Conference paper
An alternative draft system for the allocation of player draft selections in the national basketball association
Proceedings of the 12th Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport, pp.108-114
Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport, 12th (Darwin, Australia, 25-Jun-2014–27-Jun-2014)
MathSport (ANZIAM)
2014
Abstract
The issue of 'tanking' is a growing trend in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and is often the topic of debate. 'Tanking' is when a team lose games on purpose in order to improve their draft position. Previous research has been conducted on the incentives teams have to win games under the current NBA weighted-lottery system. The research has suggested that non-playoff bound teams do not have an incentive to win games under the current draft system, leading to the system being heavily criticised. With this in mind, the aim of this research was to implement a draft system that would reward non-playoff bound teams for winning games that are deemed to be 'unimportant' with respect to making the playoffs. The calculation of 'unimportance' is based on the probability of a team making the playoffs after the completion of each game of the season. A variety of approaches were then examined to help derive a score for 'unimportant' and unlikely wins. The results found evidence that non-playoff bound teams would have an incentive to win games late in the season under this alternative draft system. As well as exploring incentives to win, we will explore the attractiveness of this system as well as evaluating past draft picks to examine the reward teams could have obtained under this alternative draft system.
Details
- Title
- An alternative draft system for the allocation of player draft selections in the national basketball association
- Authors
- M De Lorenzo (Author) - RMIT UniversityAnthony Bedford (Author) - RMIT University
- Contributors
- Anthony Bedford (Editor) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - LegacyTim Heazlewood (Editor)
- Publication details
- Proceedings of the 12th Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport, pp.108-114
- Conference details
- Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport, 12th (Darwin, Australia, 25-Jun-2014–27-Jun-2014)
- Publisher
- MathSport (ANZIAM)
- Date published
- 2014
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99513863102621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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