Was the Lottery Rigged?

[Jvalin]

As someone from Blazers Edge said.. If it was rigged there's no way the Blazers would get 1st pick over the Celtics in 2007

Remember Ryan Gomes, the tank commander?

"I probably (would have played), but since we were in the hunt for a high draft pick, of course things are different. I understand that. Hopefully things get better. Now that we clinched at least having the second-most balls in the lottery, the last three games we'll see what happens. We'll see if we can go out and finish some games."

This was the first public comment by a Celtic in 2007 implying that the team was losing games purposely, to improve their status for the draft. As a matter of fact, many teams had tanked hard that year hoping to land either Oden or Durant. It's only logical to assume that Stern wasn't particularly happy with the whole situation. What happened was that the teams with the 3 worst records obtained the fourth, fifth and sixth pick respectively. These were the lowest possible picks they could have obtained through the lottery.

[hwangjini_1]

Until they do the process in the open it will always have allegations surrounding it.   There is no reason to do it behind closed doors.

it is open!!!! it is attended by representatives from each team and other people as well. then, they post videos of the boring exercise on line.

geez, guys. every [dang]ed year we have the same discussions on this.

[GreenFaith1819]

While I don't believe it was rigged I am glad that The Basketball Gods seem intent on renewing the Celtics-Lakers rivalry.

LA will be even more easier to hate / dislike with The Balls there (Yes - Lavar IS part of the package, lol). Plus, you have our time-honored rivalry from ages ago.

There is NO OTHER rivalry in Sports (IMO) that matches BOS and LA.

First, The Lakers will have to kick the Clips out of Staples. They've set up shop there the last few years and will be a hard guest to evict.

Send PG there, since it's rumored that he could end up with them. They'll need a LOT more to compete with the Clips, not even counting US.

The NBA "NEEDS" BOS and LA. Magic vs Danny. Brad vs Luke. Fultz vs Ball. Good versus evil. Additionally, Lonzo has even gone on record stating that he believes himself to be a better player than Fultz due to how well their respective teams did during the season.

Fultz will NOW have a COMPLETE team to run with - not the handicapped version he had in college.

This is one Lottery that IMO turned out perfectly.

[bopna]

The only way of rigging it is weighing the balls to tilt the numbers assigned to a particular team...in the 2017 draw if you re watch it our combination came up 3x before the Fakers then Phila.
The weighing of the actual balls are not televised but are just said that it was weighed under strict supervision then placed in the locked atache case. Now had these balls been weighed infornt of the various teams representative I don't know but stil that is the only way the NBA can really rig it since once the balls are set in motion there is nothing anyone can do about it...you can day part of it is rigged and part of it is luck.

[Jvalin]

The only way of rigging it is weighing the balls to tilt the numbers assigned to a particular team...in the 2017 draw if you re watch it our combination came up 3x before the Fakers then Phila.
The weighing of the actual balls are not televised but are just said that it was weighed under strict supervision then placed in the locked atache case. Now had these balls been weighed infornt of the various teams representative I don't know but stil that is the only way the NBA can really rig it since once the balls are set in motion there is nothing anyone can do about it...you can day part of it is rigged and part of it is luck.

There are 2 different sets of lottery balls. The first set of balls is for practice(!!) and then there is a second one locked in a suitcase. The locked suitcase contains the ''official'' balls of the lottery. Go figure.

[fairweatherfan]

The only way of rigging it is weighing the balls to tilt the numbers assigned to a particular team...in the 2017 draw if you re watch it our combination came up 3x before the Fakers then Phila.
The weighing of the actual balls are not televised but are just said that it was weighed under strict supervision then placed in the locked atache case. Now had these balls been weighed infornt of the various teams representative I don't know but stil that is the only way the NBA can really rig it since once the balls are set in motion there is nothing anyone can do about it...you can day part of it is rigged and part of it is luck.

There are different 2 sets of lottery balls. The first set of balls is for practice(!!) and then there is a second one locked in a suitcase. The locked suitcase contains the ''official'' balls of the lottery. Go figure.

The reason why is that the practice balls get microscopic dings and scuffs as they're bounced around, which can affect their probability of coming out. They're ironically doing it to prevent the exact issue that's brought up here - physical draw materials can differ. But any audit of a lotto like that is going to include measuring and recording all of those draw materials, then locking them up to ensure nothing changes.

