Dwight Decision Thread - Update on Page 10

[JJZFL 619]

Who said anything about the league being scripted? This isn't WWE.

 

Actually that was exactly the assertion made in an earlier post. Scroll up a bit. It's what people were responding to.

[PlugNickel 7]

WWE was what that other guy said. I was directly referring the comments that were replies to my previous post. The implementation of the nba lottery was one of the best ideas by Stern. It eliminated the increasingly louder accusations of teams tanking and gave the nba direct control over where the top players in draft land if they so choose so. The NBA of the early 80's was the Lakers, Celtics, and that was it. No other teams were relevant and received literally no tv coverage. Stern's first year at the helm, the 83-84 season was the focus of teams tanking with the prize being 1 of 5 potential superstars in Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Bowie, Sam Perkins, and Charles Barkley. He quickly realized that these guys are centerpieces for teams to build around. 1985 the lottery is in place as the Ewing Sweepstakes except now the bottom 7 teams all have an equal shot. Ewing was named a can't miss prospect who is a force. He led his college team to 3 straight ncaa championship appearences. What better scenario could there have been then for the largest market in the nation to land this guy? Seriously the other options were Golden State, Atlanta, Indiana, Sacramento, Seattle, the Clippers lol. Btw had there not have been a lottery Ewing would have ended up on either GS or Ind.

 

There are plenty of other instances to examine like us getting Shaq and Webber in back-to-back years. 1999 Bulls win the lottery after Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, and Jackson all depart. How about 2000 with the Nets winning. The pick might have been Kenyon Martin, but do you know who the gm of the Nets was and where he was the years prior? 2003 Lebron to Cleveland. 2008 Rose to the hometown Bulls. Kyrie to Cleveland the next year and winning again this season. The Hornets winning in 2012 while under nba control. There is a reason teams like Sacramento, Memphis, and Minnesota never seem to improve on there draft standing. The NBA is a business.

[Franchise408 116]

Of course Stern knows the best players will want to play for the wealthiest and most historically successful franchises, why wouldn't he? In every walk of life people constantly leave their jobs for jobs offering more money or better perks and nobody questions it, music artists leave independent labels for the major labels all the time, baseball players leave their teams to play for the Yankees and the Red Sox all the time, soccer players leave their teams to play for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona all the time but it happens in the NBA and suddenly everybody questions the morality of the entire league.

 

Question, if you got offered two jobs; one in Denver and one in New York City (what some people consider the greatest city in the world), both are offering the exact same salary but the job in New York is promising they have the near unlimited resources to build a team around you to allow you to work to the best of your abilities and is also offering much more lucrative bonuses (in this analogy the bonuses are endorsement deals) would you really choose the Denver job?

 

No, and yet when Carmelo does it the league gets shunned regardless of the fact that he was actually born in New York and probably dreamed of playing for the Knicks when he was a kid.

 

Furthermore Miami is in no way a large market compared to the Knicks or Lakers, explain to me how Stern is taking advantage of the huge market by "convincing" Lebron to move to Miami. If anything it's a lot more likely that Stern just marketed the Big 3 extraordinarily well and (naturally since they have the leagues biggest star) Miami are on national TV a lot. But people hate that Lebron, Wade and Bosh joined forces so, not content with just hating the players, also have to hate on the league for allowing a team to sign 3 players that they had the cap space to do.

 

Let's further add to that point by saying San Antonio, one of the most successful teams in recent memory, is a really small market, if Stern was so corrupt surely it would have been in his best interest to stop the Spurs from drafting Tim Duncan (in that draft the Spurs had a 21% chance of getting #1 whereas the Celtics, one of these big markets who Stern apparently loves, had over a 35% chance of winning with their own and Dallas' lottery picks)? Then when the Spurs had Duncan why didn't Stern move him to another franchise with a big TV market so that the NBA finals got more views?

 

Conversely Philadelphia is huge, they must have a massive TV market but when was the last time they had players good enough to make the finals? Iverson in 01, that's 12 years ago if you're counting. (Commence the "league to rig Wiggins to Philly" conspiracy)

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKI-fToATpQ

 

Here is how the current lottery system is run, it was not run this way in the Ewing days. I'm not going to completely rule out that this system could be and, in the past, has been rigged but it looks like a pretty fool proof way to run things to me since I assume every team has a copy of the combinations and who owns them.

 

There is legitimately an argument as to why every one of these conspiracy theories is false starting with the 2012 draft.

 

Naturally people say "The NBA owned the Hornets and were trying to sell them, it must be a fix", I say... The Hornets had a combined (with their own pick and Minnesota's pick) .148 chance at winning the lottery, good for 3rd highest in the lottery. How is it outside the realm of possibility that a team with a 15% chance of winning won? Sure it seems "timely" and to the benefit of the league but statistically speaking there's no reason why the Hornets couldn't have won the lottery.

 

A similar argument can be followed for virtually every single "conspiracy" you may have. Plus people don't keep secrets forever, if these conspiracies did really happen we'll find out about it whether it's 20 years down the line or more, if these things happened someone will try and make money off of knowing, if this ever happens I'll hold up my hands and say I'm wrong.

