talk of rigged draft lottery running deep!!

[Sonic R]

I'm not really one to wear a tin hat, but I just came across this article...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nba-s-problematic-ownership-of-hornets-opens-door-to-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.htm



Hornets coach Monty Williams represented the franchise at the draft lottery.
The reaction of several league executives was part disgust, part resignation on Wednesday night. So many had predicted this happening, so many suspected that somehow, someway, the Hornets would walk away with Davis. That's the worst part for the NBA; these aren't the railings from the guy sitting at the corner tavern, but the belief of those working within the machinery that something undue happened here, that they suspect it happens all the time under Stern.

[DavisWarriorsFan]

First the Cavs lost their superstar in LeBron then they get the #1 pick. Now it's the Hornets turn. They lose Chris Paul and now they get the #1 Pick?! What's next? Boston losing the big 3 and next year they get the #1 pick? Or the Magic losing Dwight and getting the #1 pick? Or the Nets losing Deron Williams and they get the #1 pick?

[creepingdeath]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qDdnwPOuokU/TxNMk4iUxFI/AAAAAAAAAoI/HyLL3sHS4jg/s1600/clint-eastwood-disgusted-gif.gif

[Owl]

First the Cavs lost their superstar in LeBron then they get the #1 pick. Now it's the Hornets turn. They lose Chris Paul and now they get the #1 Pick?! What's next? Boston losing the big 3 and next year they get the #1 pick? Or the Magic losing Dwight and getting the #1 pick? Or the Nets losing Deron Williams and they get the #1 pick?
Why it's almost as though teams without their stars fare poorly and have a good chance of picking high.

Hornets picking first is a win for conspiracy theorists who can tie this to the team's sale. But is it really in the NBA's interests to have the consensus number one and potential superstar play in the megamarket that is New Orleans (lost one team already, came perlilously close to doing so again but for a league bailout, both times within a decade of setting up in NO). Conspiracy theorists will always find an angle and this is one of the better ones, but that doesn't make it true.

[brantonli]

the only real way you can rig the lottery is using weighted balls, and even then it's not a given you'll win. I doubt teh thing was rigged anyway, what kind of an idiot, especially after getting so much flak for blocking the trade, will deliberately make the same team get the number 1 pick? For more attention?

[bagelred]

First the Cavs lost their superstar in LeBron then they get the #1 pick. Now it's the Hornets turn. They lose Chris Paul and now they get the #1 Pick?! What's next? Boston losing the big 3 and next year they get the #1 pick? Or the Magic losing Dwight and getting the #1 pick? Or the Nets losing Deron Williams and they get the #1 pick?

I see where you're going with this. Let me try:

What's next? Bulls lose Rose to ACL injury and get the #1 pick? Mavericks miss out on Deron and Howard, and get the #1 pick? Sacramento Kings move and get the #1 pick? Tim Duncan retires and Spurs get the #1 pick? Timberwolves lose Rubio for a year and get the #3.....nah, just kidding, the #1 pick?


But seriously, I predicted the New Orleans Hornets would get the #1 pick and I nailed it. I don't know if it's fixed or not, but I somehow knew it would LOOK the most fixed if NO won. And sure enough, it happened. :lol :hammerhead:

[jn2rons]

the only real way you can rig the lottery is using weighted balls, and even then it's not a given you'll win. I doubt teh thing was rigged anyway, what kind of an idiot, especially after getting so much flak for blocking the trade, will deliberately make the same team get the number 1 pick? For more attention?

I didn't see a live ball lottery drawing, did you? What I did see what envelope after envelope stacked up. This way woulda been easy as hell to "rig."

