NBA execs on the NBA draft lottery

jeffb · 06-02-2012, 11:12 AM

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-...-20120531.html

Quote:

MIAMI – This was the fitting end to one of the darkest, most unseemly episodes in the history of the NBA, the perfect punctuation on the commissioner's manipulation of the sale and salvation of a lost franchise.

The New Orleans Hornets won the draft lottery and get to pick one of the most transcendent prospects in years, Kentucky's Anthony Davis. The NBA-owned New Orleans Hornets, with a 13.7 percent chance, won the lottery. For over a year, David Stern pushed hard to get maximum value for his owners on the re-sale of the Hornets, and Tom Benson gave Stern an asking price and an assurance the franchise wouldn't leave New Orleans.

"It's such a joke that the league made the new owners be at the lottery for the show," one high-ranking team executive told Yahoo! Sports. "The league still owns the Hornets. Ask their front office if new owners can make a trade right now. They can't. This is a joke."

Hornets coach Monty Williams represented the franchise at the draft lottery. (AP)The reaction of several league executives was part disgust, part resignation on Wednesday night. So many had predicted this happening, so many suspected that somehow, someway, the Hornets would walk away with Davis. That's the worst part for the NBA; these aren't the railings from the guy sitting at the corner tavern, but the belief of those working within the machinery that something undue happened here, that they suspect it happens all the time under Stern.

There's no proof, and there will never be proof. Yet, there's an appearance of impropriety – always an appearance – that marches arm-and-arm with Stern into the twilight of his commissionership, marches right out the door with him.

In New Orleans this season, everyone followed orders. The Hornets feared crossing Stern could cost them not only jobs with the Hornets, but futures in the NBA. They ate that trade for Chris Paul to the Lakers, and dutifully sold the commissioner's story that it was never agreed upon, never completed. The Hornets played Darryl Watkins, Jerome Dyson and Lance Thomas 41-plus minutes in the final game of the season in an 84-77 loss to Houston. They played them until the Hornets bottomed out with six points in the fourth quarter of the loss that left them at 21-45 for the season.

"I bet I could get my owner to tank if I knew the chance of getting the No. 1 pick was 100 percent," an NBA team president said in an email.

Perhaps this is too harsh, but it's how rivals feel; a lot of them. They're suspicious, dubious, and the Hornets' winning the lottery fed all of that in an immense way. Monty Williams had the Hornets playing hard for so much of the season, making the most out of so little. They weren't designed to win 21 games in that shortened schedule, and that's a credit to Williams, one of the NBA's fine young coaches.

This is the problem for Stern, and will always be: Within his own league, they're dubious about him, his underlings, about the centralized power structure in New York. Stern created the mayhem of the Hornets season – the vetoed Paul trade that disrupted the operations and balance of several teams – and the fallout never relented. Here comes Tom Benson now, whose NFL organization is mired in one of the great institutional scandals in pro sports history, walking into New York for the draft lottery with a bad team, in a bad arena, and leaving with a franchise star.

Yes, the Hornets are staying in New Orleans, and that's wonderful news for the people there, for the NBA. All around the league, though, everyone will forever wonder: At what cost?

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Toby · 06-02-2012, 11:19 AM

What happens if the #2 kid goes into beast mode and makes uni-brow look like a 3rd stringer?

Toby · 06-02-2012, 11:20 AM

Top ten in this draft are all hyped up, sounds like they can all bring something. There's gonna be some serious moaning and groaning, because a lotta teams don't have shit for picks.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/

shenmui · 06-02-2012, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toby

What happens if the #2 kid goes into beast mode and makes uni-brow look like a 3rd stringer?

I'd laugh as hard as a batholith.

West Coast NBA Fan · 06-02-2012, 03:17 PM

Wojnarowski is just another media hack who takes shots at the league since they didn't give him any inside info during the lockout. The player's are the ones who gave all the info so now these hacks are all anti league and pro player.

FWIW, that profanity lacing GM is probably Daryl Morey. He's the guy who still can't get over his trade being rejected by the league/NOLA ownership because they had the gall to go for a better deal that made it more financially feasible to sell the team. He'll continue to take pot shots whenever and give hacks like Woj more garbage to write.

The lottery is physically impossible to rig. I'm not going to go into great length but there are lawyers, media people and reps from every team in there as this is being done. Here are 2 great articles written by a media member from the room.

The Point Forward Posts Behind the scenes at the draft lottery

The Point Forward Posts An NBA draft lottery conspiracy? It didn’t seem that way

06-02-2012, 11:20 AM	#3 (permalink)
Toby is a nacho hound Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: South of Portland, home of the Blazers Posts: 3,392 Representing:	Top ten in this draft are all hyped up, sounds like they can all bring something. There's gonna be some serious moaning and groaning, because a lotta teams don't have shit for picks. http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/ Last edited by Toby; 06-02-2012 at 11:22 AM.

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06-02-2012, 11:19 AM	#2 (permalink)
Toby is a nacho hound Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: South of Portland, home of the Blazers Posts: 3,392 Representing:	What happens if the #2 kid goes into beast mode and makes uni-brow look like a 3rd stringer?

06-02-2012, 03:17 PM	#5 (permalink)
West Coast NBA Fan is pounding the rock! Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 51 Representing:	Wojnarowski is just another media hack who takes shots at the league since they didn't give him any inside info during the lockout. The player's are the ones who gave all the info so now these hacks are all anti league and pro player. FWIW, that profanity lacing GM is probably Daryl Morey. He's the guy who still can't get over his trade being rejected by the league/NOLA ownership because they had the gall to go for a better deal that made it more financially feasible to sell the team. He'll continue to take pot shots whenever and give hacks like Woj more garbage to write. The lottery is physically impossible to rig. I'm not going to go into great length but there are lawyers, media people and reps from every team in there as this is being done. Here are 2 great articles written by a media member from the room. The Point Forward Posts Behind the scenes at the draft lottery The Point Forward Posts An NBA draft lottery conspiracy? It didn’t seem that way