It's Rigged

I'm not the first to say it and won't be the last to believe the NBA lottery is rigged. How can that be? The NBA is a professional sport with superior athletes. David Stern would never stand for a rigged lottery. The NBA does have superior athletes but David Stern is a law man wanted to make sure the biggest teams get the top collegiate player coming out of the NCAA. The results of the lottery suggest that the top market teams have usually gotten the top pick no matter the odds.

The first lottery was back in 1985. The New York Knicks won the lottery and received Patrick Ewing. He changed the landscape of New York basketball for over a decade. If you go back and watch this lottery, you can see the rigging begin in front of your own eyes. David Stern throws their envelope and bends the corner. Again, I can't be the first one to notice this. The Knicks are in a huge market and Stern needed them to be a good team. They got it when Ewing "fell" to them when they won the lottery.

Now that Stern had made sure he had a headliner in New York, he took a couple lotteries off. That is until 1993. How could the Orlando Magic win back to back years? The Magic picked Shaq in 1992 and magically, they won the lottery with a minuscule 1.52% of winning. The 11th worst record ended up selecting C-Webb and trading him to Golden State for Penny Hardaway. Would the Magic have been smarter keeping C-Webb, perhaps. The bigger question is why was the Magic so lucky? They had their superstar but with a team already in Miami, the Magic needed to have stars. With Penny and the larger than life Shaq, Stern made sure they got the luck of the lottery.

The old saying is good guys always finish last. In 1997, the Spurs All-Star Center David Robinson had his worst injury of his career and his team finished with the third worst record. A former number one pick by the San Antonio Spurs needed some help if he was ever going to win the big one. I know I am a Spurs homer but I can admit this is a little odd. David could never get passed Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon to win a title on his own. David was always a giving athlete and when he went down, Timmy Duncan was the consensus number 1 overall choice. Who better to help Robinson than Duncan? The balls found their way for San Antonio and after 2 titles, David said goodbye on top. I hope this is starting to make you think.

You need even more evidence that the NBA lottery is rigged. I know the Cavs had the worst record in 2003. They were only the third ever team to win the lottery having the worst record in the league. Cleveland was a fluttering franchise and needed Lebron to gain the interest of the fans. Stern was there to save the day. Orlando won it the following year with the worst record. Portland was given a chance to make up the biggest draft blunder ever when they won the lottery in 07. Stern should have made their selection since Portland chose Oden over Durant. I guess history does repeat itself. Chicago was going nowhere and with only a 1.7 percent of winning, they landed Derrick Rose. Last year, the Los Angeles Clippers, who are still terrible and the red headed step child of the Lakers, won the lottery. The Clips curse lives with Griffin blowing out his knee and never playing a minute of this season.

Now the Washington Wizards got the luck and won the lottery. Normally, I wouldn't have even had a second thought because it's the Wiz. However, I started thinking about all the bad stuff that has happened to the franchise lately. They lost their beloved owner Abe Pollin. The Wiz traded away two franchise cornerstones Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler. Before the trade, Gilbert Arenas went John Wayne wild wild west in the locker room. (By the way, it may have been the best thing ever to happen to the Wiz). With all the bad stuff and zero hope for fans, the perfect way to help them sell tickets win the lottery and draft John Wall.

I'm not an insider and have no clue if I am even close to correct. All I can do is justify my feelings. I would say I have done that with all the evidence I have laid out. The next time your NBA team starts to crumble and you think there is no hope, Super Stern will come and rescue you or so it seems. I know winning the lottery doesn't always mean a complete turnaround and make your team a winner. It doesn't hurt though. Now if only I could get Stern to rig the Powerball.

J Call