Do you think the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery was rigged? (Merged)

[reapaman]

My main problem is why everytime theres a conspiracy theory, the reason that Stern is rigging it changes and completely changes his personality. 3 examples:

1) He'll rig a playoff game to have the most profitble team get to the final
2) He'll help miami win the championship to teach cuban some type of lesson
3) He will rig a draft because of a good storyline that he cant even profit off of

Either he is money hungry, revengeful or compasionate, he can't be more than one because its a conflict of interest.

[EddieJonesFan]

I just love how there were so many people whining about the lottery being rigged that didn't even know that there were reps in the room while the drawing was taking place. That shows just how stupid and uninformed conspiracy theorists are, they just want to believe in conspiracies because they can't handle things happening out of blind chance, they need some anthropomorphic reason for why things happen. They're pattern seeking knuckle-draggers, who place no value on logic, evidence, reason, or the burden of proof.

[funkatron101]

I don't think it is rigged. I do find it amazing that in what, 14 trips to the lottery, the Wolves have never moved up, 8 times have moved down, and never gotten the first pick. While other teams with less opportunities have gotten the #1 pick 2 or 3 times.

[SaveOurBullets]

I just love how there were so many people whining about the lottery being rigged that didn't even know that there were reps in the room while the drawing was taking place. That shows just how stupid and uninformed conspiracy theorists are, they just want to believe in conspiracies because they can't handle things happening out of blind chance, they need some anthropomorphic reason for why things happen. They're pattern seeking knuckle-draggers, who place no value on logic, evidence, reason, or the burden of proof.

I'm not sure how having reps in the room makes it impossible to rig, but okay. You can add weight to the balls or whatever.

[Rondo]

No matter what the results are, someone will always come up with a conspiracy theory on why would stern do that. People are simply just mad with the results.

[theokie]

If the NBA is rigged why havent we seen the LeBron vs Kobe in the finals ever?

Thats by far the most marketable series the NBA has to offer, and theres a reason why thats always the marquee matchup on Christmas.

[EddieJonesFan]

Didn't the pick that won the draft lottery for the Cavs this year have a 3% or so chance of being picked #1? You act like this can't happen. As long as there were balls in that machine for the Bulls or balls in that machine for the Clippers that would count for the Cavs instead this year, why is it preposterous to think that one of those balls could have been popped up first? Do you even know what probability is?

My god, do any of you play bingo? And if so, do you complain like this if you don't win? Come the hell on.

And people want the lottery televised, yet back when it was all envelopes, as previously mentioned, someone made a youtube video about how Stern supposedly "bent" an envelope for the team he wanted to have the #1 pick, and then picked that one when the time came to pick. Now, you have Ernst & Young to help run the draft lottery instead of having Stern overseeing things, and people still claim the draft is rigged. If you could actually see the balls taken out, people would just wonder about the weight of the balls and what not. "Lol clearly the Cavs' balls were weighted differently".

I can see why the NBA just does it there way instead of them doing it based on how some random fans who in reality could never truly be satisfied.

To the conspiracy theorist, there are no improbable events, and there are no coincidences.

[40InchVert]

Some of you ask why they would rig it for Cleveland?

They would have one of the worst teams in the history of the NBA again had they not gotten two Top 5 draft picks. This explains why they chose the Clippers pick rather than the their own pick because that would have only given them a 1st and 8th(?) in a supposedly very weak draft. Even though these two picks don't guarantee the Cavs two good players, it at the very least gives their fans something to look forward to. The last thing the league really wants is another team losing money and eventually having to relocate it. Relocating costs the league a substantial amount of money. This also just so happend in the year after the LeBron decided to take his talents to south beach. Coincidence? I think not.

[EddieJonesFan]

I just love how there were so many people whining about the lottery being rigged that didn't even know that there were reps in the room while the drawing was taking place. That shows just how stupid and uninformed conspiracy theorists are, they just want to believe in conspiracies because they can't handle things happening out of blind chance, they need some anthropomorphic reason for why things happen. They're pattern seeking knuckle-draggers, who place no value on logic, evidence, reason, or the burden of proof.

