More compelling than the games themselves will be tomorrow night's NBA Draft Lottery. I'd be willing to wager 100 schrute bucks it outdraws any NBA game in these conference finals.
The last time the lottery meant this much to the NBA was arguably 1985. Lebron was a big deal, but it seemed Patrick Ewing was going to be a lucky team's instant ticket to numerous NBA Titles. Of course, this remains the most talked about Lottery as everyone has their conspiracy theories ... as they should. The NBA's number one market conveniently drew the 1st pick.
Bill Simmons has his theory:
Just in case they pull down the clip between the time we post this blog and the time you read this, here's what happens: when an accountant from Ernst & Whinney throws the seven envelopes into the glass drum, he bangs the fourth one against the side of the drum to create a creased corner (we'll explain why this is relevant in a second). Then he pulls a handle and turns the drum around a couple of times to "mix" the envelopes up. At the 5:23 mark of the clip, Stern heads over to the drum, unlocks it and awkwardly reaches inside for the first envelope (the No. 1 pick). He grabs three envelopes that are bunched together, pretends not to look (although he does) and flips the three envelopes so the one on the bottom ends up in his hand. Then he pulls that envelope out at the 5:32 mark ... and, of course, it's the Knicks envelope.Questions still linger about all subsequent drafts. So I'm curious, do you think this draft was rigged? Do you think recent drafts are still (can you tell my answer to the first question!) rigged?
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