The NBA Kings on Friday announced its “Draft 3.0 Challenge," a crowdsourcing program "meant to find qualified amateurs who will share their expertise in identifying draft-eligible players for the Kings to consider choosing” in the June 26 NBA Draft, according to Brian Blomster of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The team is “planning to let a select few become part of their draft brain trust,” and to qualify, fans “must enter through the Kings Draft Challenge 3.0 page on the team’s website” (SACRAMENTO BEE, 5/10). The app on the team’s website asks participants to devise your own methodology for evaluating the long-term value of potential NBA draftees by position, using historical, publicly-available and individually-sourced data. Participants who provide the most insightful and inventive analyses will be considered for an invitation to a Kings Draft Advisory Council -- led by GM Pete D'Alessandro -- and convene regularly until Draft Day (Kings). ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst reported the Kings have “launched what is believed to be the NBA's first crowdsourcing program to help make a draft pick.” D’Alessandro said, "This may not get us all the answers, but it may help us think of the right questions to ask." Windhorst wrote there is “no promise of a long-term job with the Kings to the winner or winners of the program; rather, it is clearly an effort” by the team to “find potentially unknown or untapped talent in the increasingly competitive field of basketball analytics” (ESPN.com, 5/9). D’Alessandro said, “I just know there’s so much talent out there. And there’s so much that we can add to the organization.” D’Alessandro added that he has “had the idea to open the Kings’ draft strategy to suggestions from the general public for years.” He said that his “ideas are often sparked from a thoughtful comment or a well-researched argument on the internet” (USATODAY.com, 5/9).