I'm not sure how having reps in the room makes it impossible to rig, but okay. You can add weight to the balls or whatever.

Did I say it would make it impossible to rig? Possible and impossible are pointless distinctions, there's always a way to spin a tale to make something theoretically possible, so there's literally no way I could prove it's impossible.

As far as adding weight to the balls, you do realize that means the same numbers would pop up in each drawing, right? They do drawings for three picks, and they have to re-do the drawing if combinations from a team that has already been picked comes up. Don't you think people would notice if the the same combination kept coming up?

[theokie]

I just dont get when how people think they are getting screwed when there is an 75-90% chance that they dont get the number one pick.

People need to take their tinfoil hats off and take a statistics class.

[JasonStern]

I can't believe 43% people on here believe it's rigged...

the draft lotto is fixed. the nba doesn't care about tanking. the general public doesn't care which team sucks more - the timberwolves or the cavaliers. they care about seeing if rose can beat the heatles. so don't say that the draft lotto is in place to prevent tanking. it's there to allow the league some (but not supreme) control over where franchise players go. as everyone has stated, if there was no tampering, the process would be completely transparent.

Oden didn't go the Celtics

think back to the hype surrounding greg oden. somehow the richest owner in sports, who was complaining about a broken business model, letting the arena go bankrupt and threatening to sell the team soon after ended up with that pick. coincidence?
(and I say that happily as a blazers fan despite oden not panning out)

How can you not love Kahn? Since being hired, he's had picks at #4, #5, #6, #16, #18, #23, and #28....and yet his team was still the worst in the entire NBA this season.

exactly. a rigged draft isn't as big of a deal as people make it out to be. bad management/bad ownership is still a much more severe problem for franchises.

and in before kahn extends a franchise crippling max contract to oden.

Helping franchises like Cleveland to get out of the gutter, and keeping teams for their fanbases, I think, is his goal. He wants as many teams to flourish as possible.

QFT.

@jose3030: If David Kahn can make it in life, what's your excuse?

http://twitter.com/#!/jose3030/status/70713018639597568

I lol'd.

Wait, so everyone here agrees that Stern rigged the dunk contest this year. It was laughably obvious. The man clearly has zero ethics and is known to bend the rules to the league's advantage.

Yet we're supposed to believe he wouldn't rig the lottery??

lol ok.

QFT.

so, rigging the dunk contest (zero proof btw), which has no affect on anything really = rigging the lottery for the rights to the best eligible player in the world not in the NBA already

awesome logic

you're missing the point. both affect ratings and league revenue. there's your awesome logic.

I just don't see where rebuilding the Cavs would be a priority for the league anyways.

jamario moon (dribbles basketball of foot) is their best player. who would pay money to watch that?

Anyone who thinks the NBA draft lottery is rigged has no business sense whatsoever.

yes. the league has made zero money off of rose in chicago instead of minnesota.

If the NBA is rigged why havent we seen the LeBron vs Kobe in the finals ever?

Thats by far the most marketable series the NBA has to offer, and theres a reason why thats always the marquee matchup on Christmas.

just because the league isn't completely rigged to a point it can affect whether or not a player makes or misses a jump shot does not mean that they don't influence some aspects such as the top 3 picks of the draft.

[pillwenney]

Toronto Raptors fans got a **** TPE out of the Bosh deal. We got pretty much snubbed in the dunk contest, DeRozan should have been in the finals no question, Griffin sucked. And now we are getting a sub par pick. Even if it's not rigged, we have more than enough reason to be pissed.

You poor thing.

[Spottieottie]

Raptor fans are such babies, I'm sorry. Its funny to see how many of them whine that its rigged when they won it like only 5 years ago.

[INKtastic]

I just love how there were so many people whining about the lottery being rigged that didn't even know that there were reps in the room while the drawing was taking place. That shows just how stupid and uninformed conspiracy theorists are, they just want to believe in conspiracies because they can't handle things happening out of blind chance, they need some anthropomorphic reason for why things happen. They're pattern seeking knuckle-draggers, who place no value on logic, evidence, reason, or the burden of proof.

