FAH1223 wrote:MikeTheKid wrote:Were honestly tanking for the 2nd pick and forward cause the Magic will get the 1st pick for the Dwightmare!!!
Exactly. We have no shot at the #1 pick. The #1 pick is reserved for the captivating story line.
2010 - We got it after gun gate and Abe dying with his widow and Ted at the lotto
2011 - Cavs got it after the debacle of losing LeBron in Summer 2010... plus Dan Gilbert's son was there
2012 - Hornets got it after the NBA re-routed CP3 to the LAC instead of LAL for better compensation.
2013 - Magic will get it for the Dwightmare
It just makes sense.
It sounds good over the last three drafts, Maybe Stern is just trying to tie up loose ends before he leaves. Does such a conspiracy theory look plausible over the previous ten years?
2009 - Lakers have the largest market share, but with a huge untapped potential in LA for second team
2008 - Got to get another star to Chicago for a second dynasty
Previously there was a period of clever moves that create appearance of smaller market viability, while sending best players to other teams:
2007 - Oden creates appearance of new smaller market dynasty in Portland, while true best player (Durant) assigned to essentially league-made smaller market in OKC
2006 - Top pick assigned to Canada, while two best players (Aldridge, Roy) assigned to smaller market Portland
2005 - Top pick assigned to smaller market Bucks, league arranges for best player (Paul) assignment to smaller market Hornets
Prior to that, a run of strategically placed superstars:
2004 - League assigns best young center and future superstar Howard to Orlando as successor to Shaq in falling short and then going to Lakers
2003 - LeBJ assigned to Cavs to save franchise and play on local boy makes good narrative, knowing he will end up in a much larger market when the time is right
2002 - A Chinese superstar would attract a worldwide Chinese audience in any city, and assigning him to Houston revives a major market team on the decline
Prior to that, major market also-ran cover moves with ulterior motives:
2001 - We'll give MJ the #1 if he agrees to come back (much discussion about whether he would come back regardless of pick)
2000 - This is a horrible draft, might as well give the #1 to the Nets, who need to look more interesting so we can move them back to New York
If substantial and credible evidence of such a pattern of conspiracy were ever revealed (and plenty of journalists would love to break that story) you could add that to the Tim Donaghy affair (which by then might seem like the tip of the cheating/gambling referee iceberg), suspicious trades, some trades cancelled following physicals, where others that should have been cancelled were not, the league selectively overruling certain trades, and EG
still having a job, and be left to wonder whether Vince McMahon is the true brain behind the NBA.
At some point, they'll add a team in Las Vegas (to balance out the one they add in Seattle). They'll wear silver sequined gold lamé uniforms. The cheerleaders will be topless. The parquet floor design will vaguely evoke table games. One dollar out of the price of every ticket will go into a pot randomly awarded to a fan at each game. The Las Vegas Dice. The Las Vegas 21s. The Vegas Craps. It will happen.
If the Wizards get the #1 pick, the likely outcome is that they choose Noel and, due to injuries, his career is somewhere between Ralph Sampson and Kwame Brown, while some players chosen between 6 and 12 turn out to be the top players from that draft. If someone else gets the #1 pick, Noel will probably end up on the HOF, and the Wizards will end up with some tweener type Mortimer Snerd because they're already set at all positions.
