Question for the "Draft Lottery is Rigged" Crowd

[Baz]

Why do you have a picture of Dirk kissing the championship if you believe the NBA fixes outcomes?

If that's true that title has no meaning because it wasn't a real athletic competition.

Dirk and the Mavericks outplayed everybody that year. I don't get your point, this is about the lottery being fixed.

Is it fair to say you believe the NBA fixes lotteries and trades?

If they can get away with it yes

[ReggiesKnicks]

People who believe in many conspiracy theories have a mental illness. Nothing short of them picking the balls out themselves would convince them.

Your condescension is gross. Should I talk to you like you’re an idiot because I disagree with you?

People who believe in many conspiracies are mentally ill to a degree. The problem with conspiracy theories is that some of them are true, but statistically speaking, very few (a small percentage) are true. Unfortunately, we don't know which ones are real or fake. That leaves sane people to assume they either are all fake (as in all the conspiracies aren't conspiracies) since they don't know which ones are actually conspiracies, or simply not spend time thinking about them at all (That is where I land).

I'm not going to dictate how to live your life, but if you are spending 100s of hours going down rabbit holes of YouTubers explaining why the earth is flat, why we didn't land on the moon, chemtrails, Deepwater Horizon or the JFK assassination, maybe there are better uses of your time.

[cocktailswith_2short]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

how could they have covertly done it ? It has to be done in the open and that's that.

[Marvin Martian]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

They will lean on the media to do a cover up like they did with the Luka trade.

[The Real Dalic]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

They know they'll have their defenders of the league no matter what. People can't quit the NBA. They know this. They owed the Mavericks for helping them with their poor ratings, that was the most important part. They don't want to be seen as liars to those that help them so that other teams can do their bidding for them again when things get tough ratings wise again.

[sp6r=underrated]

Dirk and the Mavericks outplayed everybody that year. I don't get your point, this is about the lottery being fixed.

Is it fair to say you believe the NBA fixes lotteries and trades?

If they can get away with it yes

Then if that is true the games aren't legitimate because the people who control the teams, the owners, are intentionally manipulating outcomes to ensure certain teams win.

The title has no meaning.

[The Master]

People really just don't understand probabilities. Like the chance of any parlay hitting is incredibly miniscule but it happens all the time. Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean it's rigged.

Though I will say, Dallas winning the #1 pick definitely looks rigged

I was defending the NBA re: rigging allegations all the time. That's the purpose of NBA lottery - every outcome is of (more or less) low probability.

This one is nuts though.

[The Real Dalic]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

They know they'll have their defenders of the league no matter what. People can't quit the NBA. They know this. They owed the Mavericks for helping them with their poor ratings, that was the most important part. They don't want to be seen as liars to those that help them so that other teams can do their bidding for them again when things get tough ratings wise again.

Also, to add to this, there are people that were told the results months ago that still are saying it's not rigged and that we're crazy for thinking that despite predicting what would happen months ago.

[bbms]

people aren't talking about how the nerfing of okc that everybody asked for came tonight

dallas getting flagg. dallas 2028 pick getting worse
wemby getting 2 (and maybe giannis)
76ers pick not conveying
utah coming back for another tank job to nerf their 2026 pick

now we're only missing 76ers to win the championship next season so their pick conveys as 30th overall

presti gotta get durant's ass back to okc to fight this

[sp6r=underrated]

People who believe in many conspiracy theories have a mental illness. Nothing short of them picking the balls out themselves would convince them.

Your condescension is gross. Should I talk to you like you’re an idiot because I disagree with you?

People who believe in many conspiracies are mentally ill to a degree. The problem with conspiracy theories is that some of them are true, but statistically speaking, very few (a small percentage) are true. Unfortunately, we don't know which ones are real or fake. That leaves sane people to assume they either are all fake (as in all the conspiracies aren't conspiracies) since they don't know which ones are actually conspiracies, or simply not spend time thinking about them at all (That is where I land).

I'm not going to dictate how to live your life, but if you are spending 100s of hours going down rabbit holes of YouTubers explaining why the earth is flat, why we didn't land on the moon, chemtrails, Deepwater Horizon or the JFK assassination, maybe there are better uses of your time.

I always recommend listening to the watergate tapes to conspiracy theorists. As you said above, conspiracies do sometimes happen. Watergate was one.

But when you listen to those tapes it will drastically undermine your confidence that the NBA could pull off the conspiracy alleged here.

As an example, why would the other owners be okay with Dallas getting Flagg? Remember Silver needs to keep every owner in line with the conspiracy.

[sp6r=underrated]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

They know they'll have their defenders of the league no matter what. People can't quit the NBA. They know this. They owed the Mavericks for helping them with their poor ratings, that was the most important part. They don't want to be seen as liars to those that help them so that other teams can do their bidding for them again when things get tough ratings wise again.

Also, to add to this, there are people that were told the results months ago that still are saying it's not rigged and that we're crazy for thinking that despite predicting what would happen months ago.

Why did the NBA give SA Wemby?

[Optms]

8 and 11 get the first 2 picks. Yeah, not rigged at all.

Not like that hasn't ever happened in the entire existence of the NBA. All legit.

[zimpy27]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

how could they have covertly done it ? It has to be done in the open and that's that.

Repaid the Mavs with a friendly whistle next few seasons, given them a better schedule, orchestrated a trade to the Mavs from another team.

