Jared A wrote:So... any chance the timer could be turned on, but the clock not? Maybe Thursday night after the draft. Then some GM's could make selections early if they wished.
Yeah, the windows will remain constant, but I think we usually allow teams at the top of the draft to get going a little earlier if they wish.
We don't usually do that for days, though. It can create a problematic situation where people complaining for days about someone not picking early. That's not what I want, as nobody has to pick until their pick window.
No guarantees on when we'd turn that on early as I'll be away at a business conference and not sure about time availability yet (or even how well internet connectivity in hotel is yet) but I'd think turning it on the night before for the teams at the very top if they are ready to announce is something we've probably done before and can do again. I don't really want this to become we have the draft on for early picks for days or weeks before due and the first round is mostly done before our official draft date. I have no interest in the draft becoming that, or people putting pressure on other GMs to pick days early as I can imagine happening if it's open for an extended time before the draft start, but it's reasonable even in reality for the #1 overall pick to be well known or even have the team announce and start working on contract negotiations with the top overall pick early.
So having it turned on sometime the day before the draft for the top overall teams if they want to make their picks a little early will probably be done. I've also turned it on a little early in the past because it lets me see if picks get made without problem and transferred to their teams successfully in a less time-sensitive manner so I'll know things are good to go with draft once picks start flying on the clock.