Utah, Adam Silver Needs to Do Something More Radical

In the early 2000s Britain tried to stop narcotic production in Afghanistan.

The Afghans were producing a load of heroin and poppy seed muffins and it was going into Europe making them high and fat. So Britain said to the Afghan farmers hey we're going to pay you to burn up your poppy seed crops. Smart idea by a bunch of well educated honkeys. That will get rid of the drug problem! Paying them to burn the crops they'll stop planting poppy seeds.

But the Afghanis didn't stop planting the poppy. They did the opposite. They were now incentivized to grow poppy crops. They went wild planting more and more. They burned some got the money from the government saved others and sold the drugs. It went crazy. Perverse incentives.

Adam Silver's Dilemma: Rewarding Losing Teams

This is what Adam Silver is dealing with now in the NBA. He's paying teams to suck and doesn't understand why half his league doesn't care to win and they're all high. The anti tanking measures being proposed now are all limp wristed attempts to fix the problem because in all of them there is still a reward for being bad. He can't help but reward bad behavior.

Radical Change: Rethinking Draft Order in the NBA

Disconnect draft order from performance entirely! That's what I say! Do an even rotation. Everyone gets the first pick once every thirty years. It doesn't matter how bad you are you're not getting Big Country Reeves.

Listen to The Andy Thompson Show weekdays from 4-6 PM on ESPN 97.7 FM.