Worst three will have equal odds in lottery
VICTORIA— The NBA’s board of governors has done its part to fix a couple of contentious issues.
The group Thursday approved recommendations that will smooth the draft lottery chances of the league’s worst teams, starting in 2019, while also making it costly for teams to rest multiple players on the same night or star players on high-profile television games.
In the lottery, the three teams with the worst records will now have the same odds (14 per cent) of landing the top pick and teams can fall back four spots instead of three. Currently, the team with the worst record has a 25 per chance at the No. 1 slot, the team with the second worst 19.9 per cent and the third worst15.6 per cent.
As well, commissioner Adam Silver will have the ability to levy fines against teams that sit out uninjured groups of players on any night and star players on nationally televised games.
The league will also “encourage” teams to rest players only for home games to make sure fans get to see the best players when they come to town. That was especially contentious last year when top teams would rest players for inter-conference games road games when they made only one trip per season to each city.
CHAIRMAN TANENBAUM: Toronto’s Larry Tanenbaum was elected Thursday at the chairman of the board of governors. The minority Raptors owner was unanimously elected during the board’s annual pre-season meeting in New York.
Tanenbaum, who has been Toronto’s board representative for almost 20 years, has been on the league’s advisory and finance committee since 2008 and served on the planning committee from 2000-2014. He succeeds Minnesota owner Glen Taylor as chairman of the
board.
AN EQUAL START: The minutiae of Raptors training camp is among the most important part of Serge Ibaka’s indoctrination.
Acquired at the trade deadline last season, Ibaka now has the entire camp and pre-season to pick up the nuances of what the Raptors do.
“You can tell it’s much easier for him in training camp to get the basics, to start on the ground floor of everything, whether it’s side out of bounds (plays), special situation plays, rather than coming in in mid- season,” coach Dwane Casey said. “It’s going to be a huge help for him.”
MAKING A POINT: As part of a re-jig of the Raptors offence, the team is using DeMar DeRozan as a de facto point guard. It’s a plan that was first implemented during informal workouts in Los Angeles over the summer and is coming along swimmingly in training camp scrimmages, according to coach Dwane Casey.
“DeMar, from the first day we’ve gotten here, is tenfold improved with his passing and his point guard play,” the coach said.