Official NBA 2014 Draft Thread

So i just watched the Cavs get number 1 pick.. because some guy held up a card that said "Cavs" on it. Did i miss the actual lottery? Is there not supposed to be some sort of very random and public live draw? Or did someone just decide Cavs get number 1 again and they call it a lottery? Confused.

All of the actual ping ball ball process is done backstage, before the broadcast in the presence of lawyers and all that mumbo jumbo. For television purposes, this is the only part shown.

nichj99 said:

All of the actual ping ball ball process is done backstage, before the broadcast in the presence of lawyers and all that mumbo jumbo. For television purposes, this is the only part shown.

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I think i'd feel more comfortable if the ping pong business was broadcast live. Cavs defying their 1.7% chance 3 times is a little concerning... and they just became the first team ever to jump from 8th pick to 1st pick i think. Suss.

Draft lottery is clearly rigged after today

From someone on Reddit:

Variance is such a beautiful, miserable thing. On 1 hand you have the Kings. In 28 seasons in Sacramento we have made the playoffs 8 times. We got royally fucked in the 2002 WCF and should have won a Championship. We have never made the finals, and we have had 1 HOFer in the Sac era, possibly 1 more.

We have been in the lottery 19 times. In those 19 lotteries we have moved down 10 times. That's 52.6% of the time we pick lower than projected.

We have picked higher than our projected pick 1 time in 19 lotteries. That was in 1989 when we moved up from the projected 6th pick to the number 1 pick. It was a relatively weak draft, and we wasted our pick on Pervis Ellison.

In 19 years we have had only 2 top-3 picks, despite being projected for a top 3 pick 3 times. Our last top 3 was 1991 (13 lotteries ago). We had the projected number 1 in 2009 and picked 4th (the lowest we could possibly pick), missing out on Blake Griffin and James Harden.

Then you have the Cavs.

Since drafting LeBron James (1 of the best players ever to touch a basketball) 1st overall in 2003, the Cavs have made the playoffs 5 times. They've made 2 ECF's and made the Finals once.

Since Lebron left after the 2009-10 season, the Cavs have had a top 4 pick every year. In 2011 they had the #1 pick AND the #4 pick. They have won the lottery 3 times now in a 4 year span since their previous #1 pick left. Last year they moved up 2 spots to the #1, this year they moved up 8 SPOTS to get the #1 (the biggest lottery jump ever).

Despite all of this good fortune and this Golden Horseshoe placed firmly up their ass, they have somehow continuously managed to fuck it up. They have also never won a Championship.

So the next time somebody from Cleveland complains about their bad luck, tell them to go fuck themselves, because they are full of shit. They are one of the luckiest franchises in the NBA. They're just too stupid to do anything with it.

What position did the bulls jump from to get Rose? A leap like that isn't so uncommon.

Harsha_12 said:

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man that must have taken forever to film all the different scenarios love a good conspiracy theory.

Good on the Cavs for getting no.1.

But at the same time, they have no right winning it and I'm starting to get pretty annoyed with the NBA.

Not sure if it's rigged or not, but the Cavs have had an incredible run of draft selections while others have had no luck. We have to qatch horrible teams all year that end up not getting any better.

I'm all for a change in the draft system. I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate wheel kind of thing where every year so many years you'll get no.1.

But I'd like to see something like this.

If you receive a top 3 pick, no matter what, you can't get top 3 the next year. Or maybe even top 5.

I really want to see a League with less tanking and nobody able to rort the system even the way Philly have done with sucking this year and sitting on an injured Noel (even though the Spurs got lucky with this with Tim Duncan).

nichj99 said:

All of the actual ping ball ball process is done backstage, before the broadcast in the presence of lawyers and all that mumbo jumbo. For television purposes, this is the only part shown.

Click to expand...

I am not usually into the draft lottery but how do they really expect anyone to believ that the Ping pong ball draw is not rigged after today's results. For the entire process to have any integrity it all needs to be shown.

Who are the lawyers that oversee it all, Stern, Stern & Stern and sons

And people on other forums in the last few days were talking about it being rigged if the Lakers or celtics got the first pick. Funny how the cavs lose LeBron then become the luckiest team out there, something ain't right!