The only way to fix it, to ensure everything is ALWAYS on the up and up is to use a live Ball Lottery.
Charlotte = 1 Ball
Washington = 2 Balls
.
.
.
.
Houston = 14 Balls

1st ball picked... gets 14th pick, even if its Charlotte. Remove any remaining team balls.
2nd ball picked... gets 13th pick. Remove any remaining team balls.
.
.
.
.
14th drawing get the 1st pick. Simple as hell, if you ask me!! :biggums:

[ihoopallday]

In the last twenty years, three teams who had the worst record actually won the draft lottery. Lol so the odds are actually against you. The three teams that won and had the worst record that year are......
Sixers: Allen Iverson
Cleveland: LeBron James
Magic: Dwight Howard

[ZenMaster]

In the last twenty years, three teams who had the worst record actually won the draft lottery. Lol so the odds are actually against you. The three teams that won and had the worst record that year are......
Sixers: Allen Iverson
Cleveland: LeBron James
Magic: Dwight Howard

Worst team has a 25% chance of getting the #1 pick, so in any given year the odds are 75% that you wont get it.

You don't need twenty years of draft history to figure that out.

[rufuspaul]

what kind of an idiot, especially after getting so much flak for blocking the trade, will deliberately make the same team get the number 1 pick?


http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f80/rufuspaul/sternn1.jpg


Stern was desperate to get the Hornets off the NBA balance sheet. One could easily see him saying to Benson: "Buy the team and you'll get Anthony Davis plus an all-star game."

Did this really happen? Who knows? But the fact that the NBA has a lottery when no other major league does and the fact that they do it in secret leads to such speculation. Add to that the officiating controversy and the "basketball reasons" shit and it's no wonder people don't trust Stern.

[brantonli]

That's very true, I wish they did do a live ball viewing. All I can tell from reporters and journalists who have been in the room is that they say it's impossible to rig it :confusedshrug:

[Stephen Curry]

i know right! we should have gotten a higher pick
#7 smh

[Blue&Orange]

[IMG]and the fact that they do it in secret leads to such speculation.
lol no, there are representatives of every team there, there are journalists there, and there are hired and unbias external auditors there.

[rufuspaul]

lol no, there are representatives of every team there, there are journalists there, and there are hired and unbias external auditors there.



So you can't possibly rig something if you have people in the room. :rolleyes:

[Jasi]

I'm all against "conspiracy" theories but this coincidence is quite funny and suspect.

[bagelred]

I'm all against "conspiracy" theories but this coincidence is quite funny and suspect.

Explain what it means to be "against" a conspiracy theory. So if an alternative explanation provides a better answer than the accepted explanation, you simply ignore because you are "against" it. Cool.

However, in THIS case, there isn't proof of lottery tampering at all. It just SEEMS suspicous......but doubtful it could be rigged.

[Jasi]

Explain what it means to be "against" a conspiracy theory. So if an alternative explanation provides a better answer than the accepted explanation, you simply ignore because you are "against" it. Cool.

However, in THIS case, there isn't proof of lottery tampering at all. It just SEEMS suspicous......but doubtful it could be rigged.

No, it's just that up to now, no conspiracy theory has ever seemed even remotely convincing to me.
I don't exclude that in the future one will do... but statistically it seems very difficult, since most of them sound like bitter and convoluted fantasies.

[It's A VC3!!!]

You guys actually think that they go into their little secure back room and let the ping-pong balls determine the fate of the 14 lottery teams?

They don't even use ping-pong balls. David Stern just hands out picks and writes them down.

[bagelred]

No, it's just that up to now, no conspiracy theory has ever seemed even remotely convincing to me.


Have you actually done any real research on any "conspriacy theory" or do you simply get a one minute explanation from a friend? Do some reading........

Anywho, back to the lottery.........STERN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rant

[Cermet]

No, it's just that up to now, no conspiracy theory has ever seemed even remotely convincing to me.
I don't exclude that in the future one will do... but statistically it seems very difficult, since most of them sound like bitter and convoluted fantasies.


911 was conspiracy was very convincing, logical and exactly what you would expect from you know who. So I don't what do you mean by "just that up to now"

[rufuspaul]

911 was conspiracy was very convincing, logical and exactly what you would expect from you know who. So I don't what do you mean by "just that up to now"


:facepalm

[Jasi]

911 was conspiracy was very convincing, logical and exactly what you would expect from you know who. So I don't what do you mean by "just that up to now"

lol

I'm still waiting for a conspiracy theorist to give a full and detailed explanation of how 9/11 actually went.

