My NBA Anti-Tanking Solution

I have no idea how similar this is to Bill Simmon's "Entertaining as Hell Tournament" in some aspects, but here's my take on how to prevent NBA teams from tanking.


You reward the teams with the best record not to make the playoffs with the higher chances of landing a higher pick. Basically it's the other way around from the current system. As for the teams that make the playoffs, just keep the current format of how they get their draft order.


Why would I suggest this? Because it encourages every team to be competitive from the start of the season to the end of the season. It also gives teams who are one piece away from making the playoffs a big chance to land that piece in the draft. And it also gives high draft picks a good chance to be in a winning situation early in their careers.


When a team gets mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, what reason do they have to keep winning? Nothing. Because then they'd do their best to keep losing so they can get a higher draft pick (unless the draft that year isn't very deep). So to encourage teams to keep playing to win, reward those teams that win with better draft chances.


Isn't it logical? Why will you reward a team that will embrace a losing culture with a good draft pick? Wouldn't that be counter-productive, because it will be difficult to create a winning atmosphere around a team that gets used to losing? Even for just one season, the damage it could do to players, coaches, and staffs mindsets could be bad. Specially in today's NBA where almost everyone (from my standpoint, at least, and I did say almost) seems more concerned with how much money they take home rather than how to play the game of basketball at the highest level.


But what about the teams that end up with the worst losing records? Won't they be forever stuck in a losing record if they only get mid-level draft picks? That's their problem. If they don't want to keep losing, if they want to keep their fans, and if they want to make sure they keep raking in the dough then they will have to be a smart organization.


One downside I do see in this is that the good teams who usually make the playoffs as a low seed have an incentive to tank to get a high draft pick. This could lead to league-wide tanking for seasons with a deep and talented draft. Then again, I never said my plan was fool-proof.


Out.

Dwelling on the What Ifs

I just realized today that I dwell too much on the past. I dwell too much on the "what ifs" and "what could have beens" more often than I should. In fact, I think I should force myself to stop thinking about things that will never happen, or are highly unlikely to happen (like winning the lottery - something I always daydream about).


Don't get me wrong, its not bad to dream. What is bad is if you focus too much on your dreams and it eventually becomes an anchor that drags you down. Something that happens to me a lot of times. I think too much about things that are out of my control, I start to think how my life would be so much better if those things happened or did not happen, then I start to get depressed. It's not really that healthy.


Dreaming and using those dreams to achieve your goals is good. Dreaming and getting depressed is not good. Obviously.


So what should I do? I should stop thinking about the what ifs and what could have beens. I should start viewing them (since I can't totally stop thinking about them) in a positive way. And I should learn to deal with the cards I was dealt with, or the cards I chose to have. It should be that simple. And hopefully I can do just that.


At least now I know my problem, and I seem to have found a solution to it.


Out.

My Goals in Life

Everybody has goals in life. I know I do. And here I will share some of them. Most likely the most common goals, and most likely the most important ones. So here we go.

• Have a place to call my own. I want my own house. Something I bought with my own money, and somewhere I can feel safe and secure. Hopefully it will have at least a one car garage.
• Have my own car. I still drive my mom's old car. And while it's still reliable and nice, it still isn't something I own. I'd like a family car. Something along the lines of what I've always been blogging about. Some reliable car with an aircon that can get my family and I to where we want to go safely and in a decent amount of time while being economical and fun to drive.
• Retire at an early age BECAUSE I can. This means that I'd have to be set for life soon. I want to have more time to do things I want to do with my wife. Travel. Bake. Cook. Explore the world, explore this country. Do things we want to do when we want to do them.
• Be wealthy. I think Shaq said it best when he said that while NBA players were rich, the guy signing their paychecks was wealthy. I'd rather be the latter than the former. Why? Because the former has to earn his money, while the latter makes his money.
• Have my own "toy car." I've always wanted a project car for myself. It could be a classic Beetle, or a Kombi, or even our old Lite Ace. Bottom line, I'd like to own a car that I could have fun tinkering around in and maybe fixing up. A car that could also become "a reliable car (with an aircon, I hope) that can get my family and I to where we want to go safely and in a decent amount of time while being economical and fun to drive."
• Have enough money to provide the best I can provide for my family. As it stands right now, I am so woefully short of doing this. So I need to step up my game.

Yes, those are some of my goals in life. And I honestly hope I can achieve them.

Out.