*The Official 2011-12 NBA Thread*

Curious that.

 

Haslem was huge again!!!

 

Why curious? Charlotte had 25% of the combinations, so they should get 1 out of every 4 draws. As for NO getting two of the five draws, it's not that crazy. They had a 13.7% chance. They beat the odds, certainly, but it wasn't like it was some million to one shot.

I agree with you on one front, the pulling of the combinations ought to be televised. Anything done in secret is going to invite conspiracy theories, whether they are valid or not. While televising the drawing wouldn't satisfy everyone, I don't know what else they could do.

I actually think they ought to eliminate the lottery completely as it hasn't eliminated tanking, which was the point of it in the first place. If anything, it made tanking worse since now at least 4 or 5 teams have a reaosnably good shot at the top pick.

 

The envelopes are for TV. The results are acquired by an accounting firm and witnessed by all the teams and several journalists.

 

Obviously the other owners wouldn't seek an investigation, but the Feds can investigate whatever they want.

As to this being the time to rig the lottery I can't imagine why. Somebody would've bought the Hornets, even if it was to move them and the league not only would have made money from the sale itself but also the sizable relocation fee.

I have no idea what Benson is paying for the Hornets but I imagine it wasn't a premium. given the market, the Hornets are only worth so much, Anthony Davis or no Anthony Davis.

 

Hmm, so the Cavs "beat the odds" last yr as well?

Back to back 13.7% chances coming home back to back yrs?

And with that, I believe I've seen enough of this.

 

there is no such thing as "due".

You can flip a coin 1 million times in a row, and it can come up Heads 1 million times.

 

Of course, and stats show tails will come up more often over that many flips (52-48% or so) however I believe I've seen enough Sect, they have lost the benefit of my doubt, not your doubt, but mine.

Still like Dwade and Bron, think they were shat upon through no fault of their own, the league itself has just driven me from it.

 

It seems obvious that there are always enough facts for anyone to confirm whatever they want to believe (lottery was/wasn't rigged, refs favored Miami/Boston, etc.). It's just human nature. People are prone to "confirmation bias" where they seek out and give more weight to whatever confirms their POV and ignore or give less weight to anything that contradicts it.

 

Nobody is going to pay to relocate an NBA team.

Do you agree that the team is more valuable with the #1 pick than without out? You can argue to what degree of course. But it seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

All leagues charge relocation fees. Its to discourage relocation but yet teams move. If you have a great stadium deal in another market then it's worth it

 

Right, but in this particular case I don't think it was feasible. At this point in time any type of stadium deal is going to be nearly impossible, for any team in any league.

 

Not true. The wilfs just got a $600 million stadium in Minny by having the threat of relocation.

Benson was about the only choice of owner who was 100% likely to keep team in NO. There are many markets waiting for an NBA team, many that have beautiful, state of the art arenas, like Kansas City and Anaheim, plus Seattle is out there as a fantastic market should a stadium deal come together

 

Hmmm.

I imagine the Boshy Bear is in uniform Sunday. Maybe plays a few minutes off the bench

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=frontpage&pollId=140364

 

How many times did Simmons vote in that poll?

 

They should make another poll. Like how many people think that Kevin Garnett fouls on every single possession.....


I was listening to Mitch Richmond on the radio this morning and he brought this up. Saying Garnett could be called for a foul on almost every possession. They asked him about the Wade foul on Rondo and he countered with how about the phantom call on Mike Miller? Saying the replays showed that he clearly, plain as day, did not touch anyone!

 

Current word is he is out for 3 and 4 but could potentially see practice work with the team.

 

Because he's a great HC?

 

So I'm curious I saw Anthony Davis play a little bit in college. If he shows up as advertised, who could he draw comparisons to?

 

I would say his upside is somewhere in between Camby and Olajuwon.

 

LOL. That's like saying that Tannehill will be between Kyle Orton and Dan Marino.

 

Camby is a solid defender. But Davis needs to work on his offensive game a little. He has the skill, just a matter of translating it.

 

They were having issues selling the team, so maybe they promised the new owner the #1 overall? Makes a ton of sense. Also they took a huge amount of flack for nixing the Paul trade with the Lakers and creating a crappy team by getting rid of Paul, what better way to make everyone forget all of that by pushing the number one overall pick? Rigging the draft isn't about them sending the player to the biggest market its about deals with owners and making the owners money, I had no doubt that the Hornets would win the draft this year it was obvious the league was going to pull this.

 

Only if one thinks everything is a conspiracy.

If I'm about to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a sports franchise, getting the #1 overall pick in just one year is not going to be the ultimate deciding factor.

The babies need to get over it.

The Hornets were crappy with Paul.

By not talking about it. Which is exactly the strategy they've implemented. When was the last time ANYONE talked about this? It's been swept aside by low-level drivel such as Blake Griffin's beard and Adrian Wojnarowski's descent into insanity.

 

I think some people around here think Occum's Razor was a shaving apparatus....

 

Just because something would make a good movie script, does not mean that it's plausible.

 

Conspiracy all over the NBA...

 

Why isn't is plausible? Do you really believe everything that happens in the NBA is just coincidence? Why doesn't this type of talk follow MLB and the NFL? Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't but the fact that people think its possible with the NBA says a lot. Its not that far fetched. I've been on these boards for years, when do I ever talk about nutty conspiracy stuff in sports or politics? I think the draft lottery is sketchy at best, rigged at worst and with so many sketchy trades, drafts, etc over the years I don't think its that far fetched to believe that the NBA either rigs the odds or flat out rigs drafts and trades to make the league more profitable.

 

People starting talking about the trade again when the Lakers were obviously undermanned in the playoffs, people began to talk about how they would be obvious contenders with Paul..at least I heard that talk so it was out there.

I don't see how this notion is crazy, the league is out to make money and the best outcome for the league was to sell the Hornets, keep them in NO and get them competitive quickly. Things worked out great for the league didn't it? Don't things always seem to workout this way in the NBA?

 

Which "people"? The engineers running the Lakers excuse machine? This year's scapegoat is Pau Gasol, just like last year.

By the way, the Clippers were knocked out of the playoffs too.

 

I agree that the Lakers apologists are ridiculous, much like the Knicks excuse makers but it is talked about and the way the trade was nixed by the league when basketball people within NO wanted to do the deal is suspicious to say the least. This kind of stuff feeds these notions that the league pushes stars and draft picks towards certain franchises whether you like it or not. I was watching the draft coverage live and the first thing any of the commentators on ESPN said was that "this feeds the notions by the conspiracy believers out there that the NBA fixes the draft", its either a great coincidence for the league or the fix was in, believe what you want.

Sure the Clippers were eliminated but do we even get to see Blake in the playoffs (what the league surely wants they pimp this kid like he's MichaelMagicBird wrapped in one) without the Paul trade?

 

Stop watching ESPN.

If the Utah Jazz can get into the playoffs, so can the Paul-less Clippers.

 

The Spurs are looking like poop right now.

 

you are accusing a sports commissioner of a felony. The main reason that a conspiracy here is insane is that you can make a case for rigging it for any number of teams.

The NBA is unique in having a lottery system, because basketball is a sport where 1 guy can make a real difference, so they want to avoid blatant tanking. Those that LOSE (this is key) in the lotto, are the ones that fuel the conspiracy theories.

Remember, the Heat got leap frogged by a team that had almost NO CHANCE to get the #1 spot, (Bulls) and they took D. Rose. Heat got stuck with Beasley.

 

Yaaaawn, u guys are missing a good game arguing about fiction.