#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

This is a thought experiment to show how the "You're the Worst" draft would work.

Step 1: Get the "Reverse Order of Finish" from the previous season (a.k.a. pre-lotto draft order) - this will be pulled from Archives/NPBSL/1985/

For the sake of this exercise, tiebreakers for teams with the same record will be decided not by coin flip, but by alphabetical order. There is no lotto involved in a "You're the Worst" draft and whether or not teams make the playoffs does not matter, this is entirely done via Regular-Season win totals. The draft is for first-round picks only.

1. Kings (15 wins)
2. 76ers (19 wins)
3. Hawks (20 wins)
4. Supersonics (20 wins)
5. Cavaliers (28 wins)
6. Suns (28 wins)
7. Celtics (34 wins)
8. Jazz (34 wins)
9. Pacers (34 wins)
10. Mavericks (37 wins)
11. Rockets (41 wins)
12. Nuggets (42 wins)
13. Warriors (44 wins)
14. Nets (46 wins)
15. Knicks (48 wins)
16. Pistons (48 wins)
17. Clippers (50 wins)
18. Bulls (52 wins)
19. Bullets (54 wins)
20. Trailblazers (59 wins)
21. Spurs (60 wins)
22. Lakers (62 wins)
23. Bucks (68 wins)

Step 2: Account for teams that have traded their upcoming (1987) draft pick.

1. Kings (15 wins)
2. 76ers (19 wins)
3. Hawks (20 wins)
4. Supersonics (20 wins)
5. Cavaliers (28 wins)
6. Suns (28 wins)
7. Celtics (34 wins)
8. Jazz (34 wins)
9. Jazz - from Pacers (34 wins)
10. Mavericks (37 wins)
11. Rockets (41 wins)
12. Bulls - from Nuggets (42 wins)
13. Warriors (44 wins)
14. Nets (46 wins)
15. Warriors - from Knicks (48 wins)
16. Pistons (48 wins)
17. Clippers (50 wins)
18. Warriors - from Bulls (52 wins)
19. Bullets (54 wins)
20. Trailblazers (59 wins)
21. Spurs (60 wins)
22. Lakers (62 wins)
23. Bucks (68 wins)

Step 3: Now that the offseason is complete, but before the pre-season starts, teams will "draft" the 1987 first-round picks of other teams, subject to the following stipulations (all of these apply to the current year only):

A. You are not permitted to draft your own pick (nor can you later trade for your pick)
B. You are not permitted to draft the pick of a team that already holds your pick (this prevents two owners from grabbing each others' picks and then both colluding to tank for top picks; you are also not permitted to later trade for the pick of a team that holds your pick).
C. Because of the stipulations above, the last three picks may be "forced draft" - for example, if the last three picks on the board are the Blazers, Bucks, and Lakers, if the Spurs select the Lakers pick, the Lakers must select the Bucks' pick (since they can't hold the Spurs pick - the Spurs hold their pick) and the Bucks must select the Blazers' pick. Conversely, if the Spurs select the Bucks' pick, the Lakers must select the Blazers' pick since they can't hold their own pick and the Bucks must select the Lakers' pick. The Spurs are not allowed to pick the Blazers' pick because doing so would lead to a situation where the Lakers and Bucks hold each others' picks.

YTW Thought Experiment - DRAFT ORDER:

I will re-iterate, if you do not want to participate, you do not have to. This is merely a thought experiment to see "how would this look?" since a lot of the pushback to the YTW draft has said, "I can't understand how this would look." There is no draft lottery - whoever holds the pick of the team with the worst record at the end of the year is guaranteed to pick first, etc. so you want to guess which team is going to be trash and take their pick. The challenge is you have to do that before games are actually played (but after you see roster construction).

1. Kings
2. 76ers
3. Hawks
4. Supersonics
5. Cavaliers
6. Suns
7. Celtics
8. Jazz
9. Jazz (via Pacers)
10. Mavericks
11. Rockets
12. Bulls (via Nuggets)
13. Warriors
14. Nets
15. Warriors (via Knicks)
16. Pistons
17. Clippers
18. Warriors (via Bulls)
19. Bullets
20. Trailblazers
21. Spurs
22. Lakers
23. Bucks

We're going to use autopicks throughout, though you can imagine drafting on your own instead.

