If Rome truly wanted to ask a valid question, he could have phrased it like: "What do you say to all the NBA fans who suspect the lottery was rigged?"
that's fine that you think that. the problem is the enormous faction of fans who aren't as smart/trusting as you are.
if i'm not mistaken, they still do it by assigning teams number combinations and have numbered balls like a lottery, but either way, they wouldn't have to remove anything, just keep on picking combos until you get 3 different teams. sound boring? sure. would anybody be less likely to spend 5-10 minutes watching that on tv than they are watching the current production of adam silver revealing logos in envelopes? nope.
Rome's answer should have been: "How much would you like to bet that I've beat my wife less times than you have manipulated trades and violated trust?"
Whether you like Stern or now he owned rome in that convo. Rome is an idiot for asking the commissioner of the NBA whether the draft lottery was fixed. Like the others have said if you are going to ask a silly question u are supposed to paraphrase it "the fans think..."and overall stern was right his show is about cheap tricks and ticking people off. When the tables were turned rome acted like a child and took offense. Good for stern.
Here is what I don't get.... Lets say the NBA is not rigged and the NO Hornets get the #1 pick fair in square which by all means is pretty likely. They had the fourth best shot and had two picks. Is the NBA suppose to say OMG no people are going to think we fix this stuff....Lets redo? It doesn't work that way. The NBA lottery is not fixed. If the Hornets got the pick with their 10th pick...maybe you can make a claim, but the fact of the matter is teams have gotten the first pick with much worse odds. Also about the NBA owning the team. What incentive do they have to give NO the pick? They already found an owner who has committed to buy the team. Is it money? The NBA makes plenty of money no matter what. I think most of you are just bitter that the terrible Gasol trade didn't go through. Stern did us a favor
David Stern is a little man on the outside and the inside. Rome asked the wrong question as another poster commented. He should have just told Stern to give a response to the general "allegations" that he's been rigging everything from the beginning. Less charged but still on point. And for David Stern, I have a song: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EkPy18xW1j8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
"OK," Stern said. "Listen, I've got to go call somebody important, like Stephen A. Smith, right now. He's up next." :grin::grin::grin::grin:
Nah, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" is a commonly used loaded question. Either answer, yes or no, is admitting you beat your wife.
Full interview audio: http://takebox.stucknut.com/?id=1856 Rome spent the next hour talking about the interview and took calls. Here is the entire audio of that: http://takebox.stucknut.com/?id=1857
Rome asked it the wrong way. But Stern could have taken the high road and actually made an intelligent rebuttal on HOW it is ridiculous to think that the lottery was rigged. By throw insult on insult, he did nothing to prove the conspiracy theorists wrong and just reinforced what an arrogant prick he was. It's ironic that while Stern has tried very hard to dispel the thug image of the league, he himself acts like a high power thug, which adds to the impression that the NBA is a league of big bullies.
