I don't think it's absolutely pointless to spend on the draft
The way the draft currently is, it's very pointless to spend on the draft.
I get the point of a few divisions featuring great prospects while most divisions only end up offering average trainees as best choices. Outstanding players must be rare to keep their value. That's ok.
The problem with this design is that you have to invest a lot and risk getting nothing most of the times, while most managers don't invest anything (because it's expensive, high risk and low reward) and some get free outstanding trainees because nobody bothered scouting them.
That said, I suggest the following:
In the mid-season, when the draftees are made available, a board of specialists should publicly evaluate every list of trainees of every division. 1 to 5 balls. 5 balls meaning something like "hey, there are at least 3 MVP+ 5k+ caliber players on this list", 1 ball meaning "be advised, the best player on this list is a 19yo superstar with 4k salary"... then the managers could make a decision about spending the points or saving for the future... this could encourage managers to always invest a bit and keep points just in case, spending them when it's expected to be worthy, (and when it happens, creating some competition within the division)... this would also assure that the great prospects end on the hands of teams which invested and not on the hands of random lucky bastards.
Last edited by Bernspin at 5/16/2023 4:25:15 PM