For reference, here is the "Power Poll" we will be using (taken from FBB); if an autopick happens, teams will take the lowest remaining team on the list (so if the first pick is autopicked, the Pacers' pick would be selected).

New Peoples Basketball Sim League Power Poll

# Team Record Rating
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 San Antonio Spurs 0 - 0 0.005
#2 New Jersey Nets 0 - 0 0.005
#3 Los Angeles Lakers 0 - 0 0.005
#4 Boston Celtics 0 - 0 0.004
#5 Milwaukee Bucks 0 - 0 0.004
#6 Dallas Mavericks 0 - 0 0.004
#7 Washington Bullets 0 - 0 0.004
#8 San Diego Clippers 0 - 0 0.003
#9 Cleveland Cavaliers 0 - 0 0.003
#10 Philadelphia 76ers 0 - 0 0.003
#11 Atlanta Hawks 0 - 0 0.003
#12 Detroit Pistons 0 - 0 0.003
#13 Portland Trailblazers 0 - 0 0.002
#14 Utah Jazz 0 - 0 0.002
#15 Denver Nuggets 0 - 0 0.002
#16 New York Knicks 0 - 0 0.002
#17 Chicago Bulls 0 - 0 0.002
#18 Houston Rockets 0 - 0 0.001
#19 Golden State Warriors 0 - 0 0.001
#20 Phoenix Suns 0 - 0 0.001
#21 Seattle Supersonics 0 - 0 0.001
#22 Kansas City Kings 0 - 0 0.000
#23 Indiana Pacers 0 - 0 0.000

Assuming every pick was to be auto-picked, here would be the results:

1. Kings - select PP #23 Indiana Pacers
2. 76ers - select PP #22 Kansas City Kings
3. Hawks - select PP #21 Seattle Supersonics
4. Supersonics - select PP #20 Phoenix Suns
5. Cavaliers - select PP #19 Golden State Warriors
6. Suns - select PP #18 Houston Rockets
7. Celtics - select PP #17 Chicago Bulls
8. Jazz - select PP #16 New York Knicks
9. Jazz (via Pacers) - select PP #15 Denver Nuggets
10. Mavericks - select PP #14 Utah Jazz
11. Rockets - select PP #13 Portland Trailblazers
12. Bulls (via Nuggets) - select PP #12 Detroit Pistons
13. Warriors - select PP #11 Atlanta Hawks
14. Nets - select PP #10 Philadelphia 76ers
15. Warriors (via Knicks) - cannot select PP #9 Cleveland Cavaliers because the Cavaliers own their pick (selected at #5) - select PP #8 San Diego Clippers
16. Pistons - select PP #9 Cleveland Cavaliers
17. Clippers -select PP #7 Washington Bullets
18. Warriors (via Bulls) - select PP #6 Dallas Mavericks
19. Bullets - select PP #5 Milwaukee Bucks
20. Trailblazers - select PP #4 Boston Celtics
21. Spurs - select PP #3 Los Angeles Lakers
22. Lakers - select PP #2 New Jersey Nets
23. Bucks - select PP #1 San Antonio Spurs

We will come back to this at the end of the season to see how every team made out.

So how do you trade future firsts? I'm dumb, explain it to me like I'm five. lol

When you trade a future first, you are trading for that teams' "draft slot" at the beginning of the season to pick a "You're the Worst" pick.

As an example, when the Jazz got the Pacers' pick at #9 in our initial post, it was due to receiving a "future first" in a trade.

Swingins back around to this...there is no draft lottery, strictly reverse order of finish. For the sake of this exercise, we will assume all ties are resolved with the team first in alphabetical order getting the best draft pick. Also note that teams that make the playoffs always get a worse pick than teams that miss the playoffs. This means the 40-win-tied Nuggets, Nets, and Clippers see the Nets get the worst pick due to being a playoff team, and the Clippers get the best pick by virtue of finishing first alphabetically. So the reverse order of finish looks like this:

