This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Boston Celtics. They weren’t supposed to win too many games or come off as too competitive. That way, when the NBA draft lottery rolled around in May, the team might have a shot at landing an Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker in the NBA draft.
Except the Celtics have come out strong — almost too strong, some fans say — and visions of a top pick in a star-studded draft might be slipping away. Based on the current draft lottery system, the C’s could benefit from “tanking,” but president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is not about that negative talk. In fact, Ainge supports a recent proposal to ditch the NBA draft lottery in favor of something more egalitarian, according to the Boston Herald.
“There becomes too much emphasis on losing, and I don’t really like that, that there’s all this talk about losing,” Ainge said. “At the same time, I understand it’s the world we live in and it’s the system that is set up. I wish we had a better system that wouldn’t reward losing like this, but I understand the system that we’re in and I understand the challenges and difficulties of changing that. But I would hope they would look into that at some point.”
The new proposal, which Grantland.com outlined in detail, actually is the brainchild of Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren. The system would use a formula to have teams picking in each of the 30 positions over a 30-year span.
“That would make sense to me,” Ainge said. “It would put an onus on management to manage their team and their draft picks. They would be able to just play and not worry about maneuvering to get a draft pick.”
Whether the plan ever comes to fruition remains to be seen, as it would have to be approved by the NBA owners before being put into effect.
