People. The fix is NOT in. The most obvious, and easily hidden fix was the Tim Duncan draft. Boston, a premier basketball market, had two high lotto picks and did not get #1. Instead the small SA market got Duncan despite being way back in the order. Also, you'd think NY would've won one of these years when they resorted to picking 7th and 8th. That said, the lotto sucks because it forces teams to tank but at the same time, screws people over when they tank. Imagine how the Bobcats fans feel about now, knowing they just went through an abomination of a season for the right to get someone not named Anthony Davis.
If a room full of 14 nba representatives and more media believe it can't be fixed after watching live in the room, why would you watching it on TV make it any more legit. smh
Here is a better idea. Have the team rep walk up to the lotto thing and pull the ball out. It would even be a bit more dramatic than how they do it now any ways. I mean it is easy to doubt now. It's behind closed doors and done by a computer. I mean this is not the first year that people questioned whether it was fixed. Also there were plenty saying that New Orleans would win it before the lotto
The NBA IS bending over backwards but it seems to me the most transparent thing possible is to hold the actual lotto in front of a live televised audience. People would tune in for that too....but it begs the question of why is the NBA "bending over backwards" to be transparent by doing something behind closed doors in the same building as a live TV crew? ...I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but there is far too much smoke around the Stern era for there not to be fire. I think when he's long gone, A LOT of improprieties will come to light but it's not in the best interest of any team in the league to blow the whistle even if they had definitive proof. Even the Mark Cuban's of the world know that it's not worth busting Stern to lose millions on your own investment. After all, if Stern goes down in scandal while acting as the commish the league will surely suffer and that impacts the livelihood of everyone in the league who could be "in the know' from league office members, owners, coaches, players, refs, etc.
Well what makes it different from this one? The NBA REALLY needed to sell the Hornets, it's a much easier sell if you can promise the owner that he'd get the #1 pick.
Wow - as if it couldn't be any more "transparent". ...where else can you unnecessarily complicating a relatively simple process in the name of fairness by introducing something easily rigged.
It's not done by a computer The lottery is actual ping pong balls. The only thing done by a computer is a random assignment of the 1000 combinations to the 14 teams. The ping pong balls are sealed in a vault prior to the computer randomly selecting the combinations for each team. If this was done on TV so us a clutchfans could watch, how would that make it any more legit.
If you're the commish then you want small market teams to grow as well as big market teams to dominate. Texas has a history of hof bigs. Chicago and LA get the guards. MSG will sell tickets regardless of who they trot out onto the court. Charlotte, NJ, Minnesota, etc need all the help they can get.
How would it make it more legit? It would be done in public for everyone to see. Its obvious how people can see a real drawing in public is way more legit. Heck they do the lotto on TV for millions of dollars.
Meh then still, do it live. Have the team reps walk up to the lotto thing and pick a ball out. It's not like they wouldn't have time, all they did before it was have a hour long pre-game show.
There are ways to choose the winners that would require no speculation. I can think of several ways the NBA could determine winners with an audience in a completely random way that no one would doubt. However, they still do it behind closed doors, for no apparent reason. Of course that looks suspicious.
It wouldn't make it more legit...a million people could watch and it wouldn't make it more legit. It would only make you feel like it is more legit. They don't pick one ball. They pick four. Not sure if you know how this is done. Plus, tell me how a team rep walking up and picking a ball, or a straw for that matter, makes it more legit. Maybe they should roll dice. I consider your idea having vastly more corruption possibility than using a lotto ping pong ball machine with combinations randomly chosen. How does letting a human pick a ball make it more legit? And how does any of this on TV make it any more legit than the 14 stackholders in the room with media watching... I'm sure watching the full thing would be riveting TV, but I know it would not make it any more free from conspiracy.
The simplest solution of them all is to drop the lottery and go to a conventional draft ala the NFL....
The circumstances were totally different. This conspiracy theory isn't about small-market teams vs big market teams. It's about Stern promising and delivering the #1 draft pick as part of the sale of the Hornets.
It is not done behind closed doors. All the NBA teams involved have witnesses with different media people every year, and E&Y. Their method is as full proof as it gets. All you are saying is televising it makes your feel like it's more legit. And until you see it on the internet or on TV you won't believe anything, I suppose. TV can not add anything to prevent conspiracies ... unless you actually think all 14 teams and the media witnesses are all in on it, too. Even still, if that's the case, then TV certainly couldn't stop cheating...that would make a magician laugh.
Me nor you have positively seen a represenative from each team or media or e&y in a room together... They tell everyone this sure... i called noh winning into the lotto befor it happened jus like alot of others...yes im a conspiracy theorist about alot of things... im skeptical of everything atleast at first... and there is alot of stupid theories out there... But cmon even this one is hard to ignore... they show a "fake lottery with fake balls" on tv... while.the.briefcase with the 'real' balls sit next to the journalist on tv holding her fake lottery... BUT we cant watch the live one... like for some reason them balls are special and unfit for human eyes... please... Im not sayin there wont still be conspiracy and doubters, but transperancy would help alot for thier perception... Of course tv can be rigged.just as easy as anything... but thats not all im or we are asking... Firat.... do the.computer random number give away live... that way you know what numbers your.teams have...(very exciting, like your actually are in the.lotto) Second...have an independent company (selected from a pool and subject to being different each year) to show up with thier own set of ping pong balls and machine... Third... while the public knows the numbers they are waiting for, have a special celebrity guest(different each year) to come and draw the numbers... Fourth... expand the lottery to either 5 or 7 It would make it suspenseful and exciting t.v.... it could be stretched out for an hour thus making it a primetime episode worth.lucrative dollars... it would be.so much more transperant and trustworthy... ORRRR you could continue holding it behind doors "with represenatives and media people"... Why woild the media be there without either sneaking a photo, wanting to film it, recording it, or even talk about it? What media is there? And why arent they fighting to make it must watch tv...?
