Which NBA conspiracy theories do you believe in?

[seattlefan75]

Bitter?

yup

 

[shopson67]

The envelope is the most believable. They've changed the lottery so its basically impossible to rig it nowadays.

If we're going to believe that one, we need to include the Cavs run of #1s too. They were kind enough to waste a few though.

 

[shopson67]

Kings Lakers was fixed for sure. Maybe the Ewing one, but I don’t know.

The Jordan suspension is hard for me to believe.

For 1 thing, if Stern was going to sweep the issue under the rug, then why suspend him at all? He was the NBA at that point in time.

And if he was just suspended, he would have been far more prepared for his comeback. He went all in on baseball and was very out of basketball shape when he returned.

LOL at Kings/Lakers being fixed. There was still another game to be played; that game didn't decide the series.

I do have a tendency to believe the Jordan one, as well as the lottery fixes. Any time they make the process "too complex to fake" and then make the selections behind closed doors, there is a big opening for the fix to be in. Freezing an envelope? Plausible.

 

[dtgold88]

2011 NBA Draft where the Cavs won the Lottery right after Lebron left.

Also an additional 2 times they won the lottery before he decided to come back.

Tough to buy any fixing of the lottery since they changed it to a weighted format. Never mind why would they care so much about Cleveland to help us out and put a guy like Lebron here.

who did the fixing those years? Other owners in the lottery are going along with this?

 

[dtgold88]

LOL at Kings/Lakers being fixed. There was still another game to be played; that game didn't decide the series.

I do have a tendency to believe the Jordan one, as well as the lottery fixes. Any time they make the process "too complex to fake" and then make the selections behind closed doors, there is a big opening for the fix to be in. Freezing an envelope? Plausible.

Every team is represented behind the doors. If they wanted to fix it for a team that wasn't his own a guy like Cuban would just say "sure...whatever's best for the league"?

 

[shopson67]

Every team is represented behind the doors. Guy like If they wanted to fix it for a team that wasn't his own a guy like Cuban would just say "sure...whatever's best for the league"?

Why conceal it from the public? Instead of talking about nothing for the first half hour of the telecast, they could show the actual process.

 

[dtgold88]

This is wrong. He went privately to the Bucks and requested a trade to either the Knicks, Bullets or Lakers. The Lakers gave up so much to get him that they were actually projected to finish near the bottom of the Pacific Division standings after the trade. I specifically remember this because Elmore "The Rejector" Smith was my favorite Laker and was part of the trade. Also, I was still mad at Kareem because he led the Bucks team that ended the Lakers 33 game win streak in 1972. So I was pissed about that trade. lol



The pick was the result of an earlier trade with the New Orleans Jazz and the Jazz sucked at the right time. Or did the league tank the Jazz to help the Lakers?



The Lakers received the Cleveland Cavaliers 1st round pick from a 1979 exchange for forward Don Ford.

So, both were part of earlier trades (I believe Worthy's had more to do with an expansion draft) in which the Lakers were compensated just as any other team would have been. Not all that different from the Warriors having the cap space to add another superstar to a championship team just when Kevin Durant became a free agent because earlier injuries delayed Steph getting his huge deal.

By your stupidity, the league must have also timed the Celtics sucking so that it lined up with Larry Bird being available so that the league could revive the Lakers/Celtics rivalry.

Making sure the Lakers are good must also be why they allowed the Celtics to beat them what? 9 times in the finals?

So please, tell us all again how the league makes sure the Lakers are good.

Beat me to the Worthy mention......part of why we have The Stepien Rule.

 

[dtgold88]

Why conceal it from the public? Instead of talking about nothing for the first half hour of the telecast, they could show the actual process.

Because "the actual process" is not really TV worthy? Do you know what it is? If they showed the actual process you'd know the #1 pick 15 seconds after they started. Kind of loses the drama, no?

who do you think is behind the fix with a rep from every team in the room?

 

[shopson67]

Because "the actual process" is not really TV worthy? Do you know what it is? If they showed the actual process you'd know the #1 pick 15 seconds after they started. Kind of loses the drama, no?

who do you think is behind the fix with a rep from every team in the room?

I just don't like it being behind the scenes. People used to think drafts weren't TV worthy either.

 

[dtgold88]

I just don't like it being behind the scenes. People used to think drafts weren't TV worthy either.

I'd rather see it than not but not sure what kind of format they could come up with in a weighted system where the first team drawn gets the #1 pick.

do you really think it's concealed because there is some conspiracy? With each team represented (and a few reporters) in the room?

 

[shopson67]

I'd rather see it than not but not sure what kind of format they could come up with in a weighted system where the first team drawn gets the #1 pick.

do you really think it's concealed because there is some conspiracy? With each team represented (and a few reporters) in the room?

