(Feel free to skip the first paragraph if you want to get right to “the fix” I won’t be offended)
The Clippers were able to obtain Chris Paul for one main reason: They could offer New Orleans the Minnesota T-Wolves unprotected, 2012 first round pick. Yes, New Orleans knows just how far that unprotected first round pick may potentially go, as does everyone else; they are, after all, the Timberwolves. If the Lakers or Nets were dangling the same kind of potential asset in front of Orlando to throw into their package, Howard probably wouldn’t be in a Magic uniform right now. Owning the rights to a historically lousy teams first round pick is a very desirable thing, especially when that pick is unprotected, and especially when there’s a good chance it will be a lotto pick. However, those unprotected lottery picks can be hard to obtain. A team like the Cleveland Cavaliers or Charlotte Bobcats have no reason to cough their picks up because they have no reason to pursue any high profile names whom of which would require that kind of ransom. On the other end, a team like the Lakers or Celtics-- a guaranteed playoff team which is looking to add a high caliber player--can’t provide a high selling point by throwing their unprotected first rounder into a trade because it’s going to be in the latter part of the draft. In other words, if a first round draft pick is included in a trade, ninety percent of the time one of the two sides will get the far better deal in the trade. So how do you solve this dilemma? How do you make it
easier for teams to trade for their present needs to obtain a truly significant player, while at the same time giving the other team as equal of a return as possible rather than just the satisfaction of saving money and getting three quarters back for a dollar? I’ll tell you exactly how, by devising something called an “exposed pick.”
An exposed pick--a term that I just coined--would basically be a cultivated version of an unprotected pick, the difference being that the pick can be designated to any years draft. It can be this years draft, next years draft, or the 2018 draft; it’s all up to the acquiring teams discretion whenever they so choose. There is no prior agreement to when, exactly, the pick will be used. Are you following this? Probably not.
Ok it works like this: Say your team receives an exposed pick from a trade with (lets just say) the Knicks. You have the option of sitting on that pick until you see fit or until an opportunity of your liking present itself. You can wait until there is an appealing draft class, you can wait until Knicks implode and find themselves drafting in the top five or ten, you can even wait until the night of the draft when New York is on the clock and there’s a player remaining on the board who you didn’t think would slip that far. It’s the same philosophy as the old MTV dating/game show Next, you don’t want to try and get too greedy by waiting it out until the fifth guy on the bus, but you don’t want to take the first either. In a way, you’re able to hold the Knicks hostage until you bud in and use their pick as your own. If you’re the Knick in this
scenario, that’s just the price you pay. I can just picture Spike Lee now, celebrating when NY wins the number one overall pick, forgetting that it belongs to another team because six years has since passed since the Knicks traded away their exposed pick. And just wait, it gets better.
Let’s say you’re the Nets trying to obtain Dwight Howard, as they are right now. You can come to an agreement with the Magic permitting that they must use your exposed pick within x amount of years or else it expires. Perhaps then, the Lakers, a team that is less prone to finding themselves in the lottery than the Nets are, tries to one up you by offering an e-pick with an expiration of x + 3 years. Then maybe the Heat join the party and offer two e-picks. Now that right there is the kind of stuff that, regardless whether or not you like the NBA, would make for a super exciting trade deadline every February. Unfortunately, the flaw in this dream of mine is that I can almost guarantee you that we would see a team having to relocate in ten years because they made an asinine, all-in offer without any regards to the longterm future of the team. Oh wait, team’s do that kind of 
thing already. That’s why the league is considering contraction. And that’s where the problem lies with this whole “exposed pick” proposition, it’s like giving a kid a gun. Clearly their would need to be some rules, so here they are.
1. No team is allowed to give or receive an exposed pick with an expiration date of more than seven years.
2. No team is allowed to own--nor have a liability of--two exposed picks that are in limbo at the same time. So a team has to use one before they can receive another. Likewise for their trading partner.
This is where it will get real interesting and awesomely crazy.
3. You’re allowed to have another team’s exposed pick in your possession while another team has yours. It would get to the point where on the night of the lottery, you would have no idea who owned who’s picks. They wouldn’t even have team representatives attending anymore. I like that, who needs em.
4. You cannot, however, under any circumstances, take on a teams exposed pick if that same team owns one of yours. That would get way to messy, just one giant cowboy stand-off
For big market clubs that have historically basked in success, this is the best, quick fix solution to getting your team over the hump to win a championship and restore order. For struggling, small market franchises’, this is the easiest solution there is to pull your way out of the gutter and into the mix of things. And for every team, good, bad, small, big, cold, or warm, this could be a suicide waiting to happen... and that’s the best part, looking to see which team can burn itself to the ground fastest.
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