OT: What if sports didnt have drafts

[derleider]

Obviously the intention of the draft is to bring order to the process of signing previously amateur players, and to try to bring about parity by giving worse teams better picks.

But for the most part, the second part doesnt work. The Patriots are great year after year, despite getting draft picks in the high 20s every year. The Browns get top 10 picks every year and suck every year.

So what if they simply did away with it. Just a giant free agent signing orgy. Teams have limited spots and limited cap money, so its not like teams could stock pile guys. If they tried to overpay young guys, they would have to cut older guys, which could benefit other teams who could sign them on the cheap.

Would anything be different?

 

[knightfan7]

Baseball will never have a salary cap so no draft would ensure teams like the NYY would be dominant every year.

 

[RUtix4me]

Many different impacts, each different in Every sport, Yankees could buy a ton of Farm propsects, see what develops, while independently managing their Major league roster. The top picks in the NBA would gravitate to top teams very quickly. Imbalance here would be the greastest. In the NFL your theory has a better chance of low impact based on rosters sizes. NBA, with smaller rosters greater impact.

 

[rutgersguy1]

Well a draft doesn't absolve teams of the responsibility of having good management/coaching/talent evaluation. Those are always going to be key with or without a draft. The Patriots have those things, the Browns don't so that's why you see what you see year after year.

Isn't what you're describing essentially what we have in college football or probably college athletics in general. The programs with the money/brand/history in a particular sport usually get the cream of the cream and the rest have to be really smart with their coaching decisions/talent evaluation/system implementation etc..to continuously stay on par and compete.

 

[RUfinal4]

Interesting between MLB and NFL

NFL - Only 4 teams have had 10 seasons without making the playoffs (Bills, Raiders, Browns, and Rams).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_franchise_post-season_droughts

MLB - Only 3 teams have had 10 seasons without making the playoffs (Marlins, Blue Jays, and Mariners)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_franchise_postseason_droughts

In the NBA only 1 team has a drought of more than 10 years (Timberwolves)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_franchise_post-season_droughts

In the NHL no team has a drought of 10 or more seasons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_franchise_post-season_droughts

 

[derleider]

Well a draft doesn't absolve teams of the responsibility of having good management/coaching/talent evaluation. Those are always going to be key with or without a draft. The Patriots have those things, the Browns don't so that's why you see what you see year after year.

Isn't what you're describing essentially what we have in college football or probably college athletics in general. The programs with the money/brand/history in a particular sport usually get the cream of the cream and the rest have to be really smart with their coaching decisions/talent evaluation/system implementation etc..to continuously stay on par and compete.

Yes. Exccept college doesnt have a salary cap, so you CAN stockpile talent to an extent.

MLB would obviously need to have either a salary cap or at least some constraints on signing amateur free agents - a rookie signing bonus cap, or an absolute limit on the nuber you can sign in a year or whatever.

The NBA - again, I think their cap would end up evening things out, especially if they did what they should do anyway and get rid of the individual salary cap (at least if they want to spread talent around instead of concentrating it). Signing a Lebron out of HS would be very costly and would limit any teams ability to sign other stars in future years.

 

[RUtix4me]

Yes. Exccept college doesnt have a salary cap, so you CAN stockpile talent to an extent.

MLB would obviously need to have either a salary cap or at least some constraints on signing amateur free agents - a rookie signing bonus cap, or an absolute limit on the nuber you can sign in a year or whatever.

The NBA - again, I think their cap would end up evening things out, especially if they did what they should do anyway and get rid of the individual salary cap (at least if they want to spread talent around instead of concentrating it). Signing a Lebron out of HS would be very costly and would limit any teams ability to sign other stars in future years.

So you are also dropping the rookie cap too? If you keep the current rookie caps, the players simply gravatate to the best teams.

 

[RUJohnny99]

Baseball would return to the pre-60s, where it's the Yankees & dodgers dominating every year & the other owners just getting rich off of mediocre players in front of 5,000 crowds.

 

[krup]

Obviously the intention of the draft is to bring order to the process of signing previously amateur players, and to try to bring about parity by giving worse teams better picks.

But for the most part, the second part doesnt work. The Patriots are great year after year, despite getting draft picks in the high 20s every year. The Browns get top 10 picks every year and suck every year.

So what if they simply did away with it. Just a giant free agent signing orgy. Teams have limited spots and limited cap money, so its not like teams could stock pile guys. If they tried to overpay young guys, they would have to cut older guys, which could benefit other teams who could sign them on the cheap.

Would anything be different?

I think part of the reason teams get bad is because their leadership is bad at judging talent, so the effect of drafting earlier is negated (plus, even with rookie slotting, the bad teams have to pay the rookies they drafted earlier more money than the good teams do, leaving them less money for depth players).

If you really want to bring about parity, give bad teams more draft picks, not necessarily earlier ones. A bigger pool of drafted players would cover up for their mistakes in judgement.

 

[Caliknight]

The very best players would gravitate to big market teams. The endorsement side of the equation is much bigger than smaller market teams.

 

[rutgersguy1]

I think part of the reason teams get bad is because their leadership is bad at judging talent, so the effect of drafting earlier is negated (plus, even with rookie slotting, the bad teams have to pay the rookies they drafted earlier more money than the good teams do, leaving them less money for depth players).

If you really want to bring about parity, give bad teams more draft picks, not necessarily earlier ones. A bigger pool of drafted players would cover up for their mistakes in judgement.

I think this is probably right if that's the goal.

 

[robcac26]

Interesting between MLB and NFL

NFL - Only 4 teams have had 10 seasons without making the playoffs (Bills, Raiders, Browns, and Rams).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_franchise_post-season_droughts

MLB - Only 3 teams have had 10 seasons without making the playoffs (Marlins, Blue Jays, and Mariners)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_franchise_postseason_droughts

In the NBA only 1 team has a drought of more than 10 years (Timberwolves)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_franchise_post-season_droughts

In the NHL no team has a drought of 10 or more seasons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_franchise_post-season_droughts

This is kind of apples and oranges though since some leagues are newer than others, and over half the league makes the playoffs in the NBA and NHL.

 

[derleider]

So you are also dropping the rookie cap too? If you keep the current rookie caps, the players simply gravatate to the best teams.

Yes - drop the rookie cap. Make it basically a free for all with the constraints being the salary cap and the roster size. Like I said - obviously this wouldnt work for baseball because the minor leagues are so big.

Cali - and the Internet and cable and all of that makes your actual location much less meaningful for endorsements. You dont need to be in LA or NY or Chicago to get a national endorsement deal.

I actually agree - giving bad teams MORE picks would be better than giving them earlier picks.

 

[Caliknight]

The internet helps, but it doesn't equalize. The Lebron James's of the world are outliers.