[Cermet]

lol

I'm still waiting for a conspiracy theorist to give a full and detailed explanation of how 9/11 actually went.

I think there was like a lot of videos or even documentary movies for that. Explained quite a lot. Well at least more than the "real" thing. We just love oil

[Cermet]

:facepalm

face palming won't help you with the fact that your government values oil more than the people of their country(or the people of the other country)

[rufuspaul]

face palming won't help you with the fact that your government values oil more than the people of their country(or the people of the other country)


The facepalm was to show my disappointment that this thread is veering away from basketball.

[Thorpesaurous]

[QUOTE]Here are the top five suspects, ranked on the Conspiracy Scale from

[It's A VC3!!!]

I don't care what skeptics say. This draft is rigged. Picks aren't determined through ping-pong balls but rather David Sterns personal preference.

The Bulls with Rose.

The WIzards get number one after the gun incident to shy the focus away.:rolleyes:

The Cavs after the LeBron fisaco :rolleyes:

The Hornets after the overly expensive purchase by the Saints owner.

If David Stern has it within him to tamper NBA games, which he has clearly done multiple times, he has tampered the NBA draft as well. You think that the ping-pong balls didn't choose the Bobcats to win, but he just traded cards and said "**** it, well give it to NOH".

I have only watched about 5 playoff games this year due to a dislike for the NBA and the way it's ran. I know there are a lot of people on the same boat as me.

[Sarcastic]

No, it's just that up to now, no conspiracy theory has ever seemed even remotely convincing to me.
I don't exclude that in the future one will do... but statistically it seems very difficult, since most of them sound like bitter and convoluted fantasies.

There are conspiracy theories that have been proven true.

[Jasi]

I think there was like a lot of videos or even movies for that. Explained quite a lot. Well at least more than the "real" thing. We just love oil

Of course it's full of videos and DVDs, so they can make money out of a tragedy.

But none of them answers basic questions such as
- How and when were the WTC1, 2 and 7 filled with explosives?
- Why set up such a complicated and risky mess that implies thousands of conspirers, support from Canada, hijacking airplanes, sending missiles into the Pentagon and pretending that no one saw them, pretending no wires and detonators have remained in the towers, etc... when all it took to invade Iraq was a simple, immediate, risk-free firebomb in the WTC?

[Jasi]

There are conspiracy theories that have been proven true.

I'll be happy to get to know them :cheers:

Mine is a statistical remark: the most common ones are BS, such as the 9/11 one, the Moon Landing one, the Chemical Trails one, the Planet X one, the Apophis one etc.

Anyway this is way off topic so I won't go on. There are plenty of threads about conspiracy theories in the OTC.

[swi7ch]

ewing went to ny. google why it was rigged.

[brantonli]

As a Rockets fan, I can safely say that the All-star game was decided waaaay before the botched Gasol trade, so Simmons is an idiot for including it there, even if it is just for lols :D

PS: this is a very ncie account of how the lottery actually went down:

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/30/nba-draft-lottery/


Each lottery team is assigned a batch of four-number sequences, of which there are 1,001 in total, all involving various combinations of the numbers “1″ through “14.” The league assigns the sequences chronologically, so that the Bobcats, the team with the best odds of winning the lottery, got the first 250 sequences — all containing the number “1.” The Charlotte sequences started with “1-2-3-4″ and went up to “1-7-12-14.” Though the Wizards, the team with the second-best odds, also had some sequences containing a “1,” the odds were very high that if a “1″ came up at all among the four ping-pong balls on Wednesday night, the No. 1 pick would belong to the Bobcats.

