[IBL] IBL: Something has to change

[Joel Roberts]

So, we are (by my count) 12 days from going to pick-by-list and we are only on the eighth pick of the draft. This has to be some kind of record.
If we look at the number of days spent on each pick a pattern emerges:
1. 19
2. 0 (yay?)
3. 0 (yay...)
4. 0 (Yay!!!)
5. 13
6. 8
7. 2 (Maybe things are moving?)
8. 13 and counting
Now, one might assume from this rant that I am against the idea of not having deadlines for the draft. This could not be further from the truth. *I do not prefer a draft with per-pick deadlines.* I like that this system accommodates the fact that people have lives, especially around the holidays, and I don't want to see people chained to the draft on an artificial schedule for two months.  

In the past this system has worked perfectly well, but for the past few drafts it seems to be broken. And the cause of this, it would seem to me, is that people delay action and planning until their pick is actually up. If people are looking to trade their pick, they sit until they are actually on the clock and only then do they shop the pick. This leads to the following.
-- Somebody (finally) picks.-- The next person realizes they would rather trade the pick than choose any of the remaining players.-- They wait up to two weeks before realizing they aren't going to get any offers they like.-- They finally pick the guy they would have picked anyway.-- (Repeat the cycle)
This is actually a culture shift from the time when the draft was working better. In the past people with an impending pick have had a list of a few players they would like, on the presumption that some of them might be picked ahead of their pick. If it looked like all their faves might be gone, they actually shopped their pick ahead of time so that their negotiations could move along in time to be done soon after they were on the clock. 

Like I said before, I like the framework we have now. And I think it could work, because it has in the past. But it's not working now so, unless something culturally changes to improve the situation. when the next round of constitution amendments comes around I will put a proposal on the table that has some kind of per-pick deadline. Maybe people will vote for it and maybe they won't. If it doesn't pass, fine by me. That just means I am one of the few, if not the only, people annoyed by this. But I don't think I am.
Joel 
CAN
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