http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/sports/basketball/rejection-of-draft-changes-gives-top-losers-in-nba-a-victory.html 2014-10-23 07:08:45 Rejection of Draft Changes Gives Top Losers in N.B.A. a Victory The league’s board of governors concluded three days of meetings by voting down a measure aimed at changing the way the draft lottery is conducted. === By any objective measure, the Philadelphia 76ers were an awful team last season — and their immediate future does not look so bright, either. At least part of their poor play, though, has been by design, as General Manager Sam Hinkie tries to reshape the team by accumulating picks in the draft. It is no secret that the 76ers are tanking. That word has become an important one in the In the current lottery system, the worst team in the league has a 25 percent chance of securing the top pick in the draft and a guarantee that it will pick no lower than fourth. The revised lottery would have worsened those odds, with a goal of not overly rewarding teams for losing. Commissioner Adam Silver said he had no qualms with the way the current system worked. It helped bad teams rebuild, he said, without allowing the worst of the worst to collect all the top picks. The Cleveland Cavaliers, for example, won the most recent draft lottery despite having only the league’s ninth-worst record and a 1.7 percent chance of landing the top pick. At the same time, Silver acknowledged that he was concerned with the public perception of tanking. There could also be pressure on some teams, he said, to “somehow underperform because it’s, in some people’s view, the most efficient and quickest way to get better.” He added, “I think we all recognize that we need to find the right balance.” The measure won 17 of 30 votes, but a three-quarters majority — 23 votes — was needed for it to pass. Silver said the issue would be sent back to the league’s competition committee for additional study.