Wednesday's failure to pass new draft lottery reform at a Board of Governors vote is not the end of the discussion.
Only 17 of the league's 30 teams voted in favor of the reform, a result that surprised many given the relative certainty of the proposal's approval earlier in the week. Reports suggest teams simply hadn't had enough time to consider all the potential effects of the change, which would have smoothed out the odds of non-playoff teams landing the No. 1 pick or a top-six selection.
Commissioner Adam Silver spoke briefly Wednesday, suggesting the issue is far from resolved, and saying the league and its competition committee will continue to study potential lottery reform.
"I think there's an unfair pressure to some of our teams to actually under-perform," Silver said, pointing to what he called the corrosive perception of tanking around the league.
Most notably for teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks, who opposed the reform on the grounds that they are already mid-stream in multi-year rebuilding strategies based on the current rules, Silver indicated that any changes will come with appropriate notice.
In other words, even if the board makes headway with discussions at the All-Star break or another time, it's unlikely changes would be put into place in a fashion timely enough to impact current team strategies.
That's probably the fairest approach, even if it does keep the tanking buzz word in the public lexicon a while longer.