 

 

 

 

The Bulls had a very small chance of winning that's correct but you've got to ask if Stern is so bias to large markets why he didn't throw Rose to the Knicks who would have been a much more "believable" team to win the lottery. If Rose had been from somewhere else would that make this theory less legitimate? Chicago is a big place where basketball is popular, just like New York, just like LA, it stands to reason that a lot of great players will come from these places and they have to play somewhere. For some reason human nature is to try and explain unlikely events with ridiculous theories when in real life it's entirely possible that these unlikely events happened because luck was on their side.

 

 

 

 

 

If Casual fans follow players not teams why does it matter who plays where? That's the point, Lebron can play in Maimi because fans all around the world are suddenly Miami fans. If Dwight leaves LA for Golden State, Atlanta or Houston, which is actually the whole point of this thread, will that legitimize in your mind that the NBA doesn't seek to reinforce the huge franchises that are the Celtics, Lakers and Knicks and instead players just want to play for these franchises because they are storied franchises with tons of cash?

 

And yes, I am naive and blind, me who isn't believing theories about how the league is majorly corrupt to try and justify my blind hatred for specific players and franchises who have screwed over my own franchise.

 

I'm sure along the way there has been some corruption, just like there probably is in most major industries in the world, but to talk about the league like it's completely scripted defeats the point of even being a fan.

 

I have to agree. While I hate the current state of the NBA, there's no conspiracy within it.

[OrlandoFeds 34]

That would be like saying a $25 dollar illegal parking ticket would effect Bill Gates' decision on where to park.

 

No it's not. They aren't fining them $25 when they go over the threshold.

[JJZFL 619]

WWE was what that other guy said. I was directly referring the comments that were replies to my previous post. The implementation of the nba lottery was one of the best ideas by Stern..........

 

I agree with you. Some were responding to the comment about NBA being fixed like the WWE. It was not your comment.

[the notorious S.A.C. 89]

No it's not. They aren't fining them $25 when they go over the threshold.

 

Do the math...the point was it is like losing 5 drops of water out of your swimming pool.

[OrlandoFeds 34]

Do the math...the point was it is like losing 5 drops of water out of your swimming pool.

 

Well no. You are either overestimating how profitable the Lakers really are or undermining the difference the new CBA creates. Read this.

[Passenger57 65]

And the madness begins. So glad we don't have to deal with his BS anymore. The only way the Rockets could have made this better was if Yao sent some Chinese "emissaries" to service him...

 

The Rockets contingent who met with Howard included players James Harden, Chandler Parsons, coach Kevin McHale, general manager Daryl Morey, owner Les Alexander and Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. Yao Ming talked with Howard via Skype from China and, according to the Houston Chronicle, Dikembe Mutombo taped a video message for Howard.

 

Link

[Secretly Space Jesus 670]

Well no. You are either overestimating how profitable the Lakers really are or undermining the difference the new CBA creates. Read this.

 

The Lakers local broadcasting rights alone are worth 200-250 million dollars a year.

 

Buss complains in that article about having to give some of that money away due to profit sharing, but the idea that the Lakers aren't still ludicrously profitable is absolutely ridiculous.

 

Hell, the media deal alone is worth more than the total annual operating expenses of most entire franchises.

[barnettej 263]

The Lakers local broadcasting rights alone are worth 200-250 million dollars a year.

 

Buss complains in that article about having to give some of that money away due to profit sharing, but the idea that the Lakers aren't still ludicrously profitable is absolutely ridiculous.

 

Hell, the media deal alone is worth more than the total annual operating expenses of most entire franchises.

 

So what do you think DOM, any chance that Dwight stays in LA where the pressure seems to big for him?

 

Personally, I hope he does resign him because then they wont have much play when next yr FA comes around. And they would be stuck with a guy who doesnt have what it takes to win a championship or close out games.

[bhnole 153]

Big difference when you have to decide whether to take less profit to keep key players when most teams would need to accept large losses to keep the same payroll.

[30Assists 342]

I think I mentioned the WWE a while back, but not in reference to the lottery. I seriously doubt the lottery is fixed. For that matter, I don't think the games are fixed either (at least not by the league itself).

 

I DO think that refs can be more influenced by "Star Power" in the NBA than other sports, though. And by big market teams moreso than small market ones.

 

I mean, look at what LeBron and D'Wade do and say (and scream, and gesture) at refs compared to what Dwight used to do. Dwight would walk away from a play and roll his eyes and get T'd up. LeBron could probably bodyslam a ref and they'd call a foul on the other team.

 

My statement on it being like the WWE was more in the way that fouls are called and games affected by those calls rather than some grand conspiracy.

 

All of THAT said? I hope Dwight burns the Lakers, then goes to the Rockets, turns into a headcase there, and then no one in the league wants him and he becomes a shunned headcase primadonna that no one wants to play with, talent notwithstanding.