The machine whirred the balls around for the required 20 seconds and spit out the first number — a “6.” Ten more seconds of scrambling passed before a “4″ emerged. Hornets general manager Dell Demps scanned a worksheet of his team’s sequences and noticed that at least a few were in play after the “6-4″ drawing. New Orleans had the fourth-best odds of winning the top pick — a 13.7 percent long shot — meaning many of its sequences contained a “4.” A lower number, Demps knew, would shift the pick elsewhere. After the mandatory 10-second pause for the remaining 12 balls to bounce around inside the machine, a league official drew out the next ball — a “9.” Demps was in business.

So was Jeffrey Cohen, vice chairman of the Cavaliers. If the final ball was marked with a “3,” the Cavaliers would win the lottery for the second straight season. A “7,” Demps knew, would give the Hornets the top spot. Ten more seconds passed, and a man with his back to the machine raised his hand, indicating that the official in charge of the machine should have it suck up the last ball.

“I was just thinking, ‘Come on, seven! Come on, seven!’” Demps told SI.com after the drawing.

The ball surfaced: a “7,” only the way it came out, it initially looked like a “1.” Demps slumped in his chair for a second. “I couldn’t tell,” he said. He then looked more closely and was sure it was a “7.” He was getting excited. “But then I just told myself I had to wait for them to announce it.” That came a few seconds later: The Hornets had won the No. 1 pick. Demps responded with a fist pump underneath the table.

[Blue&Orange]

So you can't possibly rig something if you have people in the room. :rolleyes:
Yes they are "just" in the room... :rolleyes:


ewing went to ny. google why it was rigged.
Yes, yes... Some envelops had bended corners :rolleyes:

[SpecialQue]

the only real way you can rig the lottery is using weighted balls, and even then it's not a given you'll win. I doubt teh thing was rigged anyway, what kind of an idiot, especially after getting so much flak for blocking the trade, will deliberately make the same team get the number 1 pick? For more attention?

I got yer weighted balls riiiiiiight here.

[Theoo]

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7377009&postcount=303

[GOBB]

Anyone who thinks the lottery is rigged is a retard. You guys want something to be suspect, fishy.


lol

I'm still waiting for a conspiracy theorist to give a full and detailed explanation of how 9/11 actually went.

Controlled demolition dont you know? They rigged both big ass WTC with explosives then brought both buildings down making it seem like it collasped. How long did it take to set up both big ass WTC? Who knows, I'll have to ask my other conspiracy theorist. Doubt he'll have an answer moreso a question to give me to give you. :D

[Eat Like A Bosh]

Damn, I swear the NBA doesn't even try to hide the fact that the lottery is rigged anymore... :facepalm

[JMT]

ISH is filled with more crying ******* than anyplace I've ever seen. Every call in every game is an indicator the league is fixed. The best teams advancing deep into the playoffs somehow means the league is fixed. The team with the 4th best chance to win the lottery does so, and it's fixed.

Yet you still watch it, like good WWE fans.

:facepalm

[iamgine]

Will team owners really allow Stern to rig the lottery? These are guys far more powerful than Stern. Mark Cuban? That Russian Mafia? Michael Jordan? Are we to believe they'd just let Stern rig the draft lottery?

[hawksdogsbraves]

I'm normally not a huge Hollinger fan, but I think this part of his article today on the lottery pretty much sums up why you conspiracy theorists are a bunch of morons.


As for you out there who think this was some kind of leaguewide conspiracy to benefit the nation's 46th-largest metropolitan area (not to mention one of its poorest), and thereby prevent its team from moving to some puny, podunk town like Seattle or San Jose, remember there was always a decent chance this would happen: New Orleans had two of the top 10 chances in this, owning its own pick and Minnesota's. The Hornets had the third-best odds of winning the top pick, at 14.8 percent, and nearly 50-50 odds for landing in the top three.

Or look at it this way: Which outcome WOULDN'T have proved the conspiracy for you? New Jersey, to dangle for Dwight Howard? Charlotte, to reward struggling Michael Jordan? Golden State, to usher in a new arena in San Francisco? Sacramento, to help out the struggling Maloofs? Phoenix, to reignite the Nash-era glories? Detroit, to reward another new owner in difficult straits?

