Is the NBA draft lottery rigged?

KapG

Registered User
Dec 2, 2008
10,608
1,744
Toronto
I don't believe any draft lottery in any league is rigged, other than the outlier with Ewing going to the Knicks in the 80's.

If drafts were truly rigged, the NHL would have sent Connor McDavid to Toronto and Auston Matthews to Arizona.
Crosby is a questionable one given the circumstances surrounding that franchise at the time. Very fishy
 

MVP of West Hollywd

Registered User
Oct 28, 2008
3,490
951
No it isn't rigged. The lotto is done by a big accounting firm (Ernst & Young) who's yearly revenue makes the NBA looks like peanuts, it's not like you could pay them off.
 

Neutrinos

Registered User
Sep 23, 2016
8,587
3,597
No it isn't rigged. The lotto is done by a big accounting firm (Ernst & Young) who's yearly revenue makes the NBA looks like peanuts, it's not like you could pay them off.

If the NBA hires E&Y, doesn't that mean they work for the league?

So long as it's not illegal, why wouldn't they go along with the theatrics of it if they were getting paid handsomely for it?

Do we even know if it's illegal for a league to "rig" its own draft to get a desired result?
 

Neutrinos

Registered User
Sep 23, 2016
8,587
3,597
The 2006 draft never felt right to me


In late February, Toronto hires Italian Bryan Colangelo - the son of one of the most influential men in American basketball - to run their franchise

Colangelo hires Maurizo Gherardini, a fellow Italian who's some big deal over in Italy/Europe to be his right-hand man

In May, Sky Italia - which broadcasts NBA games in Italy - launches their first ever HD

Also in May, the Raptors are awarded the 1st pick, despite having the 5th best odds

In June, Toronto selects Italian Andrea Bargnani with the 1st overall pick


Even if you don't believe in conspiracies, you have to admit that is kinda sketchy

I wonder if the NBA secured any major new TV deals in Australia in the months before Milwaukee jumped from 6th to 1st and selected Bogut
 
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Brodeur

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
25,861
15,264
San Diego
The 2006 draft never felt right to me


In late February, Toronto hires Italian Bryan Colangelo - the son of one of the most influential men in American basketball - to run their franchise

Colangelo hires Maurizo Gherardini, a fellow Italian who's some big deal over in Italy/Europe to be his right-hand man

In May, Sky Italia - which broadcasts NBA games in Italy - launches their first ever HD

Also in May, the Raptors are awarded the 1st pick, despite having the 5th best odds

In June, Toronto selects Italian Andrea Bargnani with the 1st overall pick

Even if you don't believe in conspiracies, you have to admit that is kinda sketchy

Not sure why Colangelo's ancestry has that much sway into it or that his wife is from Italy. He grew up in Phoenix, went to Cornell, worked under his dad for the Suns.

Quick Google search says they hired Gherardini in June 2006, a month after winning the draft lottery. So it's not like they hired him first and then it was rigged that they'd win the lottery. Gheradini had previously interviewed for a GM opening in Charlotte.
 

Neutrinos

Registered User
Sep 23, 2016
8,587
3,597
Not sure why Colangelo's ancestry has that much sway into it or that his wife is from Italy. He grew up in Phoenix, went to Cornell, worked under his dad for the Suns.

Quick Google search says they hired Gherardini in June 2006, a month after winning the draft lottery. So it's not like they hired him first and then it was rigged that they'd win the lottery. Gheradini had previously interviewed for a GM opening in Charlotte.

Gherardini was named Italian League's Best Executive in 2006 - the same year his team won the championship - so it would make sense that he finished the season with his team in Italy

Colangelo's ancestry is important in that I think the NBA wanted to build their brand in Italy and used the Raptors to do it
 
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MVP of West Hollywd

Registered User
Oct 28, 2008
3,490
951
If the NBA hires E&Y, doesn't that mean they work for the league?

So long as it's not illegal, why wouldn't they go along with the theatrics of it if they were getting paid handsomely for it?

Do we even know if it's illegal for a league to "rig" its own draft to get a desired result?

I assume that if E&Y got caught rigging the lottery and taking a bribe, it would be catastrophic to an accounting firm's credibility. They become white collar crooks. This could tank the whole business? So to buy them off you have to pay them enough to be worth the risk. This is a company that makes 30 billion revenue a year so what does it take? You can't just slip them 50 grand, that's like asking a mobster who traffics in millions to kill someone for 5 bucks. Even one million is the rough equivalent to 30 billion revenue as $1.30 is to a person making $40,000 a year, and I don't know where even the one million would come from.

That's before considering the risk the NBA side would take. Putting a multi billion dollar business on the line for the biggest scandal in sports history just so Lonzo Ball can play in Los Angeles?

The 2006 draft never felt right to me


In late February, Toronto hires Italian Bryan Colangelo - the son of one of the most influential men in American basketball - to run their franchise

Colangelo hires Maurizo Gherardini, a fellow Italian who's some big deal over in Italy/Europe to be his right-hand man

In May, Sky Italia - which broadcasts NBA games in Italy - launches their first ever HD

Also in May, the Raptors are awarded the 1st pick, despite having the 5th best odds

In June, Toronto selects Italian Andrea Bargnani with the 1st overall pick


Even if you don't believe in conspiracies, you have to admit that is kinda sketchy

I wonder if the NBA secured any major new TV deals in Australia in the months before Milwaukee jumped from 6th to 1st and selected Bogut

I don't know if Italy launching their TV channel had anything to do with Bargs, but even it did, Bargs was a projected top 5 pick at the time so he would have drawn interest in Italy regardless enough to warrant NBA having interest in expanding there.

One of the problems with lotto conspiracies is you can make up a theory for every person. For example in 2006 I believe Michael Jordan had just bought minority investment of Bobcats and had final say of the team. So conspiracy theory for them winning could have been = getting #1 pick was part of the deal for Jordan buying in to the Bobcats
 

Neutrinos

Registered User
Sep 23, 2016
8,587
3,597
I assume that if E&Y got caught rigging the lottery and taking a bribe, it would be catastrophic to an accounting firm's credibility. They become white collar crooks. This could tank the whole business? So to buy them off you have to pay them enough to be worth the risk. This is a company that makes 30 billion revenue a year so what does it take? You can't just slip them 50 grand, that's like asking a mobster who traffics in millions to kill someone for 5 bucks. Even one million is the rough equivalent to 30 billion revenue as $1.30 is to a person making $40,000 a year, and I don't know where even the one million would come from.

I'm not suggesting E&Y are the ones rigging the draft

Maybe the NBA just does the draft a few times until it gets the desired result, and then E&Y sign off on the balls coming out of the machine randomly - which they did

Maybe E&Y is only being paid an appearance fee to give the illusion that the entire process is being overseen by an independent party

We don't know what they're being contracted for
 
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