Just a simple yes or no? I know you guys will bring up the Lakers and yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah, whoopity fucking do...just a simple question with a simple answer? The Donaghy issue with the Lakers? D-Whistle and the Heat in 2006? Cleveland landing LBJ and then the #1 draft the year after he walks? New Orleans and the CP3 trade and then landing the #1 pick with a 13.7% chance? Superstar calls? Is the NBA fixed?
New Orleans did have the 3rd best chance, even if it was only 13.7%. So it'd not like it's some crazy thing that happened. I think that individual games are subject to human error (reffing), and that superstar calls are one of my least favorite things in the NBA. Seriously, the NFL doesn't have any trouble developing stars despite a penalty in the 1st quarter being a penalty in the 4th whether it's some scrub or an all-pro. I don't think the lottery is rigged though. I think that no matter who won, people would've been complaining. If it was Cleveland, people would've said that Stern is continuing to help Gilbert out, if it was Brooklyn, obviously people would've cried foul with the Williams/Howard situation, Bobcats-helping out the GOAT, and you could go on and on. It's actually pretty pathetic to see how many people believe it was rigged. There was a poll on RealGM and 62% of people voting said it was rigged. However there were also people who voted that it was rigged who thought that by picks 15-5 being normal "something was up". Reading that made my head hurt given that it would actually indicate due to probabilities that NOTHING was up at that point regardless of whether you buy into NOLA conspiracy theories. The fact that there are team reps in the room when it's drawn, the potential fallout of it coming out if it was rigged, Blake not going to OKC, Oden not going to Indiana, etc. and the fact that it's just stupid is more than enough for me to not think it's rigged.
Why is this in the OT forum? The draft lottery isnt fixed. Do some homework and take a look at every detail of the lottery process if you think its fixed. The NBA has so much to lose and little to gain by fixing it. All the conspiracy freaks can make a case for it being fixed no matter what teams wins.
