http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--n...-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.html Watched the NBA for a long time, when Jordan pushed Russel and hit the shot to win the game, that was enough to cool my interest, now there is this which even I could see coming, coupled with consistently awful playoff officiating and the NCAA becoming a low grade feeder league for the NBA and I do believe I've had enough.
This just in, low-quality NBA GM whines about his awful team not being able to get better; person with vested Internet argument interest pushes angle.
The whole draft lottery show reminded me of a sidefreak show in a tent at a cheap circus. Embarrasingly inept and laughable. The NBA needs new professional leadership ....soon.
Who cares, even if the lottery is rigged? Just their way of trying to ensure some parity. Not a big deal IMO.
I imagine the exec was Darryl Morey who is Woj's "go-to" GM for silly outlandish statements. This is the same clown who told Bosh that a trio of him Wade and LBJ would win between 40-45 games while Bosh joining the rockets and their collection of mediocrity would result in a 60 win season. There was a 75% chance last night that somebody other than the bobcats would win the lottery. The lottery odds are terrible for the bad teams.
Very little incentive to change business as usual, this is one of the reasons why enough is enough for me. Last night when the stench was rising from all of this, the idea was floated that the NBA no longer owned the team, at the very least this rebutts that notion.
There is de jure and de facto, and the sale still has to be approved by the board of governors. And yrs of bad officiating, whether it helps or hurts a team I'm interested in has finally taken it's toll. It's a bit like 3 card monty.
I've always hated the subjective nature of NBA officiating. I even stopped watching for a few years b/c of it. But I would say that the officiating has gotten better since. I thought this year the officiating was pretty balanced. Sure there were and always will be a ton of missed calls and tick tack calls, but I would say that this year felt more balanced than last year.
The sale was approved by the board of governors a month ago. What is left is the financing on arena improvements which is a condition on the sale. That is expected to go through.
What do referees have to do with the NBA draft lottery? Padre, if you don't like the product, change the channel.
Its ridiculous to suggest that the refs were inherently biased. The NBAs delegation of refs to games though can be biased and an easy way for them to influence the outcome of games. Some refs are naturally more favorable to home teams.
BTW, the Patriots two years ago, went 12 consecutive games without a holding call. So when do we boycott the NFL?
Exactly bubbinga! The refs were merely the second ingredient in a pot of what has become a rancid stew that has brewed for a long time. I think pro wrestling is terrible enteratinment, the nba has reached that level as well, it is poor drama masquerading under an air of seeming respectability, and like pro wrestling there are those who will swear that it is not fake.
Here is the thing, and Sect can document this, some refs are consistently bad, predictably, and sharp bettors know this and ride their biases like ponies to winnings, this has went on for years, coupled with the lottery nonsense and I do believe the Stanley Cup will be on from henceforth. Good luck to the heat as DWade and Bron and UD are class guys, not their fault, but I'm done.
I wouldn't say ridiculous since it is common knowledge that Donaghy was a cheat. Like any profession you can probably assume that most are doing their job honestly but are still prone to human bias and that some are crooked. It's probably more ridiculous to assume that there are no cheating refs in the league. The issue is whether or not that percentage of bad ones is large enough to taint the whole experience. The analogy is law enforcement. While I believe that the majority of cops are good there are clearly enough bad ones that a large part of the population doesn't trust them. With the NBA if a large enough percentage of fans (especially the non-hardcore group) feels it's rigged then they will leave as I did for a few years.
That's your choice and it's the same one I made a few years back. It all comes down to to perception. My perception when I left was that it was too much like pro wrestling. That's not my current perception. Clearly that's your current perception.
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/31/an-nba-draft-lottery-conspiracy-it-didnt-seem-that-way/ from a guy that was actually there.
I don't think there are many, if any cheating refs. In the sense that they will make calls they know are wrong, just to win a bet or influence the outcome. But naturally, as you point out, some are prone to human bias. There are plenty of studies that have shown that home field advantage in sports is only due to getting more favorable calls at times. My point is that there is enough data for the league to determine which refs favor the home team. The NBA then can influence (to a small degree) the outcome of games.
I would say that it's practically impossible for there not to be some refs that cheat. If you ever ready Donaghy's book he spoke about other refs who went into games with plans about how to keep the games close. There was one conversation that came to mind where a ref told before the game Donaghy that Tim Duncan would get two early fouls and that most the other team would win thus ensuring a game seven (or at least another game). This was not a betting thing for the ref and it surely benefitted the NBA (so the NBA wouldn't effect this), but it is clearly unfair.
Not so, millions riding on the outcome of a game, ref's who are clearly bad at their job at best, corrupt at worst, and yet "wink" and "nod" let us continue to trot them out there..gosh..nothing to see here. The 1919 Black Sox would blush Oh yeah, the whole "lottery" thingy..uhm do tell what other "major" sport has a draft lottery? One designed to attempt to keep franchises from losing by design to secure a high draft choice? The lottery is literally designed to keep teams from wasting a year..in the NBA..it does not even accomplish that much.