The only ones you'd say wouldn't are Washington, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Houston and Toronto, right?

Hate to break it to you, but they won seven of the past 11 lotteries. Meanwhile, Cleveland and San Antonio won the two most important drawings of the past 15 years. If the NBA is rigging things, it stinks at it.

The league technically still owns the Hornets until the sale to Tom Benson is complete, and that decision will always be a mistake because of the Pandora's box of questions that it opens, most notably with the Pau Gasol mess.

Thursday night isn't one of them, though. The league has media members in the drawing room, a prominent accounting firm monitoring everything; even if you somehow think it could work around this, it would be risking a billion-dollar business (not to mention lawsuits from its own members) for the uncertain reward of a 19-year-old prodigy going to one market rather than another.

[qrich]

If the Nets won it was to help Orlando out as well and ensure they maintain their pick.

If Cleveland ended up winning it was due to Stern making up for LeBron's decision.

If Charlotte won its because Jordan and Stern are bed buddies.


Every single team that could've won would have ended up a conspiracy somehow.

[Droid101]

If the Nets won it was to help Orlando out as well and ensure they maintain their pick.

If Cleveland ended up winning it was due to Stern making up for LeBron's decision.

If Charlotte won its because Jordan and Stern are bed buddies.


Every single team that could've won would have ended up a conspiracy somehow.
Except the Bucks. Nobody likes the Bucks.

[AMISTILLILL]

The burden of proof rests squarely on the shoulders of the doubters and conspiracy theorists. Unless you have any sort of proof, stop talking about it.

[It's A VC3!!!]

If the Nets won it was to help Orlando out as well and ensure they maintain their pick.

If Cleveland ended up winning it was due to Stern making up for LeBron's decision.

If Charlotte won its because Jordan and Stern are bed buddies.


Every single team that could've won would have ended up a conspiracy somehow.

Skeptics have beat that response to death. We can obviously think a scenario for every situation but every year has been a crazy outcome.

The Wizards draw the worlds attention after the gun incidint. That draft year they end up with the number one pick and erase the gun incidint from peoples mind.

The Cavs lose LeBron. Stern gives them Kyrie.

The Hornets are bought for an absurd amount of money. The ASG and first round pick are their rewards.

Not sure what goes on behind the scenes but after NBA games have been clearly rigged for the last decade, you can never put anything past Stern.

[qrich]

Except the Bucks. Nobody likes the Bucks.

The Cambodian Prince would've bought the lottery off had the Bucks won it.



Skeptics have beat that response to death. We can obviously think a scenario for every situation but every year has been a crazy outcome.

The Wizards draw the worlds attention after the gun incidint. That draft year they end up with the number one pick and erase the gun incidint from peoples mind.

The Cavs lose LeBron. Stern gives them Kyrie.

The Hornets are bought for an absurd amount of money. The ASG and first round pick are their rewards.

Not sure what goes on behind the scenes but after NBA games have been clearly rigged for the last decade, you can never put anything past Stern.

And the Cavs won because LeBron was from Ohio. Houston won because of the huge Asian population in Texas. Clippers won because they lost Brand and to try to erase the Kandi pick. And...

And....

And....

And....

[DuMa]

I Want To Believe

[KG215]

ISH is filled with more crying ******* than anyplace I've ever seen. Every call in every game is an indicator the league is fixed. The best teams advancing deep into the playoffs somehow means the league is fixed. The team with the 4th best chance to win the lottery does so, and it's fixed.

Yet you still watch it, like good WWE fans.

:facepalm

This. There are a number of teams that could have won the lottery last night, and there'd be a bunch of people crying conspiracy. And like you said, these are the same people who constantly whine and complain about officiating. Never mind that 3 of the 4 teams in the conference finals were 3 of the 4 best teams in the NBA all season long. And the only reason the fourth team isn't here is because their best player tore his ACL.

