The point is the owner and his wife were there along with the Hornets representative already. Anthony Davis was wearing a Hornets hat a few weeks before he was even picked. Then the executives within the NBA are saying something is wrong. The people within the NBA itself are questioning the process. Under those things it has to be looked into by someone.
Michael Jordan has not said a word yet, and he is the one who got screwed, if it were rigged. Explain that? The situation is not to the point where any of these exec's has come forward by name. Woj might be making it up. There are no quotes by name. How's that for a reverse conspiracy calling out Woj?! haha I'm partially joking, but the exec's (if they are complaining) might not be the 12 who were in the closed room, so they might not be allowed to file a complaint for investigation...maybe only the witnesses can??? I don't know.
When Stern is gone? I believe all of this suspicion and weird happenings for how things suddenly and luckily happen will disappear with him. The odds wont support that unless he was rigging certain things to happen. I think thats exactly what it will prove when things get back to normal with his departure.
It could be that these execs don't really believe the lottery is rigged, but they're still mad about the Sterning that the Rockets and Lakers took (honestly, those quotes I bet came from the Rockets and Lakers execs). So they found a way to get back at Stern for the impropriety of the Paul trade without exposing their identities. While we're talking conspiracies here: the league appointed a independent overseer for the Hornets when they were purchased, a guy who could play the part of an owner in approving trades, That was their attempt at propriety, and probably much of the reason why Morey thought Stern would not interfere with the trade. So, Stern came in and violated the spirit of the agreement of the purchase of the Hornets. It was obviously a conflict of interest and utterly improper. Morey obviously had trouble biting his tongue about it all, but if he said anything, he'd definitely be out of the league. But, the owners consented to it all and even the teams that got hurt let it go. There's no tinfoil hat stuff going on in that conspiracy -- it was done in broad daylight for everyone to see. So, if all the owners including Buss and Alexander can and did accept Stern stepping over the chinese wall separating the league office from the Hornets office to nix a trade, why wouldn't they also accept it when he determines to give the #1 pick to the Hornets? But still, I don't think the lottery was rigged. I do think the Chris Paul trade was rigged, but not the lottery.
Were other owners there? yes. As a new owner, he was excited to be there, no doubt A Charlotte Hornets throwback hat. Unnamed executives. As we know, people like to whine / imagine. Even well-connected people How the lottery works was explained in great detail. Please come up with a way to rig it, a way to convince anyone it's not rigged, and a way to make it unriggable.
since i think baseball is your favorite sport, what were your feelings on ryan braun and the fact his test miraculously got thrown out and baseball didn't have to deal with an MVP being suspended for steroids. i couldn't find any reaction in the ryan braun PED thread you started.
now you're asking me to believe the owners would do something for something other than money. that's the craziest thing anyone has said all thread :grin:. back to normal? stern has been commissioner for almost 30 years, basically spanning the entire "modern nba" era. that is the normal.
Its funny he is saying that because the MLB is not looking so good right. Actually they are about to be surpassed by the MLS NBA is the most popular "AMERICAN" sport in the world
I've read maybe 20 post of yours in the last, what?, 3 days, they are awesome and get stronger. And I'm sure your info investigation is better than mine. My strongest contribution is technical research and one big pure speculation of the MJ angle. I'm looking for easy info. What is MJ's take on all this...give me your internet! lol
couldn't find any reaction from whom? there were definitely people who freaked out about that. it was all over the news. but the steroids thing is so well past us all in baseball...and it was met with a collective yawn, ultimately, from the public as they bought a record number of tickets even after they knew everything about it. i didn't follow the braun story closely, frankly. i posted the link the night it broke because it was breaking news. again...i'm not saying that it's rigged or fixed or whatever else...but the concern and perception with the NBA is fixed outcome...league manipulated outcomes. that's very different than individual players trying to get an advantage.
give me a break. MLB's revenues are 2nd highest in all of US sports and the NBA is nowhere close. MLB is between a $7-8 billion industry...NFL is about $9 billion...NBA is $4 billion despite your assertion that it's a wildly popular international sport...MLS is far less than that because they don't support ad revenues for TV and they average fewer fans per game than MLB by far, even though MLB plays a 162 game schedule. MLB's revenues are at a record pace...not looking good right now? Really? It's not looking good in Houston right now because they're coming off a 106 loss season...but ask the people in Arlington, TX how the MLB is looking right now. Ask the folks in Boston, NY and Philly how it looks. The capacity of a brand new stadium in MLS is about 22K...if they sell all their seats, that's paid attendance. Average attendance this season in MLB, before school is out in most of the country, is already over 30,000...and again, that's with baseball being played every night where games aren't at a premium. Hell, the Astros, who are coming off the worst season in franchise history, are selling more tickets per game than the Dynamo's stadium can even seat. That doesn't even begin to speak to TV and internet revenues. I like MLS but there is no comparison. But that's the subject of another thread....even if baseball were in the midst of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal again, it wouldln't change the fact that the perception of the NBA is that crap gets rigged, whether that's true or not.
