I'd be interested in hearing exactly how you think Stern will accomplish this skulduggery with the lottery. The drawing is conducted with representatives of each team watching as the ping pong balls come out of the hopper. Unless you think that the teams are all in on it or are all represented by nitwits, it seems extremely unlikely that Stern could put the fix in.
36.6 minutes in 25 games, 18.6 points on 49% shooting, 1.9 3's at 40%, 8.3 assists & 3.4 TOs, 3.5 RBs, 1.9 Stls. as a starter last season, Dragic was dominant not mediocre. The stats he produced during those final 25 games were better then DWilliams and every other PG not named Chris Paul. He's 2 years younger and doesn't have nearly the hard miles. that DW is speculated to be seeking about double what GD is makes the who to target in Free Agency question pretty much a no brainer IMO. STOMP
I have no idea. I believe it will happen though. Maybe certain ones are weighted or whatever, giving certain teams a better chance?
Ya I agree. Although in reality, I think Dragic is somewhere in between mediocre and dominant. A very good starting PG in the NBA
Your belief doesn't seem to mesh well with draft history. Consider the 2007 draft lottery. Two players, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, were seen at the time as being absolute locks as franchise players. The Blazers finished with the seventh worst record and the Sonics the sixth worst. The Boston Celtics, a major market franchise with huge NBA following and history, tanked their way to the second worst record. Instead of the Celtics ending up with either Oden or Durant, which certainly would have been great for NBA viewership, two teams from small markets beat the odds to get the top picks. Of course, maybe Stern wanted to bring OKC into the league with a bang and maybe he knew Oden's cartilage was made of chalk. Maybe he put in the fix the following summer and let the Celtics get inside position on Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The man is a puppet master! Scary!
It's absolutely my belief that the fix is on in the NBA, from the lottery to officiating. Ever since the bent corner in the Ewing draft, I have thought this
The current lottery system was a direct response to the Ewing debacle. It seems to me that the number of times that teams like the Cavs, Raptors, Wizards, and Clippers have won the lottery since the new system went into use would argue pretty effectively that even if the fix was in at one time, it isn't any longer.
You're right. The Blazers had the seventh pick though, going into the draft lottery, since they'd lost the coin flip with the T'Wolves.
Stern knew Oden was going to be a bust, though, so he rigged it so Portland (who he hates ... see the All-Star game excuses) would be the laughingstock for taking him. He also knew Durant was going to be great, so he had Seattle be #2, so his good buddy Clay Bennett would have a superstar player that would convince a city to build him an area for the Sonics. And that's the troof!
