NBA draft lottery

The Celtics did the worst they could possibly do in the NBA draft lottery on May 22, landing the 5th pick in the draft when they went into the lottery with the second-best odds.

Why is there a lottery, anyway? The draft is supposed to help the worst teams most. The lottery is supposed to prevent tanking. But this past season, most observers agree that many teams intentionally lost games, or at least intentionally put lineups on the court that were unlikely to win. So the lottery doesn't accomplish its goal, and it undermines the goal of the draft. Sounds like a great system, right?

At least if the NBA is going to undermine the goal of the draft, they may as well do it in a way that actually provides a disincentive to tank. How about have the 3rd-worst team get the #1 pick, the 2nd-worst team get the #2 pick, and the worst team get the #3 pick? After that, go in inverse order of record. Then there's a strong incentive for the worst teams to keep trying to win, all season long. AND, the worst that the league's worst team can finish is #3, unlike the current system in which the worst team can finish as low as #4, which they did this year.