[rufuspaul]

This. There are a number of teams that could have won the lottery last night, and there'd be a bunch of people crying conspiracy. And like you said, these are the same people who constantly whine and complain about officiating. Never mind that 3 of the 4 teams in the conference finals were 3 of the 4 best teams in the NBA all season long. And the only reason the fourth team isn't here is because their best player tore his ACL.


It's not just that the 4th team won, it's the way the teams that Stern and the NBA want to help out get the #1 pick. Cleveland last year to make up for "the decision", etc. There probably isn't a conspiracy but dayum it's hard to trust froggy.

[GOBB]

It's not just that the 4th team won, it's the way the teams that Stern and the NBA want to help out get the #1 pick. Cleveland last year to make up for "the decision", etc. There probably isn't a conspiracy but dayum it's hard to trust froggy.

Why wouldnt Stern help out the Bobcats who clearly needs more help than any franchise in the NBA? And Michael Jordan having been the face of the NBA (helping expand it globally and was a cash cow) as the owner of the Bobcats. Why wouldnt Stern throw MJ a bone? Doesnt make sense. If you claim he is out to help a team get the #1 pick similar to Cavs getting it over the "Decision", then why wouldnt he do that for Charlotte.

Also Cavs won the lottery off of the LAC ping pong balls. Cavs actual pick was lower than they finished in the regular season standings. Why would Stern not use the Cavs pick and give them #1 as opposed to the LAC pick?

[UtahJazzFan88]

I'm not going to say it was rigged but I wish there was a way the lottery or luck format could be shown more in the public eye so there could be less talk of it being rigged.

[JMT]

I'm not going to say it was rigged but I wish there was a way the lottery or luck format could be shown more in the public eye so there could be less talk of it being rigged.

It meets all the criteria necessary. Independent accounting firm, element of chance, strict supervision. We've just never had more dumb people with a means to broadcast their ridiculous opinions than ever before.

[dude77]

doing some googling I bumped into this link .. dated march 30, 2012

http://www.idiotsonsports.com/2012/03/legendary-unibrow-takes-court-this.html


So when you see this unibrow in New Orleans....


just a prediction, coincidence, or ..

[anthonyRandolph]

doing some googling I bumped into this link .. dated march 30, 2012

http://www.idiotsonsports.com/2012/03/legendary-unibrow-takes-court-this.html



just a prediction, coincidence, or ..
the national championship...

[dude77]

the national championship...

:oldlol: :hammerhead: forgot about that

[Copperhead]

So Ernst & Young, other NBA executives and media all stood by quitely in that room while the lottery was rigged for the Hornets? WOWWWWWWW. What the heck is wrong with them??!!!









:rolleyes:

[AMISTILLILL]

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/21317927.jpg

[Copperhead]

And guess what? The Hornets actually won the 3rd pick too but there had to be a redraw. I wonder why they didn't just sit back and let them get the 3rd pick as well. Heck, last year Cleveland got #1 and #4. Why couldn't they just be quiet and let the Hornets get the 3rd pick too? Damn them! :oldlol:


This is from a Cleveland beat writer who was in the room.


The drawing was repeated and Charlotte won the No. 2 pick with a combination of 8-1-11-5. New Orleans won the third pick so, as stipulated by the rules, there was a redraw. Charlotte won, so there was a second redraw, with Washington eventually winning the No. 3 pick with a combination of 13-7-3-2. According to Cohen, the Cavs had 13-7-3-4 and 13-7-3-5.

How dare they not just keep quiet and let that go? Idiots. :oldlol:

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2012/05/inside_the_nba_draft_lottery_s.html

[Quotable]

It doesn't matter who would have won the lottery you'll still have a faction who believe it's rigged.

