Move the draft ahead of free-agency?

Moving it up to Febraury or early March is a ridiculous proposition, but I love the idea of moving it up maybe a month or so, and pushing back the start of free agency until maybe May 1.

Instead of teams drafting for need and trying to fill holes left by free agency, they could use free agency to fill any holes left after the draft.

More importantly, it would force teams to have some kind of long-term strategy. Bad GM's could no longer use quick-fix draft picks to cover up their mistakes. The cream would rise to the top. GM's with a strong sense of vision and direction would build their teams into winners, and the lesser GM's would quickly weed themselves out.

 

I think the dumbest thing about the draft is that those eligible don't get to immediately report to their teams for training.That some of them have to wait longer to finish schooling is even more frustrating.

Move it to when they want but let the teams start working with them right away.