Draft idea

[Matt]

Just floating this in the idea of competitiveness.

I would propose that the order for upcoming first year player draft be determined by order of budgets, from lowest to highest.

And I would use the budget number, not the payroll number, simply beause the budget number is a hard number while the payroll number is flexible and subject to change for many teams between now and the draft.

[John]

It's a nice idea, but I've already promised people that the order would be the reverse of the inaugural draft order and draft pick trades have been made with that in mind. In the future it'll be a lot simpler: each year the draft order will be determined by records from the previous season (from worst to best).

Speaking of peculiarities to this year's draft, there will only be eight rounds this time around. The normal length will be ten rounds. This happens to all OOTP leagues that use feeder leagues in their first year: the game doesn't generate enough draft-eligible players to fill out the pool. That'll be rectified starting next year.

[Matt]

I understand what your saying about this year. I guess from a competitveness standpoint I just feel a little bad that teams with very small payrolls like Kentucky and Tempe will be picking behind me.

As for future drafts, is it set in stone that it has to go in order of w-l records? I'm simply looking at the competitveness standpoint. We have the idea of salary caps floating around, this might be something to incorporate into the mix in the future. If a small market team does well, for instance Kentucky, and puts up a great record, they are still handicapped long term by that small budget. By posting a good or even middle of the pack record, they then handicap themselves slightly more by getting lower draft picks. Conversely, if a team such as for instance San Antonio, with an upwardly mobile budget, makes a complete train wreck of their organization, I don't think they neccessarily deserve a higher draft pick. To me that just seems on par with giving tax breaks to oil companies just because their bottom lines had a bad quarter after an oil tanker gets run aground by a drunk captain.

Just an idea to throw into the pot.

[John]

I think it's more straightforward for everyone if draft order is tied to record. It makes it easy for people to see at a glance who will be drafting where. Plus it's difficult alter the draft order; you have to wait until the day of the draft to make the change, which plays havoc with the online draft utility. So in this case it's a case where the idea is decent, but for simplicity's sake it's probably better to stick with the system that people will be more familiar and comfortable with.