Sam Smith's take on it - Cavs making mockery of draft with another No. 1 - http://blogs.bulls.com/2014/05/cavs-making-mockery-of-draft-with-another-no-1/

im just looking fowrad to the draft to be over to get a better idea where k love is going.....

Should be a good draft, think the top 4 is set but one always drops, who do you think it will be this year, people are high on the kid with the huge wing span but is very raw, maybe he could jump in if it the right team, I have a feeling parkers going to drop for some reason, not past 5 or 6 tho

So sick and tired of "NBA Lottery is rigged" complaints. It is all based on luck and odds. Is the fact that you have never won lotto mean that Lotto is also rigged? Get a clue. Whilst I agree that a more transparent process, (actually completing the lottery in full public view) would cease MOST of the conspiracy theorists, would anyone seriously watch it? And that is what the NBA is most concerned with, RATINGS. They have no intention of boring their viewers to sleep, so they conduct the rather lengthy lottery process in front of independant lawyers and then bring the results out in a nicely packaged 1 hour program, giving it a bit of suspense and drama, remember RATINGS.

Anyone suggesting that the Cavs are in any way benefiting from the NBA rigging the lottery to make up for Lebron leaving (or whatever todays reason is) is insulting the other 13 teams in the lottery, as well as their own intelligence. What sort of owner/GM would allow the NBA to rig a process as impactful as the lottery?

Remember that the team with the best chance of winning the lottery, in this years case the Bucks, have a 25% chance of winning, but look at it another way... The Bucks have a 75% chance of NOT winning the lottery.

Having now got off my high horse, here is my lottery predictions for this years draft:

1. Cavs - Embiid - Clearly best 2-way player in the draft. Potentially the 2nd coming of Olajuwon, but just as likely to be the next Oden.
2. Bucks - Parker - Bucks take Parker over Wiggins as they desperately need offense from their front court.
3. 76'ers - Wiggins - I think Philly would have taken Wiggins #1 if they had won the lottery, so they will be stoked that he is still available at #3.
4. Magic - Exum - Team needs + Exum's potential makes this a rather easy decision for the Magic. Exum and Oladipo could be most exciting backcourt in NBA.
5. Jazz - Vonleh - I have read a number of reports saying Jazz will trade down, but Vonleh has got Garnett-level potential, would be hard to pass up.
6. Celtics - Smart - I know, I know, Celtics already have Rondo, so why take another PG? Purely so that WHEN they trade Rondo they already another PG to fill
the void, giving them more flexibility in trade discussions for Rondo.
7. Lakers - Randle - Lakers will take best talent available, which is clearly Randle who I picture as a Z-Bo type player
8. Kings - Gordon - With the best two PG's already gone, Kings other need is a defensive PF, so Gordon makes a lot of sense, though I would be willing to bet
that the Kings trade this pick for an established player if the right deal comes along.
9. Hornets - Stauskas - Hornets need scoring, preferably a shooter, and none better in this draft than Stauskas (says the slightly biased Michigan fanatic)
10. 76'ers - Harris - Philly have been keen on Harris for awhile now, so I would be very surprised if he gets past #10. Gives Philly nice option at SG, even
though he is not quite SG size, but with MCW, Philly could have MCW guard opposing SG, or Harris could simply come off the bench
for nice bench scoring lift.
11. Nuggets - McDermott - Nuggets don't really NEED much, other than health, so they will be willing to take the risk on McDermott hoping he isn't the next
coming of Adam Morrison (ie College POY, but NBA bust)
12. Magic - Saric - Saric has said that unless he is drafted by Lakers or Celtics (he will NOT go that high) he will remain in Europe, so this may be a risky pick.
13. T/Wolves - Hood - No team is in more desperate need for outside shooting than the T'Wolves, so I don't see them going past Hood, unless there is the
very possible blockbuster Love trade, which would shift the T'Wolves needs a lot, depending on what/who they get for Love.
14. Suns -Payne - Suns need toughness on their frontline. Payne and toughness go together like cheese and crackers.

Having said all that, I would bet my house that I am not 100% correct, particularly if any of the teams trade their picks and/or Love gets traded, but having a guess is a whole lot of fun.