Out of curiosity, if you think the lotto was rigged this year but not for us, why would you expect rigging to not affect  the first 3 draws but to affect the 4th in a way that let the league guarantee the Lakers would keep their pick? Just beliefs about how the league views the teams?

[Jvalin]

The only way of rigging it is weighing the balls to tilt the numbers assigned to a particular team...in the 2017 draw if you re watch it our combination came up 3x before the Fakers then Phila.
The weighing of the actual balls are not televised but are just said that it was weighed under strict supervision then placed in the locked atache case. Now had these balls been weighed infornt of the various teams representative I don't know but stil that is the only way the NBA can really rig it since once the balls are set in motion there is nothing anyone can do about it...you can day part of it is rigged and part of it is luck.

There are different 2 sets of lottery balls. The first set of balls is for practice(!!) and then there is a second one locked in a suitcase. The locked suitcase contains the ''official'' balls of the lottery. Go figure.

The reason why is that the practice balls get microscopic dings and scuffs as they're bounced around, which can affect their probability of coming out. They're ironically doing it to prevent the exact issue that's brought up here - physical draw materials can differ. But any audit of a lotto like that is going to include measuring and recording all of those draw materials, then locking them up to ensure nothing changes.

Out of curiosity, if you think the lotto was rigged this year but not for us, why would you expect rigging to not affect  the first 3 draws but to affect the 4th in a way that let the league guarantee the Lakers would keep their pick? Just beliefs about how the league views the teams?

Of course there is some sort of official explanation for all this. The question is do you buy it?

Never said it was rigged, but not for us. It wasn't rigged just for us. That's what I wrote.

[Ogaju]

lol @ yall.

I called the rig months ago. With the theory that the league wants Ball in LA and Fultz in Boston. These will be the picks. A deal is a deal.

[Jvalin]

lol @ yall.

I called the rig months ago. With the theory that the league wants Ball in LA and Fultz in Boston. These will be the picks. A deal is a deal.

I don't necessarily believe there was a deal between the teams and the league. It's only logical for the C's to draft Fultz and for the Lakers to draft Ball. No need whatsoever to involve the teams in the whole thing.

[Ilikesports17]

Rigging the lottery is such an unnecessary risk for the NBA. Can you imagine the lawsuits if they got found out?

Why people just hang onto this is mystifying to me.

[fairweatherfan]

The only way of rigging it is weighing the balls to tilt the numbers assigned to a particular team...in the 2017 draw if you re watch it our combination came up 3x before the Fakers then Phila.
The weighing of the actual balls are not televised but are just said that it was weighed under strict supervision then placed in the locked atache case. Now had these balls been weighed infornt of the various teams representative I don't know but stil that is the only way the NBA can really rig it since once the balls are set in motion there is nothing anyone can do about it...you can day part of it is rigged and part of it is luck.

There are different 2 sets of lottery balls. The first set of balls is for practice(!!) and then there is a second one locked in a suitcase. The locked suitcase contains the ''official'' balls of the lottery. Go figure.

The reason why is that the practice balls get microscopic dings and scuffs as they're bounced around, which can affect their probability of coming out. They're ironically doing it to prevent the exact issue that's brought up here - physical draw materials can differ. But any audit of a lotto like that is going to include measuring and recording all of those draw materials, then locking them up to ensure nothing changes.

Out of curiosity, if you think the lotto was rigged this year but not for us, why would you expect rigging to not affect  the first 3 draws but to affect the 4th in a way that let the league guarantee the Lakers would keep their pick? Just beliefs about how the league views the teams?

Of course there is some sort of official explanation for all this. The question is do you buy it?

As far as why you'd have practice balls to test the hopper and official balls for the real draw? Yes the explanation makes perfect sense. I think you have to already believe there's a conspiracy to see this as evidence of it. Not mentioning what the reason is, possibly not even looking it up, seems in line with that.

Never said it was rigged, but not for us. It wasn't rigged just for us. That's what I wrote.

Misread your post, my mistake. Appreciate the consistency, a lot of people forgot how rigged they thought it was after we won it.

