Throwing Matches at the Olympics

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by Basel A

A team that's good enough to be the 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs, but will likely be bounced in the first round, is much better off throwing their games, not making the playoffs, and getting a high draft pick.

This is something that gets discussed every year across the Big 4 leagues, but usually with the lowest teams (and most often in the NFL, where there is no lottery and draft picks can have immediate impact). It's not usually a problem, because the worst teams probably wouldn't win their last games if they tried, or it gets passed off as resting their better players.

There is a saying about professional sports playoffs--especially the NHL--"Just get in." Exhibit A: 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings. They made the playoffs as the 8th seed in the West on the last day of the season, then won the Stanley Cup.

Two more notes to remember: Playoffs mean more games, and therefore more revenue and more paychecks for the players, so they wouldn't want to give that up. Also, being first out vs. last in the playoffs (and then losing 1st round) moves you up in the draft from 17-24th pick (depending on the tiebreaker used to determine order among similarly eliminated teams) to 16th (and a <1% chance at winning the lottery).

*Note: using NBA/NHL league size and playoff structure
**Also: Only the NBA lottery winner takes the 1st pick automatically. The NHL winner can only advance 3 positions (so the bottom 4 can possibly pick 1st). The NFL and MLB do not hold lotteries.

TL;DR version: DON'T SKIP THE PLAYOFFS. You're not better off to give up the last week.

Sorry, I had to clarify the draft process relating to finishing position in the Big 4 leagues.