[The Real Dalic]

Is it fair to say you believe the NBA fixes lotteries and trades?

If they can get away with it yes

Then if that is true the games aren't legitimate because the people who control the teams, the owners, are intentionally manipulating outcomes to ensure certain teams win.

The title has no meaning.

The way the NBA rigs games is not by saying "this is the team we're choosing to win the ring this year." It's by forcing certain players to certain markets, forcing certain players into becoming stars, or when the team they want to win isn't looking good or has their backs against the wall, to give them the momentum back through horrible officiating.

There's a reason stars get more free throws then role players and they also almost never foul out. Even bad defensive players don't foul out if they're stars most of the time. But elite defensive role players foul out on a regular basis.

"Star player calls" has been a thing since Jordan. These are small ways the NBA can try to influence the game as a whole in the direction they want it to go.

I personally do not believe most years are even rigged. When the league is doing well, for example, most of the time they just let it ride. When they're struggling with ratings or see the opportunity to gain financially however, that's when they get involved.

[Baz]

Is it fair to say you believe the NBA fixes lotteries and trades?

If they can get away with it yes

Then if that is true the games aren't legitimate because the people who control the teams, the owners, are intentionally manipulating outcomes to ensure certain teams win.

The title has no meaning.

You've blown that way out of proportion. But even with your logic, the Mavs in the Dirk era overcame any league manipulation. Mavs in the Dirk era never had anything given to them. Dirk himself was never meant to be an all-time player.

[SOUL]

People are talking about magic tricks on reddit.

Conspiracy theorists are cooked.

[Clemenza]

Yup. I always have 2 questions for "NBA is rigged" crowd.
1. Why did the NBA allow NYC's team to suck for decades?
2. Why did the NBA hand 3 can't miss HOFers to the San Antonio Spurs who have 0 national profile?

The big market phenomenon wasn't a thing back then. The Clipps were paperbag status during this time as well.

Y'all gotta sit this one out. This was extremely rigged. Take a break and enjoy the games tonight. You get no brownie points for going after the "rigged crowd" after this debacle.

Those posts pre-dated this draft...by weeks no less. And guess what...its still not rigged. Now go and cry about where your team ended up.

Relax, let people do and say what they want. It's a crazy night. Take a deep breath, drink a beer, and chill. Why come into the forum and act like the draft lottery police? Let folks lave their say and fun tonight.

[The Real Dalic]

If it is a conspiracy, why would the NBA make openly obvious moves like this? Wouldn't they be covert?

how could they have covertly done it ? It has to be done in the open and that's that.

Repaid the Mavs with a friendly whistle next few seasons, given them a better schedule, orchestrated a trade to the Mavs from another team.

This stuff already happens. The Lakers have benefitted with calls by a wide margin the past 3 seasons and people still deny that this happens.

It doesn't matter if it's hidden or overt, people will always say it's not rigged. Even a former ref has mentioned that he and other refs used to try to fix games and people just call him crazy. Like he's the only possible corrupt ref out of the hundreds that have come and gone.

Even Wade has said the NBA is rigged.

The only way deniers would believe it, is if Silver himself came out and said it. Why would he do that though when the fanatics eat out of the palm of his hand anyway?

[ReggiesKnicks]

Your condescension is gross. Should I talk to you like you’re an idiot because I disagree with you?

People who believe in many conspiracies are mentally ill to a degree. The problem with conspiracy theories is that some of them are true, but statistically speaking, very few (a small percentage) are true. Unfortunately, we don't know which ones are real or fake. That leaves sane people to assume they either are all fake (as in all the conspiracies aren't conspiracies) since they don't know which ones are actually conspiracies, or simply not spend time thinking about them at all (That is where I land).

I'm not going to dictate how to live your life, but if you are spending 100s of hours going down rabbit holes of YouTubers explaining why the earth is flat, why we didn't land on the moon, chemtrails, Deepwater Horizon or the JFK assassination, maybe there are better uses of your time.

I always recommend listening to the watergate tapes to conspiracy theorists. As you said above, conspiracies do sometimes happen. Watergate was one.

But when you listen to those tapes it will drastically undermine your confidence that the NBA could pull off the conspiracy alleged here.

As an example, why would the other owners be okay with Dallas getting Flagg? Remember Silver needs to keep every owner in line with the conspiracy.

The most likely conspiracy theories are the ones involving the least number of people.

[The Real Dalic]

They know they'll have their defenders of the league no matter what. People can't quit the NBA. They know this. They owed the Mavericks for helping them with their poor ratings, that was the most important part. They don't want to be seen as liars to those that help them so that other teams can do their bidding for them again when things get tough ratings wise again.

Also, to add to this, there are people that were told the results months ago that still are saying it's not rigged and that we're crazy for thinking that despite predicting what would happen months ago.

Why did the NBA give SA Wemby?

1. To keep the West competitive? 2. To give a team with a long line of elite big men another one? Maybe even some other reason I can't think of. However, I believe it is the first reason. People always talk up the Western Conference, especially in the playoffs. The more competitive teams out there, the better for the league.

It's no coincidence that every single time there was a "generational star" the West has gotten the 1st pick. Every single time outside of Rose and LeBron in the 2000's. And they only went to those teams because they were the hometown heroes. Even LeBron said he thought both of those were rigged due to the storylines.