4 ways the NBA can help avoid another Utah Jazz intentional tank job
By Chad Porto
2. Get rid of protections on traded picks.
The reason the Utah Jazz tanked this season was so they could get their Top-10 protected draft pick back. Listen, as a Jazz fan, this is great news because the team likely will get it back come to the NBA Draft Lottery (and if they don't, Danny Ainge should be fired on the spot). Yet, as a basketball fan, I hate it. We've watched the Utah Jazz go 3-22 since the NBA Trade Deadline, just to get a pick back that may have the same mathematical value as Taylor Hendricks
And if you Hendricks is worth going 3-22, boy, do I have bad news for you.
If you get rid of trade protections, and actually punish teams who trade away draft picks without any real concern, this scenario the Jazz have done in back-to-back seasons is less likely to happen. If there's no incentive to suck, then you'll be forced to actually do your job. To paraphrase Mona Lisa Vito; what a nightmare.
Allowing teams to keep picks they trade for will only force teams that trade away picks to be more careful about how they spend their draft assets on, be it in the draft or in the trade market. If there's some stability in that area, then you're not likely to see teams mortgage their futures for one or two years of potential, forcing teams to build teams with some consistency.