Injuries, poaching, and busts, oh my
Finally, the NBA has expanded the roster to allow two players to remain with their NBA team and be jostled between the NBA and G-league teams. That will allow the poorer teams to add player resources. But the NBA has no “injured reserve”.
Swarm and Sting
So the few general managers who are okay with drafting an injured player, not only does so at the risk to his own career, but to the detriment of competition in the NBA. If the team has a player injured at the end of the season, the team has negative incentive to selecting a player with incredible talent, but with injuries.
To do so cripples the team’s roster before a single practice. The Philadelphia 76ers did not start this system, but the team found loopholes in the insane reverse logic.
Best talent to best teams
Due to the roster limits, not many poorly performing teams dare take a flyer on a huge upside athlete. As we discussed, it places the team – already struggling- at a tremendously competitive disadvantage.
The Philadelphia 76ers exhibited unmatched courage by daring to challenge the stigma of focusing on a player’s ultimate upside. With no relief from the league’s roster limit, the 76ers have carried Nerlens Noel for 1 year, Joel Embiid for 2 years, and Ben Simmons for 1 year on the roster but unable to play for an entire season. If the NBA wants to fix the “tanking epidemic”, they league needs to begin there.