1. Bullets (12 wins)
2. Suns (17)
3. Supersonics (18)
4. Kings (22)
5. Bulls (27)
6. 76ers (30)
7. Rockets (33)
8. Pacers (37)
9. Hawks (38)
10. Clippers (40)
11. Nuggets (40)
12. Nets (40)
13. Cavaliers (43)
14. Jazz (44)
15. Mavericks (46)
16. Celtics (49)
17. Pistons (49)
18. Warriors (52)
19. Knicks (56)
20. Trailblazers (60)
21. Spurs (61)
22. Lakers (64)
23. Bucks (65)

Going back to our list of "who owned which pick" and remembering there is no lottery (so whomever decided to pick the Bullets gets the #1 overall pick), here's the first crack at the draft order (I'll get to in-season trades afterward)

1. Clippers - select PP #7 Washington Bullets
2. Supersonics - select PP #20 Phoenix Suns
3. Hawks - select PP #21 Seattle Supersonics
4. 76ers - select PP #22 Kansas City Kings
5. Celtics - select PP #17 Chicago Bulls
6. Nets - select PP #10 Philadelphia 76ers
7. Suns - select PP #18 Houston Rockets
8. Kings - select PP #23 Indiana Pacers
9. Warriors - select PP #11 Atlanta Hawks
10. Warriors (via Knicks) - select PP #8 San Diego Clippers
11. Pacers (via Jazz) - select PP #15 Denver Nuggets
12. Lakers - select PP #2 New Jersey Nets
13. Pistons - select PP #9 Cleveland Cavaliers
14. Mavericks - select PP #14 Utah Jazz
15. Warriors (via Bulls) - select PP #6 Dallas Mavericks
16. Trailblazers - select PP #4 Boston Celtics
17. Bulls (via Nuggets) - select PP #12 Detroit Pistons
18. Cavaliers - select PP #19 Golden State Warriors
19. Jazz - select PP #16 New York Knicks
20. Rockets - select PP #13 Portland Trailblazers
21. Bucks - select PP #1 San Antonio Spurs
22. Spurs - select PP #3 Los Angeles Lakers
23. Bullets - select PP #5 Milwaukee Bucks

Now let's account for trades of 1987 picks made this season...
* 12/16/1986 Warriors Trade 1987 Knicks 1st Round draft pick to the Bullets
- This is this pick: 10. Warriors (via Knicks) - select PP #8 San Diego Clippers

* 12/16/1986 Warriors Trade 1987 Bulls 1st Round draft pick to the Bulls
- This is this pick: 15. Warriors (via Bulls) - select PP #6 Dallas Mavericks

* 1/1/1987 Celtics Trade 1987 Celtics 1st Round draft pick to the Supersonics
- This is this pick: 5. Celtics - select PP #17 Chicago Bulls

* 1/1/1987 76ers Trade 1987 76ers 1st Round draft pick to the Kings
- This is this pick: 4. 76ers - select PP #22 Kansas City Kings
This was the Dumars trade; this trade would have been nullified as the Kings are not permitted to own their own first round pick under this system.

* 2/16/1987 Lakers Trade 1987 Lakers 1st Round draft pick to the Warriors
- This is this pick: 12. Lakers - select PP #2 New Jersey Nets

One other consideration: The Trailblazers traded their pick to the Bullets as part of the A.C. Green trade; this was not tracked in the Game, but it will be tracked here.
This is this pick: 16. Trailblazers - select PP #4 Boston Celtics

So the final order becomes (and at this point I'm going to remove the "select PP # CityName Team" portion) the middle column below; the current pre-lotto draft order (as of Finals Game 2) is in the right-hand column
OBSERVATIONS:
1. The Bullets (who had their own pick) tanked massively this season and got themselves the #1 pick (pre lotto) plus the #19 and #20 picks. If we were using the YTW rules, their tank-a-thon would have rewarded them with the #10 pick, #16, and #23. Of course, the Bullets probably wouldn't have tanked so hard under YTW rules, so the Clippers' jump up to #1 probably doesn't happen.

2. The Kings would have had to find another partner for Dumars; as it stands, they lose out on the #4 pick under the YTW rules due to that trade being nullified (presumably they would have found another trade partner, but whom?).

3. The Hawks would have made out much better in the YTW draft.

4. Other than the items noted above, most teams pick pretty close to their "non-YTW" draft versus a regular draft. The only big exception is the Bullets/Clippers due to the Bullets' tank job... which we suspect wouldn't have happened under YTW rules and is what YTW rules are actively intended to prevent.