And lots of important people question whether Obama was born in the US or whether we really landed on the moon or whether 9/11 was an inside job. Just because people are important or high-ranking doesn't mean they can't be idiots. It doesn't make it worthy of investigation if there's no actual logical evidence to back up the conspiracy.
I think that point is moot when talking about the 2012 lottery. The ping pong balls came out the way it did, and it just happened to give the top pick to the Hornets. What should Stern have done, say "oh we can't make it seem like a conspiracy, so lets rig the outcome and make sure there wont be a backlash against us by taking it away from NO?". Surely that wouldn't be effective either because as many have pointed out, one can find a "conspiracy" almost regardless of what team won the lottery. The people that believe in these theories would have cried foul no matter the outcome. As for someone's point about the owners wanting to cut their losses and thus throwing in the first overall pick to sweeten the deal, I definitely cannot see the lottery teams agreeing to it. Certainly, the 1/29 portion of the Hornets' losses that an owner like say, Ted Leonsis would avoid could easily be made up for and a hell of a lot more by increased ticket sales and exposure had the Wizards won the lottery and gotten Anthony Davis. It's inconceivable that any owner, at least among the lottery teams, would have agreed to throwing away their. chances at the top prize for saving what would likely have been a million each in losses on operating the Hornets for another year (based on estimate of $30 million a year of losses). Also consider that among the playoff teams, the owners in the SW division, especially Cuban, would strongly object to the 100% likelihood of having a rival gaining a franchise piece. It's hard to even fathom that half of the owners would agree to this conspiracy. The owners are all extremely wealthy, and although some are in it to actually win, many view their franchises as simply an investment. Would it be in their interest to agree to this and risk having just one whistle blower come out and severely harm the value of their NBA teams? These guys didn't make their fortunes by being impatient and unwilling to take on a temporary loss over eventual gain, and I certainly can't see them risking their future windfalls upon the sale of their teams in order to save a miniscule amount in the present. As for the poster who claims the Davis pic in a Hornets cap as evidence of the conspiracy, LMAO. I was at a Lids store the other week (in Toronto no less) and there were something like 5 different retro Charlotte Hornets caps. The retro snapback caps (of the Hornets, Grizzlies, Sonics etc) are extremely fashionable right now.
Beyond that, it would also mean that Anthony Davis knew about the conspiracy. Which means - to make the claim about his hat work - people are suggesting the league is trusting a 19 or 20 old kid who they don't even know to keep a secret that could bring down the entire NBA.
Btw madmax, my post above was not directed at you, I was referring to the reasoning some employ in that "the NBA appears to be rigged in officiating etc, so the lottery must have been too". Your quote just happened to be one that somewhat pertained to the logic. For the record, I have my own suspicions on things that the league office and Stern can manipulate such as officiating and rejecting trades etc, but definitely cannot see any possibility of a conspiracy in the draft lottery.
I don't believe it was rigged, but the way the rest of the lottery fell into to play also makes it sound suspicious. Only New Orleans moved up. Everyone else stayed in order, but NO went the front of the line.
MLB is a joke man The ratings are trash, and the intrest is at an all-time low People thought the NBA would be dead after the lockout and thats not the truth at all, in fact its even better The NBA being "rigged" has had no affect on the NBA at all( at least from popularity, ratings, and fanfare around the world) MLB is a dying sport man. The Los Angeles Angeles, and the Miami Marlins had a chance to do some damage to their counterpart NBA teams. But after the Ozzie Guillen tirade, and the Albert Pujols signing flop. The NBA dodged a bullet in those markets I mean the NBA has been beating every tv show in ratings all year( not including the playoffs). Whether its all-star games, or any other event Even the NBA draft lottery had higher ratings than the NHL Confernce Finals Even with the serious injuries in the NBA Playoffs( Derrick Rose etc), the ratings are still WAY up I mean OKC and San Antonio are 2 of the smaller markets in the US, and generating higher numbers since the 2002 WCF. I mean thats crazy good for the NBA http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/19814/is-basketball-taking-over-the-world http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/10/07/football.nba.fear.world/index.html Also i forgot to mention that the MLB practically has no fans in the 18-32 age group.( most of the MLB's fans are old-timers) The NBA dominates the age group of americans in both the 18- 32 age group, and is 2nd to the NFL in the 32-49 age group The MLB is not even exiciting anymore, the pitchers have begun to dominate the game of baseball again, and its back to where it was before the steriod era