[Crown&Coke]

I think the NBA draft lottery is rigged, and its a habitual thing (New owners of the Warriors also got to keep their top 7 protected pick)

But lets me play devil's advocate here, why would the NBA give NOLA (who was just sold by the NBA) the #1 pick KNOWING there would be tons of people who would rise up and scream scam? Its just too much imo, he would at least try to hide it if it was, in this case he is throwing in everyone's face (if indeed its rigged)

AND, why would he not sell the team AFTER getting the #1 overall pick, that would have fetched a lot more loot having the top pick and a player who is being heralded as a damn phenom in tow.

BUT, why would Benson finally cave and buy the Hornets for the 338mil he had been angling to reduce with the drop of a hat? Could have been to take media attention of the Bounty Gate fiasco? Could have been another "perk" Stern promised, other than the 2013 All Star game? Only Stern and Benson know for sure

[FireDavidKahn]

It meets all the criteria necessary. Independent accounting firm, element of chance, strict supervision. We've just never had more dumb people with a means to broadcast their ridiculous opinions than ever before.
The line "independent accounting firm" always gets me. Enron hired an independent accounting firm (Aurthur Anderson Consulting) who audited/managed their books.:oldlol:

[Copperhead]

For now, let’s say this: If the process is actually rigged, the league does an incredible job of hiding it. Rigging the drawing would involve somehow tinkering with the machine (or the balls) so that it is more likely to suck up a particular four-ball combination out of 1,001 possibilities. I’m honestly not sure how the NBA could do that, or how the official drawing the balls at the prescribed times could actually pull off the trick of picking the right one in each instance.

I’ll also say this: If there were a conspiracy, the people in the room didn’t seem to give much thought to it. They were genuinely nervous. Representatives from teams with conflicting lottery interests were joking with each other about the tension in the air and the uncertainty of the looming outcome. Every representative was frantically scouring his sheet of lottery ball combinations as each one came up, checking to see if his team were still in the running.

Even more revealing: After the drawing ended with the Hornets’ winning, the representatives in the room openly and loudly kidded New Orleans general manager Dell Demps about how the fix had been in. They were joking with him, mocking the ridiculousness of the idea that the league had rigged the machine. Demps asked a league official if he might open up the machine to remove the four winning balls as souvenirs — hardly something Demps would request, or something that the league would allow, if the balls had been doctored. A rival executive even shouted across the room that one of the balls was surely weighted, and that Demps should be careful to conceal it from the rest of the group.

Everyone laughed, and that’s telling. People who believe they are victims of a conspiracy — people whose franchises had just been dealt a significant blow — would not immediately back-slap each other and generally share a good laugh about the whole thing. Or at least I don’t think that they would. I know I wouldn’t. I’d be angry — perhaps not angry enough to publicly criticize the very powerful Stern, but certainly angry enough to sulk in the corner and fire off some furious emails to friends.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/31/an-nba-draft-lottery-conspiracy-it-didnt-seem-that-way/

What is wrong with these guys??!! Why on earth would they allow this??!

I wonder who they'll 'rig' it for next season? :rockon:

[qrich]

And guess what? The Hornets actually won the 3rd pick too but there had to be a redraw. I wonder why they didn't just sit back and let them get the 3rd pick as well. Heck, last year Cleveland got #1 and #4. Why couldn't they just be quiet and let the Hornets get the 3rd pick too? Damn them! :oldlol:


This is from a Cleveland beat writer who was in the room.



How dare they not just keep quiet and let that go? Idiots. :oldlol:

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2012/05/inside_the_nba_draft_lottery_s.html

:roll:

I remember when Clips won the Griffin lotto..we won the 2nd pick as well

[JMT]

The line "independent accounting firm" always gets me. Enron hired an independent accounting firm (Aurthur Anderson Consulting) who audited/managed their books.:oldlol:

There's a bit more of a risk/reward factor when comparing cooking the books to make billions in what was proven to be a wide ranging conspiracy...and whatever benefit a firm might derive from looking the other way while the NBA rigged it's draft.

Ooohhh...maybe they all got season tickets to New Orleans games!!!

[Copperhead]

Here's more for the conspiracy theory lovers. Man we should make a movie about this stuff. :oldlol:


http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/19216160