I've been preaching it for years that the best solution to replace the draft lottery is to count points after a team has been mathematically eliminated. Don't mind the teams I picked for the scenario, I just used the two teams with the lowest points so far.
Example:
Arizona gets mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at game 60, the first team in the league. They still have 22 games left in the season, but as a team going for the best odds on Dahlin, they would have most likely traded away their players that can help at the deadline, and they're going to do their best to make sure they tank for the next 22 games. That is a terrible way to see this league work because it promotes teams to tank the end of the season and give away points that other Playoff teams can't afford to see go to another team (that got lucky they face them when they aren't trying... as hard). They then have the "possibility" to get rewarded by dumb luck. Very rarely does that team actually come away with the 1st OA (Matthewsp>
I propose that when a team gets eliminated, they start counting a separate standings: "the 1st OA bowl" if you will. Basically they and every other eliminated team has x amount of games to score y amount of points.
In this made up scenario, Arizona getting eliminated at game 60 has 22 games to score a potential maximum 44 points, meaning they still have the best odds at Dahlin, but they have to work for it instead of "getting lucky". The second team eliminated (Buffalo) is mathematically out at game 64, meaning they have 18 games to score a potential 36 points. 3rd team is out at 66, so 16 games for 32 points, and so on and so forward. Basically it still gives the worst teams in the league the best chance at securing 1st OA (as long as they attempt to stay competitive), and the teams that miss the playoffs on the last day no chance at it (we'd obviously need to figure out a tiebreaker). No more tanking (unless they tank right off the start of the year and try to improve by the end), no more dumb luck, and no more teams like Tampa last year having the opportunity to win the lottery.