Sooooo the Lakers are the 2nd worst team in the league

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

[Ogaju]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

Every company takes risks... the NBA is in the business of entertainment they have to manage the product to put entertaining teams out there so that fans like you and me watch and get intrigued by the product. This does not happen without some engineering. They don't just roll out the ball and play. That is why superstars almost never foul out. That is why you have star calls and rookie calls, and why the ping pong balls at times bounce with very predictably suspicious results. How many top picks in a row did Cleveland get after LeBron bailed?

[adam8]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

Every company takes risks... the NBA is in the business of entertainment they have to manage the product to put entertaining teams out there so that fans like you and me watch and get intrigued by the product. This does not happen without some engineering. They don't just roll out the ball and play. That is why superstars almost never foul out. That is why you have star calls and rookie calls, and why the ping pong balls at times bounce with very predictably suspicious results. How many top picks in a row did Cleveland get after LeBron bailed?

So the NBA is the one thing In the world to favor Cleveland,

Best A.I impersonation

 We're Sitting here he's supposed to be a franchise player and we talking bout Cleveland, I mean listen we're sitting here talking bout Cleveland, not LA not NYC not CHI, we talking bout Cleveland, not the franchises they put on tv everyday like it's their last, we're talking about Cleveland man, how silly is that.

No but seriously why would they risk the entire reputation of the league and the billions of dollars of market share they own in the sporting world to give Cleveland 3 picks in 4 years, risk reward does not fit risk everything to gain what exactly, maybe some Cleveland fans won't be as mad about Lebron leaving, but the rest of the lottery teams fans gets p---ed about never winning.

[Emmette Bryant]

https://theringer.com/the-lakers-should-follow-the-sixers-rebuilding-blueprint-87309ea65a06#.x2vjyh1jy

[Ogaju]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

Every company takes risks... the NBA is in the business of entertainment they have to manage the product to put entertaining teams out there so that fans like you and me watch and get intrigued by the product. This does not happen without some engineering. They don't just roll out the ball and play. That is why superstars almost never foul out. That is why you have star calls and rookie calls, and why the ping pong balls at times bounce with very predictably suspicious results. How many top picks in a row did Cleveland get after LeBron bailed?

So the NBA is the one thing In the world to favor Cleveland,

Best A.I impersonation

 We're Sitting here he's supposed to be a franchise player and we talking bout Cleveland, I mean listen we're sitting here talking bout Cleveland, not LA not NYC not CHI, we talking bout Cleveland, not the franchises they put on tv everyday like it's their last, we're talking about Cleveland man, how silly is that.

No but seriously why would they risk the entire reputation of the league and the billions of dollars of market share they own in the sporting world to give Cleveland 3 picks in 4 years, risk reward does not fit risk everything to gain what exactly, maybe some Cleveland fans won't be as mad about Lebron leaving, but the rest of the lottery teams fans gets p---ed about never winning.

the proof is in the pudding... is the strategy working or not?

[CelticGuardian]

Don't sleep on the potential of their prospects. I only see Jaylen ever becoming as good as those LA young guys project down the line. We can laugh now and probably next season but after that we need a plan.

[adam8]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

Every company takes risks... the NBA is in the business of entertainment they have to manage the product to put entertaining teams out there so that fans like you and me watch and get intrigued by the product. This does not happen without some engineering. They don't just roll out the ball and play. That is why superstars almost never foul out. That is why you have star calls and rookie calls, and why the ping pong balls at times bounce with very predictably suspicious results. How many top picks in a row did Cleveland get after LeBron bailed?

So the NBA is the one thing In the world to favor Cleveland,

Best A.I impersonation

 We're Sitting here he's supposed to be a franchise player and we talking bout Cleveland, I mean listen we're sitting here talking bout Cleveland, not LA not NYC not CHI, we talking bout Cleveland, not the franchises they put on tv everyday like it's their last, we're talking about Cleveland man, how silly is that.

No but seriously why would they risk the entire reputation of the league and the billions of dollars of market share they own in the sporting world to give Cleveland 3 picks in 4 years, risk reward does not fit risk everything to gain what exactly, maybe some Cleveland fans won't be as mad about Lebron leaving, but the rest of the lottery teams fans gets p---ed about never winning.

the proof is in the pudding... is the strategy working or not?

I see no proof and not sure what the pudding is in the analogy, and what strategy are you referring to some nafarious plot to rebuild the city of Cleveland?

I'm done, put way to much rational thought into this already when there is no evidence, no real motive and way to many witnesses.

[Donoghus]

There hasn't been a "Big Eight" in accounting since the late '80s and the one that was responsible for Enron (Arthur Anderson) ceased to exist in '02.

- A CPA quibble on inaccuracies

Also, as RAAAAAAANDY mentioned earlier, it makes absolutely zero sense for an accounting firm to risk everything by rigging an NBA lottery of all things.

[celticsclay]

I don't think they are tanking, I think they are terrible.

There has been some weird stuff going on lately you can spot if you pay attention. Small example Louis Williams is definitely there best player. Last night he scored 20 points but they only played him 25 minutes. Russell and randle also seem to be having more and more phantom injuries. Calderon is starting for some Bizarre reason even though someone like chase randle the 76ers just got is probably already a better player.

