T-Wolves president insinuates draft lottery is rigged

Mizzou you really are stretching with this shit. My god, this is hilarious. Stern rigged sending Duncan to the Spurs? Christ, at least come up with intelligent or entertaining conspiracy theories.

The conspirators can twist any outcome to fit there conspiracy of the day theory.

 

How did San Antonio intentionally tank? I covered the NBA in '97 and I saw the Robinson-less Spurs. They were responsible for the single weirdest one-game upset I've seen. They came into Indianapolis with half their roster on the DL. Schleps like Greg Anderson and Carl Herrera played 30-plus minutes.

The Pacers, who were in full-on, we-hate-Larry Brown mode, were fighting for a playoff spot. Yet Anderson dropped 14 points and 11 rebounds and Avery Johnson, yes, Avery Fucking Johnson, scored 26 as the Spurs won by four.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199703080IND.html

My point? Look at some of the names in that Spurs rotation. The Spurs did not tank without Robinson, they were just terrible.

And if the NBA was going to rig the lottery that year, it would have done so for the benefit of the 15-67 Celtics, who were in the nadir of their existence.

 

Right, because I'm only person here who thinks the draft lottery is rigged.

I agree... Duncan going to the Spurs flies in the face of some of the theories.

But if you truly believe that the draft lottery have been completely above board for the last 26 years, you're naive.

 

The belief was that Robinson could have come back sooner.

 

David Stern has sent out his knee-beating thugs. There will be quiet in Minnesota soon. Meanwhile, Stern keeps one eye on Mark Cuban's mouth.

 

You wouldn't if you could remember the end of season "pennant race for last place" tankfests that motivated getting rid of that system. Houston deserves a special place place in the tanking Hall of Fame for the way they connived their way into consecutive No. 1 picks in 83 and 84.

I'd agree that there have been an extraordinary number of suspicious lottery results, but returning to the pre-lottery system is not the answer. In fact, I'd prefer they get rid of the "weighting" system altogether, and simply go with a straight lottery where each participant had the same odds. There are logical and good ways to promote parity, but rewarding incompetence and incentive-izing losing is not one of them.

 

Even if I buy that, how much sooner could he have returned to make a real difference?

The Spurs also had Sean Elliott, Dominique Wilkins (still productive at 18.2 ppg) and Chuck Person (who missed the entire season) on the shelf, among others.

Don't get me wrong, I do think the NBA puts the fix in when it suits them, but I don't think the Duncan draft was one of those instances.

Nor do I think handing the No. 1 pick to Cleveland last night, especially on the basis on a disabled kid, qualifies either. That's just David Kahn being an idiot.

 

I agree about turning San Antonio into a powerhouse flies in the face of everything Stern stands for.

 

When the Magic won the 1993 lottery, they had a 1.5 percent chance of getting the top pick. The result created an instant championship contender and launched Shaq as the new face of the NBA at precisely the time Jordan was on his "retirement" for totally non-gambling-related reasons.

That has always been my favorite example of the theory at work.

 

The Bulls had 1.7 percent chance when they sent Derrick Rose to his hometown team. Look where the Bulls are now.

 

So Shaq wouldn't have made any team an instant contender? Why Orlando?

 

The Magic went from the second worst team in the league to missing the playoffs by a game or two. Then they nailed the rights to Chris Webber, another no-brainer No. 1 pick, which netted them Penny Hardaway and a shitload of picks and got them to the NBA finals a couple years later.

Why Orlando? Maybe Stern is an Amway fan. Maybe he wanted to see an expansion team excel quickly. Maybe Dr. Evil was envisioning Disney as a NBA partner? Maybe he let the chips fall where they may with the Shaq lottery and then helped out the next year by throwing them the pick again?