Does Stern’s lottery hold any luck?
During his tenure NBA Commissioner David Stern has been heavily criticised due to a number of conspiracy theories and it appears as though the New Orleans Hornets winning Wednesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery has once again thrown Stern’s credibility into the limelight.
Entering the draw, New Orleans held the forth-best odds (13.7%), while the Charlotte Bobcats were the favourites to win the lottery (25%) and the Washington Wizards second-favourites (19.9%). With 13.7% chance, New Orleans won the lottery.
For over a year the league-owned Hornets were merely a self-advertisement. Looking to maximise the team’s value, Stern vetoed Chris Paul’s trade to the Los Angeles Lakers before agreeing shortly after to trade him to the LA Clippers for a more valuable team on the open market.
He was then able to negotiate the £220 million sale of the Hornets to New Orleans Saints’ owner, Tom Benson. Now some believe the draft lottery was rigged as a “thank you” to Benson for his purchase.
With the number one pick, New Orleans are likely to select one of the top prospects in years, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis. While some league executives questioned the fairness of the David Stern’s operation, others wondered aloud whether the lottery was fixed.
“It’s such a joke that the league made the new owners be at the lottery for the show,” one high-ranking team executive said. “The league still owns the Hornets. Ask their front office if new owners can make a trade right now. They can’t. This is a joke.”
A decision to start bench players and a significant drop in form at the end of the season arose suspicion early on and, while the executives preferred to remain nameless, the NBA’s players took to Twitter to express their feelings about the draft lottery.
The Portland Trailblazers’ Jonny Flynn declared, “The fix is in” while Minnesota Timberwolves’s star Kevin Love got political stating, “I demand a recount!!!”
Love’s teammate Derrick Williams questioned the process the lottery takes, saying, “I just wanna know why they don’t show the lottery balls getting picked out anymore.” Before the Memphis Grizzlies’ Quincy Pondexter replied to Williams, “You know why.”
This is not the first time that Stern has been accused of fixing a draft lottery. In 1985 the NBA had its first-ever lottery. With the New York Knicks needing a big-time player, Patrick Ewing, who was already an East Coast icon from his days at Georgetown University, was selected at number one.
Conspiracy theorists point to the moment New York’s card is put into the ball. It is banged against the wall (unlike the other cards) creating a crease in the card’s corner, allowing Stern to know which to select at number one.
Even as recently as last year’s lottery, Timberwolves General Manager David Kahn stated that he knew Minnesota was “dead” when he found himself in a three way final between himself, Utah Jazz’s executive and Nick Gilbert, son of the Cleveland Cavaliers and sufferer of neurofibromatosis.
“This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” said Kahn. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and (at the 2011 lottery it) was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done.”
Of course this does not officially prove anything and is far from being the whole story. It does not mean that you are crazy either if you believe the sale came with a wink and the assurance of the No. 1 pick.
Although it could never be proven, nothing is unbelievable under Stern’s control.