[Jvalin]

Rigging the lottery is such an unnecessary risk for the NBA. Can you imagine the lawsuits if they got found out?

Why people just hang onto this is mystifying to me.

Nope, no risk of lawsuits whatsoever. The NBA is a private company. As such, they have every right to manage their product in any way they see fit. It's not even illegal to fix the basketball games! Obviously it is highly unethical and if the public founds out about it they will lose costumers/fans, but it is not illegal. I guess strong financial incentives are in place, so they are willing to take that risk. At the end of the day, no matter the evidence people will always believe what they want to believe. Remember the Tim Donaghy betting scandal? NBA never filed a lawsuit regarding the fixed games, neither did the league's sponsors. Only thing Donaghy was accused of was betting on games when he wasn't allowed to.

As far as why you'd have practice balls to test the hopper and official balls for the real draw? Yes the explanation makes perfect sense. I think you have to already believe there's a conspiracy to see this as evidence of it. Not mentioning what the reason is, possibly not even looking it up, seems in line with that.

Not asking if it makes sense. Of course it makes sense, otherwise they wouldn't say it. What I'm asking is ''do you believe the league is telling the truth''?

[fairweatherfan]

Rigging the lottery is such an unnecessary risk for the NBA. Can you imagine the lawsuits if they got found out?

Why people just hang onto this is mystifying to me.

Damages among the affected lottery teams, over decades, would probably run into the tens of billions. Fans would flee by the millions. It's debatable there'd be much of a league left if lottery rigging was proven.

I think it's hung onto because a lot of people aren't comfortable with sheer dumb probability as the reason for such franchise-changing events. The appeal of the conspiracy mindset is that the world feels simple, orderly, and predictable (mostly after the fact). Plus there are easy villains when things don't work out and you get to delegitimize the outcomes you don't like.

[the TRUTH]

Personally, I do think the league has rigged the lottery at times. The most suspicious instances are when a team with nowhere near the best odds ends up getting the top pick when they just so happen to desperately need it, so to me, Boston getting the first pick isn't suspicious at all because it was the favorite to do so.

On the other hand, the Cavs winning it in 2014 despite having a 1.7 % chance to do so? Highly suspicious, IMO.

While Boston-LA is obviously the best rivalry the NBA has ever had, I don't think the league has had any incentive to help the Celtics in a long time. First, even when we aren't winning, we still draw better than a lot of teams that are winning (and astronomically better than other losing teams), so there's very little financial incentive to make sure the Celtics are good. The vast majority of teams in the NBA play in front of empty arenas when they aren't any good, so those are the teams the league has an interest in helping.

Second, all the league cares about is maximizing its profits, as it's a business. The Celtics have a large fan base, but don't have anywhere near the "cool" perception with casual Sportscenter fans on a national scale that draws in new fans and bandwagon fans. Even if we have an entire roster of black players, we'll always have the reputation as being the team for white people, which often translates to "not cool" in today's basketball landscape. On the other hand, even if the Lakers have an entire roster of white players, they'd still have a much "cooler" perception than the Celtics. For whatever reason, the Celtics really struggle when it comes to national popularity among fans 35 and under (obviously excluding the New England area).

On the other hand, teams where the fan base only shows up when they're winning need much more help from the league. Back to the Cavs for a second, the league didn't know in May of 2014 that LeBron was going to return. Did you ever watch a Cavs home game while LeBron was in Miami? It was a graveyard in there, and would've continued to be so if the league hadn't stepped in to give them a boost.

I don't think the league rigs the lottery every year, but certainly has in the past and likely will in select instances in the future.

[fairweatherfan]

As far as why you'd have practice balls to test the hopper and official balls for the real draw? Yes the explanation makes perfect sense. I think you have to already believe there's a conspiracy to see this as evidence of it. Not mentioning what the reason is, possibly not even looking it up, seems in line with that.

Not asking if it makes sense. Of course it makes sense, otherwise they wouldn't say it. What I'm asking is ''do you believe the league is telling the truth''?

The reason making sense is very relevant to believing the reason. And the fairness of the lottery would be more suspect if they didn't take that step. So yeah, it's extremely believable. The materials being audited by a 3rd party, then locked up til use makes tampering with them unlikely too. Again, you pretty much have to already assume the lottery's rigged to see this as real evidence of it.