I think the Celtics have learned their lesson---after losing out on both the 1997 and 2007 Top picks---they will say NOTHING but positive, no-tanking things---from top to bottom...they KNOW this lottery is a rigged thing---and they are playing the game the correct way this time around---The league has and will punish any teams who appear to be losing on purpose ( see the 2007 lottery---Impossible the way it turned out )....At least the C's are covering their bets this year....we'll see if it amounts to anything.
Interesting theory. I love a good conspiracy theory but not sure I am buying into this one.
There was a conspiracy to kill Kennedy...yup I get that.
Stern fixed the Lakers-Kings series early in the century....yup that one too.
The C's are covertly tanking because the league punishes teams that overtly tank by rigging a lottery system overseen by world renown accounting firms who's business would collapse if people suspected with real evidence they were complicit in a rigged lottery...a little too far to travel for me.
Ummm...the Lottery is definitely rigged---Why else would they assign certain number combinations to teams---Then, SWITCH the balls just after the Practice Drawing--? Cause the New balls in the Locked box, are weighted---ask Wyc, he said he knew they were NOT getting a top 3 pick---because All of the Celtics Combinations had the #1 & #2 in them----so, they bring in a locked box---with weighted balls (#1, #2)---the air blows up in the hopper....you adjust the air pressure properly, and the weighted balls cannot be picked---and that's how it's rigged....Not saying they do it every year---but they can if they want to--like 2007.
Ummm... do you have any evidence that this happened?
I've never, ever heard of this.
The lottery is not actually run by the NBA. It is run by Ernst & Young, the London accounting firm.
E&Y have annual revenues somewhere around 25 Billion.
The NBA has annual revenues somewhere around 4-6 Billion.
I think E&Y has a lot more to lose if their credibility were to be damaged by any lottery shenanigans. So it does not seem credible that they would be subject to any pressure by the NBA to 'rig' the results.
Also, even though they don't televise the lottery drawing process (because it is tedious due to previously selected number sets having to be ignored), there are actually quite a few witnesses. Reps from every team and even some media members are there.
Your charge sounds like an evolution from the Pennsylvania Lottery case back in 1980, where the one official of was (absurdly) given full responsibility to run that lottery switched the balls in just the way you describe. But that was (a) a system ripe for problems because only one guy was in charge and (b) still failed.
The problem with the 'weighted ball' switch is that it affects all subsequent numbers and ends up being easy to spot - hence he was caught.
Like state lotteries ever since that case, the NBA lottery involves just too many people monitoring the process to make it simple to rig. Any conspiracy becomes exponentially weaker every time you need to involve one more person. And to rig the NBA lottery you would have to involve a lot of people.
The NBA has serious credibility problems in other areas - in particular the officiating, where we KNOW there has been at least one ref convicted of doing bad things and a lot of heavy shadows cast over several others. I don't really see any evidence to buy in to a 'rigged lottery' conspiracy.
In the end, I also just don't see that the alleged 'benefits' to rigging the lottery (marginally strengthening interest in it's already strongest markets) come even close to outweighing the potential damage, should such a scheme get truly caught.
I think it's safe to take the tinfoil hat off.
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