Fun question, does anyone subscribe to the idea that the NBA rigs the lotto? Even if you think the answer is no, do you think they fix it some of the years?
I’ve been thinking about the Detroit situation. They are going on year five of finishing between 13-15 in their conference. Five, long, depressing, God-forsaken years. They got Cunningham. He was considered the consensus #1 pick. Up until recently, Cade was their best draft pick up to that point. The only two I remember before them were Dembouya and Hayes. Stanley Johnson was a guy that I thought was more boom than bust, and the Pistons virtually ruined his development track. They literally needed the #1 pick to make the right pick. Ivey still has potential, but looks like he will not develop into the play I thought he could be in Detroit.
There’s always the occasional conspiracy that the NBA purposefully rigged the lotto for SA because they know Wemby will be taken care of there. That wouldn’t explain Detroit slipping to #5 though. Anyways, I suppose that Detroit could still win the lotto this year. There’s always a chance they take the best PG available, but the thought of Sarr joining the Pistons has got to make the Silver’s skin crawl right now.
I’ve just started to realize how much of a cash cow some of these guys will be for the NBA, I’ve had to consider the possibility of an NBA deep-state just deciding on where the #1 prospects go. But I guess we’ll see, the Warriors winning the #1 pick this year would certainly add fuel to this claim though.
