back issues. He's 6' 9" and 268 pounds. In two seasons at OSU, he's averaged over 17 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

The back is a potential worry, but how can you pass on this guy's talent and size with the 21st pick? It is kind of funny how the Celtics were partially undermined in the playoffs by injury issues so now they've added a young player with injury issues. However, if he stays healthy, he can completely change the shape of the game for the Celtics.

The C's are very streaky shooters. Having a big man that can rebound will help the offense get second chances, and help prevent opponents from going on runs by getting more defensive rebounds.

At 268, Sullinger is now the biggest player on the Celtics.

The new tallest member of the Celtics is Fab Melo out of Syracuse. The 7' and 255 pound center has a reputation for effort problems. Who knows how true those issues are and how much they'll translate to the NBA. He's in a good environment, with veteran teammates, and a coach that won't stand for less than 100%. And he needs the Celtics more than they need him.

He hauled in some rebounds this past season, which was his sophomore season at SU. 5.8 per game. He also blocked 2.9 shots. That may have been a product of Syracuse's zone system, which had Melo loiter under the hoop like Robin Williams in Jack.

Nevertheless, he can come off the bench and be tall when KG needs a breather. In the playoffs, especially against Miami, opponents drove right down the middle when Garnett was sitting. Put Melo out there, and they'll have a much more substantial obstacle in their path.

In the 2nd round, the Celtics took another Syracuse product, which means ESPN and all the SU Newhouse School of Communication grads at ESPN will probably love the C's this year.

Kris Joseph is a 6' 7" and 215 pound small forward. It seems like he peaked his junior year at Syracuse, as all his numbers went down slightly as a senior. He shot worse from the field, rebounded less, fewer points, fewer assists.

Whatever. In the first round the Celtics added 13 feet and 9 inches of height. They added 523 pounds of bulk. They got bigger. They got better.