4 Things the NBA Could Learn from the MLB Draft

On Thursday evening, the MLB kicked off their 2016 draft — 30 franchises settled in for 40 rounds of pick after pick after pick. Compared to the lengthy MLB draft, NBA executives have it awfully easy and probably aren’t clamoring for anything close to a 40 round draft of their own. However, there are a few things that the NBA could learn from how the MLB and its franchises do the draft. Here are four, starting with how the MLB develops its players.

Emphasis on player development

The MLB Draft and really, the entire MLB farm system setup is designed to help develop players. MLB teams draft from as young as high school seniors to as old as college seniors, but they all spend some time in the minor leagues to hone their skills.

Rarely to draft picks see the major leagues right after being selected. In special cases, a player can be called up for the stretch run of a season in the same year he was drafted, like Brandon Finnegan was for the Royal in 2014. But a majority of prospects spend years in single, double and triple-A before getting to the majors, if they get there at all.

This is a sharp contrast to the NBA system, which sends players right from draft boards to NBA summer league games to NBA preseason games to the bright lights of the NBA. While the summer league and preseason games serve as sort of a farm system, it’s not the same as the MLB’s setup. I think the NBA could benefit by allowing their prospects more time to develop between the draft and their first NBA game. As prospects get younger, and teams draft more for upside, the prospects get less and less ready for the NBA game.

I think the D-league could play a real role in bridging this gap. Teams should send their top draft picks, even top-10 draft picks, to the D-League to focus on skill development without the pressure of having to really focus on wins and losses, just like MLB teams do with their future stars.

Three Years or Pros

High school baseball players are eligible to be drafted, and if they are, they have a choice of turning pro or accepting a college scholarship. The catch is that if they elect to go to college, they have to stay for three years.

I think both the NBA and college basketball would benefit from this sort of system — high school basketball players picking between heading straight to the NBA or committing to college for more than a year.

This system gives a lot of power to the players to choose for themselves if they want to go to college or enter the league. This idea also helps college teams by ending the one and done rule that is controversial to many. Yes, the college game might suffer from losing big name talents to the NBA, but the college basketball teams themselves would benefit from having a kid in the program for multiple years to develop him.

I’m not sure how NBA executives would react to this sort of rule change. I think they like the current system as is, but might welcome a chance to get their hands on younger prospects sooner. The key here is that if the NBA starts drafting younger players, they also have to make sure that they up their developmental programs to help high school seniors get an education and help them transition to life in the NBA.

Never draft for need

When drafting, MLB teams are almost always looking for the best player available on their boards. Different organizations tend to have different guidelines — some organizations may prefer high schoolers who are good athletes, while others prefer polished college juniors and seniors — but all MLB teams are looking at potential and not really looking to plug holes in the major league roster.

I think this is a major area where NBA teams fall into certain traps. NBA teams should always look to draft the player with the highest upside or most talent and not worry too much about drafting for a need. Obviously, there are exceptions to this rule, but I think NBA teams get in trouble when they try too hard to fit a draft selection onto a current roster. Rosters change, coaches change and situations change, so teams should always draft who they think is best first, and worry about fit later.

Lengthen the draft

I’m not advocating for a 40 round NBA draft, but I think the NBA could take a page from the MLB’s book and add a round or two to their draft.

As the NBA gets closer to having 30 D-League teams, each connected with one NBA franchise, I think the role of the draft and the need to sign more and more players as free agents will grow. It makes sense, then, to allow for a more structured draft for another 30 or so players. Teams could use these extra picks to stock their D-League and Summer League teams. Players would also enjoy the structure and security of getting drafted vs. navigating the free agency waters.

Those are my four things the NBA could learn from the MLB draft system. Let us know in the comments what else you think the NBA could glean from how baseball, hockey or football drafts their players.