I occasionally watch their games, and I agree that essentially Lou and Nick Young are their two best perimeter players (which is hilarious considering they've got consecutive #2 picks at PG/Wing), that being said Russell's injury wasn't fake. I was watching that game on league pass and he definitely tweaked his knee.

I think they are trying stuff out with the young guys, sometimes to the detriment of winning every single game. I don't think that is tanking though. Like Brandon Ingram ran point because they were thin there, and was generally pretty awful at it with a few man this kid could be good in 2-3  years type flashes. Is that Tanking? I guess you could argue it either way.

All I know is that if you're bad enough to lose by like 50 to a mediocre Dallas team, then you probably don't need to try to lose. You're just going to lose a lot.

Not to mention the bizarro world FO with the Buzz kids.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are legit bad no matter what they do. I also am not sure which Russell injury you are referring to. I believe there have been at least 3 separate times he has missed games with injuries and also 3 separate times for Randle for combinations of being sick and having the flu and having nagging injuries. I honestly do think there is an edict from higher up to lose the games and I get that sense watching their games.

For example, I saw some of their game against Utah last week and they were in it for a lot of the game. They probably were not going to win no matter what but it really seemed like Walton was not trying to win and was putting them in a position to lose. Louis Williams was on fire and had scored 20 points in just 25 minutes (believe 14 in the first half, don't have time to closely go through play by play) (while being a +1 for the game). Yet Walton doesn't play Williams for the first 8+ minutes of the 4th quarter despite having scoring less than a point per minute!

How do you defend the situation to put in Ingram before Williams and play a 35 year old caulderon over a guy that was shooting well in a game your offense is really struggling to score points? It is little things like that you will notice if you really watch their games and the rotations and overall foolishness.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Oh no... never mind the secret drawing it is all certified by a big 8 CPA firm. LOL.

That would be the same hallowed institutions that certified derivatives that collapsed the world financial system but for the taxpayers that bailed out the system.

We have to trust these big eight firms because well because they are big eight firms. They are the same firms that certified the books of Enron.

No, the NBA lottery is not rigged. Cleveland just happened to pick up top lottery picks right after LeBron jilted them.

It's totally worth it for a massive company to risk an enormous scandal so that they can send a 19 year old unibrow looking kid to New Orleans.

The incentive structure to do it doesn't make any sense.

Tim Donaghy's stuff is way more persuasive, but even that seemed way more personality driven than overall league driven.

Every company takes risks... the NBA is in the business of entertainment they have to manage the product to put entertaining teams out there so that fans like you and me watch and get intrigued by the product. This does not happen without some engineering. They don't just roll out the ball and play. That is why superstars almost never foul out. That is why you have star calls and rookie calls, and why the ping pong balls at times bounce with very predictably suspicious results. How many top picks in a row did Cleveland get after LeBron bailed?

So the NBA is the one thing In the world to favor Cleveland,

Best A.I impersonation

 We're Sitting here he's supposed to be a franchise player and we talking bout Cleveland, I mean listen we're sitting here talking bout Cleveland, not LA not NYC not CHI, we talking bout Cleveland, not the franchises they put on tv everyday like it's their last, we're talking about Cleveland man, how silly is that.

No but seriously why would they risk the entire reputation of the league and the billions of dollars of market share they own in the sporting world to give Cleveland 3 picks in 4 years, risk reward does not fit risk everything to gain what exactly, maybe some Cleveland fans won't be as mad about Lebron leaving, but the rest of the lottery teams fans gets p---ed about never winning.

the proof is in the pudding... is the strategy working or not?

No?

3 of the 4 teams in the biggest markets are awful. Anthony Davis, Giannis, KAT, Wiggins, John Wall, etc. are all stuck on mediocre teams in irrelevant markets. What about it is "working" again?

[Ogaju]

Have you seen the numbers the NBA is doing? Markets do not matter any more. It is all about TV dollars now.

[SHAQATTACK]

I'll die a Lakers hater

[hwangjini_1]

Have you seen the numbers the NBA is doing? Markets do not matter any more. It is all about TV dollars now.

Oga, you really have gone off the deep end on this one. Let it go. Only you believe this conspiracy, but that is okay. Go ahead, but please stop posting on it since no one buys into it.

Thanks.

[Ogaju]

Have you seen the numbers the NBA is doing? Markets do not matter any more. It is all about TV dollars now.

Oga, you really have gone off the deep end on this one. Let it go. Only you believe this conspiracy, but that is okay. Go ahead, but please stop posting on it since no one buys into it.

Thanks.

Actually, I am not the only one that believes there is tampering in the NBA.

[RAAAAAAAANDY]

Have you seen the numbers the NBA is doing? Markets do not matter any more. It is all about TV dollars now.

Oga, you really have gone off the deep end on this one. Let it go. Only you believe this conspiracy, but that is okay. Go ahead, but please stop posting on it since no one buys into it.

Thanks.

Actually, I am not the only one that believes there is tampering in the NBA.

Then you're wrong with friends, congrats. If markets don't matter why on Earth would the NBA even risk tampering?

This theory has no evidence, makes no sense, and base it's logic on an event that doesn't even happen. The NBA doesn't do the lottery, and your basically arguing that a company that makes 30 billion dollars a year is going to risk it's reputation for a basketball lottery?

Lay off the sauce my friend.