Tranparency is the best tonic for conspiracy theories, much better than taking someone's word for it; anyone can be on the take.

 

[dtgold88]

Tranparency is the best tonic for conspiracy theories, much better than taking someone's word for it; anyone can be on the take.

OK, but people saw the entire Ewing lottery and think it was fixed (and if any of them were, seems that was the most likely) so even if they showed it the conspiracy theorists would come up with something since that's what they do.

seems you have nothing to answer why the others in the room would allow it to be fixed? Who is fixing it and why?

If they are fixing it, they aren't very good at it. Memphis, NO, Minnesota, Sacramento getting recent, coveted picks?

 

[shopson67]

OK, but people saw the entire Ewing lottery and think it was fixed (and if any of them were, seems that was the most likely) so even if they showed it the conspiracy theorists would come up with something since that's what they do.

seems you have nothing to answer why the others in the room would allow it to be fixed? Who is fixing it and why?

If they are fixing it, they aren't very good at it. Memphis, NO, Minnesota, Sacramento getting recent, coveted picks?

I never said every occurrence was fixed. But as noted by someone else, teams get rewarded after big stars leave a little too often to not raise suspicion. I would rather ditch the lottery altogether and just go with either a draft where you finish system or all non-playoff teams (if they keep the play-in, all teams involved are excluded) get an equal shot. If someone tanks, so be it. To battle the tanking, you could alternate those two systems randomly. Each year after the regular season, flip a coin to see if the names go in a hopper or if the draft is straight chalk.

 

[dtgold88]

I never said every occurrence was fixed. But as noted by someone else, teams get rewarded after big stars leave a little too often to not raise suspicion. I would rather ditch the lottery altogether and just go with either a draft where you finish system or all non-playoff teams (if they keep the play-in, all teams involved are excluded) get an equal shot. If someone tanks, so be it. To battle the tanking, you could alternate those two systems randomly. Each year after the regular season, flip a coin to see if the names go in a hopper or if the draft is straight chalk.

I can recall Cavs being rewarded after losing Lebron, but they did have the top odds to win with their own pick (even though the winner was the pick they got from the Clips). Not sure of another that fits this narrative of star leaving.

I was fine with the previous way they did it, but this one is OK, too, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[trojanfan12]

I never said every occurrence was fixed. But as noted by someone else, teams get rewarded after big stars leave a little too often to not raise suspicion. I would rather ditch the lottery altogether and just go with either a draft where you finish system or all non-playoff teams (if they keep the play-in, all teams involved are excluded) get an equal shot. If someone tanks, so be it. To battle the tanking, you could alternate those two systems randomly. Each year after the regular season, flip a coin to see if the names go in a hopper or if the draft is straight chalk.

So, you and someone else think that other teams are going to go along with fixing the draft? Because that's what would have to happen.

Do you think that owners like Cuban and Gilbert, who bitched about a legal trade to the point that they were a big part of why it was vetoed, would just keep their mouths shut if they thought something was suspicious about the draft?

 

[Robotech]

Kings Lakers was fixed for sure. Maybe the Ewing one, but I don’t know.

The Jordan suspension is hard for me to believe.

For 1 thing, if Stern was going to sweep the issue under the rug, then why suspend him at all? He was the NBA at that point in time.

And if he was just suspended, he would have been far more prepared for his comeback. He went all in on baseball and was very out of basketball shape when he returned.

Watching the Kings-Lakers in 2002, it felt like it was totally fixed to go 7 games, but then the Kings just couldn't make their free throws in Game 7 and choked it away.

 

[Robotech]

If we're going to believe that one, we need to include the Cavs run of #1s too. They were kind enough to waste a few though.

I'm guessing that the chances of the Cavs getting all of those no. 1 picks was less than the chance of getting struck by lightning twice.

 

[dtgold88]

So, you and someone else think that other teams are going to go along with fixing the draft? Because that's what would have to happen.

Do you think that owners like Cuban and Gilbert, who bitched about a legal trade to the point that they were a big part of why it was vetoed, would just keep their mouths shut if they thought something was suspicious about the draft?

when they decided to give the Cavs Kyrie, you don't the other owners just said, "whatever you think is best for the league"?

 

[Robotech]

All 3 of those

although game 7 in 2010 was far worse than that lakers/kings game.

I watched the first 3 quarters of that game, but then I had to leave to pick up my wife and just followed along on the radio. Afterwards, I remember reading comments from Celtics fans that the officials called the game differently in the 4th quarter.

 

[shopson67]

when they decided to give the Cavs Kyrie, you don't the other owners just said, "whatever you think is best for the league"?

They were playing the long game, knowing it would eventually blow up lol.