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Courtesy: Bleacher Report
Conspiracy theories abound in the NBA. The refs are biased, the Knicks got help from David Stern in getting the number one pick, Michael Jordan winning the finals on Father’s Day and the biggest conspiracy of them all, the draft lottery. The Cleveland Cavaliers again received the #1 pick in the NBA draft, beating out the Milwaukee Bucks who not only finished 18 games behind the Cavs, but also finished last in their division!
This is the second year in a row the Cavs have won the #1 pick and the third time in four years. Why are the Cavs still being rewarded for losing Lebron James? And when will the other owners wake up and start sending Comic Sans letters to their fan base to have a better chance at the #1 pick? The Cavs had a 1.7% chance of winning the lottery, while the Bucks had a 25% chance. In the last 20 years, the team with the best chance of getting the number 1 pick has only received it 3 out of 20 times. This has got to change.
The NFL held it’s draft two weeks ago during the Heat/Nets game. One of the most famous athletes in the world and the number one star of the NBA was playing and the NFL trounced the playoffs in the ratings. Not with a football game but with the draft!
If the NBA wants to pick up some new fans and not piss off it’s old ones, a great place to start would be abolishing the current draft format. Get rid of the draft lottery program and leave the ping pong balls to the Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries. Anyone who plays the lottery knows that it’s a game of chance. If my team finished last in the division in the NFL, I know for a fact, outside of a trade, that my team will have the number one pick.
Change the NBA draft format to resemble the NFL draft. Let the last place team be assured of the number 1 pick while the current NBA champ chooses last. Then the real fun can begin. Who will they take? The number one guy available or will they trade down to get more draft picks? Will they go with the superstar or go with need? And the most important question, who gets to wear the Mel Kiper hair? It’s bad enough when a team finishes last. Why add insult to injury and have them miss out on the player who could change the future of the entire franchise?
The draft could be held the night after the MLB All-Star game so the spotlight would be on the NBA only. By the way, please only make it one night and don’t get greedy! Hint, hint.
Adam Silver made a huge statement a few weeks ago by letting everyone know there’s a new sheriff in town. Maybe the second banned for life decree should be given to the draft lottery.
At least the lottery won’t be able to go on Anderson Cooper to plead it’s case.
