I'm all for freeing up the ability to be more creative in trades. Here's a couple of ideas that Huck and I were discussing earlier and he encouraged me to post here to get a discussion going.
1. The ability to trade pick swap rights. Swap rights are worth less than a draft pick itself, and so it's another way to trade draft capital worth less than a 5th rounder, which is what we're trying to accomplish. For example, Bob trades me $10m. I trade him a 5th rounder and the option to switch picks in Round 3. Bob's option would get exercised if I finish with a worse record than Bob and therefore pick earlier than him in Round 3. Pick swap rights would obviously have to tag along if Bob later decided to trade his 3rd round pick for a year's worth of Icy Hot for Andy Stone. Or we could just prohibit Bob and me from trading our 3rd rounders because pick swap rights have been traded...this kind of prohibition will make tracking much easier for Huck. The most famous recent example of pick swap rights being traded is the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade to the Nets, which included the Nets giving Boston the right to swap 2017 first round picks. That right to swap picks ended up giving Boston the first overall pick in the 2017 draft (which they later traded to Philly). So don't be like the Nets, folks. Or be like them if it results in a championship...flags fly forever.
2. A draft pick in a range. For example, Bob trades me $15m. I trade him whatever pick I have between #26 and #35 overall, i.e. a 3rd round pick if it's in the back half of Round 3 or a 4th round pick if it's in the front half of Round 4.
Thoughts?