British Expatriate Network

Apparently the Pistons got second pick in the NBA draft yesterday. I know "football" has a draft and football ( wink) has a draft. So what is it, exactly?

My understanding so far is that players belong to the league not the teams (not quite sure how the pay works, explanations appreciated), and teams get an order in which the can pick from the pool (is this drawn out of a hat or based on last year's results or....), then they take it in turns -just like picking rounders teams at school. Is that it? Are there players left over? Is skill the only factor in picking a player (plus fitting with the rest of the team), or is money involved in decisions?

We got a player with the 53rd pick or something - if it is anything like my school, he will be complete toss. roll

I was usually picked 53rd at my school for football. I wouldn't mind but the kid who was 52nd had club foot.

So no-one can explain the process for me in idiot terms them? roll Oh, go on ...please?

The pro teams are ranked in the draft according to their record the previous year.

The teams with the worst records get the higher picks. This gets a little complicated with basketball, as they have a lottery to decide who gets the top picks. The idea here is that a bad team can not intentionally lose games in order to secure a higher draft pick.

The pro teams then decide which college players (or high school players if they are good enough and have declared their intentions to forgo college and enter the draft) they want on their teams, and take turns picking them.

I am sorry if this seems a little disjointed, I have been on a boat with an open bar all day.

Don't you just love open bars.

So once the order is decided, it's like it used to be at school -they all pick one player then it's back to the first team for the second pick? It must take forever! Is there a time limit on each decision?

And how do the salaries work? Presumably the teams pay the players. Surely the can't all get the same salary? Who decides how much they get paid?

Thanks, Iain, btw. And welcome to Britnet. Are you in the States? Have you been here/there/wherever long? What brought you here? And any of the other usual nosey questions you might care to answer wink

Monster, it's complicated. Go to espn.com for a full explanation, but here's some more in a nutshell.

There's a time limit for each pick. Also, a team can trade for a higher player, so if for instance, LA gets Player X and he's really considered to be the answer to Orlando's problem, Orlando can offer LA some players and/or money for the rights to the LA pick.

Also, during the season, a team can trade draft rights for subsequent years' drafts, as happened with Detroit a few years ago, hence they picked second, even though they finished last season near the top and should have actually picked near the bottom.

For salaries, I believe there is a minimum and a maximum that a team can sign a draftee for, and that applies to the first year or two of his contract. Also, these players can be picked by a team, but never play, because right now free agency starts and there's a trade deadline in mid-July also. Therefore, the real outcome of the draft won't be known until later, when some draftees could get waived, or traded to another team.

That's my high-level understanding of it. It's by no means a thorough understanding though, it's way too complicated for me.

All I know for sure is that LeBron James got his massive shoe deal a while ago, and there aint no way Cleveland's gonna let him go!

Now watch him do his knee in the first season or bomb in the NBA roll

Not that I wish ill on him - just that this "too much, too soon" doesn't seem very smart to me. Perhaps the NBA needs to look at how Manchester United shielded its young 'uns from the media spotlight until they had grown up enough to leave the nest.

I would agree with that normally, but this guy really seems to be a beast. I mean, have you seen the size of him? Could you imagine being 16/17 and out there playing for your school when you see that lining up on the other end of the court???? I mean, I was always big for my age, but this fella takes the ****. He has the body of a man, for real. I think he'll do fine. He won't light it up this year most likely - a combination of his youth and the fact that he plays for the Cavs. But I think he will turn in to something special.

If I were the Cavs hierarchy, I'd play him minimally, cite the 'protecting our youngsters' as a ploy, do crap next year and get another high pick.
then go for the playoffs.

Thanks, Laurence, I think I get the drift of the draft. (Is it this complicated in American Football too? And is that reflected in the Fantasy Leagues?).

So now my question is why do they do this? Is it some sort of Union thing? Why not just own your own players like British Football etc?

Oh, and is salary agreed with the player after the draft or do teams negotiate with players before/during selection?

The draft is just for new players to enter the league. My guess is that it's a fair way of splitting up talent across the whole league rather than letting the rich/glamour clubs sign all the decent new talent and gaining a monopoly.

Aaah! I completely missed that bit. :lol:

So the players still belong to the league, but once picked, they stay with their teams until their teams trade them or they leave the league?

I'm not so sure that the players belong to the league - you'd have to check that one out. They sign a contract with the club that signs them and they are employees of that club until the contract is over/they are traded to another club. Then there is free-agency, which is like a Bosman transfer in football. That happens when the player sees out his contract and he is available to the highest bidder. However, there is also restricted free-agency and then there are cap exceptions and veteran's minmums and so on and so forth. You have all the really important information you need.

I really don't understand it fully and it is my favourite sport. I'll get it all eventually though, I'm determined! As far as I know, the NFL draft is similar to the NBA.

As was mentioned earlier, it is part of the league's way to ensure that new talent is spread across all teams to try to balance the teams in the league. It's really a gamble these days though because so many of the players are entering the draft early (straight from high school). This means that whilst of course they have the talent and potential to be good, they are still kids in many cases. It gets more and more rare every year to see college seniors in the draft. In my opinion, this should be changed. There should be a minimum age to declare for the draft, but that's another issue.

Just one final note, there are now more and more foreign players entering the draft (see Dirk Nowitzki a few years back and this year Darko Milicic). These players are being sought out by scouts and just take their luck entering the draft, nothing to do with college. Also, there is nothing to stop some kid from the block entering the draft also.

I think that's about all I can tell ya. Now you're a certified expert, right?

Some bloke down the pub told me regards...

Thanks again. I now feel as informed as I need to be at this point grin