I'm not sure how having reps in the room makes it impossible to rig, but okay. You can add weight to the balls or whatever.

how do you add weight to the balls that causes them to give the results you want the first time, but then stop giving those same results after that as they use the same balls to figure out picks 2 and 3? All while 14 people with a serious vested interest in the results are watching as well as reporters?

All that happened is the team with the 2nd best chance at the first pick had one of their combinations hit, then the team with the best chance had one of their combinations hit. Imagine the complaining had the TWolves not tanked the last 15 games of the season and actually stayed ahead of Cleveland in the standing. THe exact same lottery results would have given cleveland picks 1 and 2.

[INKtastic]

I can't believe 43% people on here believe it's rigged...

the draft lotto is fixed. the nba doesn't care about tanking. the general public doesn't care which team sucks more - the timberwolves or the cavaliers. they care about seeing if rose can beat the heatles. so don't say that the draft lotto is in place to prevent tanking. it's there to allow the league some (but not supreme) control over where franchise players go. as everyone has stated, if there was no tampering, the process would be completely transparent.

It is, they have members of the press and representatives from each team there while they do it. If it was rigged, somebody would say something. They only present it the way they do to make it more dramatic.

They used to televise the whole process, and people want to claim that was rigged too.

[CarMalone]

I still cannot believe the number of people making accusations of rigging without offering any proof whatsoever.

Here are the facts. These are undisputed:
* The lottery is not based on a single ball but rather a 14 ball combination (this is done to reduce the effectiveness of manipulating a ball).
* Each team has a representative present during the process.
* Members of the media are present during the process.
* The lottery is done by an independent accounting firm.

Are there any facts or evidence supporting the assertion that it's rigged?

[theokie]

I still cannot believe the number of people making accusations of rigging without offering any proof whatsoever.

Here are the facts. These are undisputed:
* The lottery is not based on a single ball but rather a 14 ball combination (this is done to reduce the effectiveness of manipulating a ball).
* Each team has a representative present during the process.
* Members of the media are present during the process.
* The lottery is done by an independent accounting firm.

Are there any facts or evidence supporting the assertion that it's rigged?

Thank you.

Its not like David Stern and one guy from E&Y go back behind a closed door for 10 minutes by themselves and walk back out with the order.

[bryanwithawhy]

I don't think it is rigged. I do find it amazing that in what, 14 trips to the lottery, the Wolves have never moved up, 8 times have moved down, and never gotten the first pick. While other teams with less opportunities have gotten the #1 pick 2 or 3 times.

LOL, you need to take an intro to statistics course.


Chances the Wolves never win the number 1 pick:

2010: 25%
2009: 19.9%
2008: 8.8%
2007: 11.9%
2006: 6.3%
2005: 4.3%
2004: .6%
1995: 8.8%
1994: 15.6%
1993: 15.6%
1992: 19.9%
1991: 25%
1990: 4.3%
1989: 8.8%


So you multiple the probabilities each year of them NOT getting the first pick:

(1-.25) x (1-.199) x ...

Chances of them not getting the number one pick the past 14 years is: 14.65%

Now, statistically they should have won the lottery at least once in their last 14 trips, but on average, they won't win the lottery at all once every 7 times this is replicated. This just happened to be one of those times.

[funkatron101]

So with all the crazy bullsh** we are seeing in here, you decide to "LOL" at me because I think it is amazing that they have never moved up and never landed the #1 in 14 tries. Even though you admit that statistically they should have won at least once.

ok.

[theokie]

So with all the crazy bullsh** we are seeing in here, you decide to "LOL" at me because I think it is amazing that they have never moved up and never landed the #1 in 14 tries. Even though you admit that statistically they should have won at least once.

ok.

Its just bad luck. its not rigged, its bad luck. Why would Stern screw Minnesota everyyear.

If it really was rigged, and Stern was smart enough to get away with it, wouldnt he have had Minnesota win once, or atleast move up once before not to make it so obvious?