Why does the NBA hide the drawing of the ping pong balls ?

[mrjap2x]

It just doesn't make sense. :eyebrows

[hooperflash]

have they ever done that, even in the past?

crazy huh lol, what's so special about a cardboard with the team's logo.

SHOW US SOME BALLS! :lol

[will_spurs]

It just doesn't make sense. :eyebrows

Easier to rig.

[Bruno]

NBA is hiding the drawing of the lottery balls because it is less dramatic and spectacular than the whole envelop show they are showing on TV. If there were some way to make the balls drawing more entertaining, they will show it instead of what they show. It's just a TV rating thing.

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.

[mrjap2x]

At least it wasn't fixed in 1997. I don't think stern loves the spurs to fixed it for the them

[capek]

Didn't they used to do a ping pong draw? Am I just dreaming that up? Has it always been via envelops since they switched to the current draft formula?

[Killakobe81]

NBA is hiding the drawing of the lottery balls because it is less dramatic and spectacular than the whole envelop show they are showing on TV. If there were some way to make the balls drawing more entertaining, they will show it instead of what they show. It's just a TV rating thing.

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.

Interviews with goofy kids and dumb blondes are entertaining?! :lol

[Killakobe81]

No homo but I'd prefer to see the balls, people that win The Power Ball find it plenty exciting

[pgardn]

No homo but I'd prefer to see the balls, people that win The Power Ball find it plenty exciting

And people that play power ball and watch are hard up for entertainment.


Just kidding. To each their own. I personally dont get it.


Bruno's explanation...:toast

[Wild Cobra Kai]

It's like showing the judges deliberations for Miss America: you'd know the winner right away. There's more suspense when they open the envelopes for the 14th pick on up to #1. Everyone knows the odds order, so if someone's envelope isn't opened, you know they jumped at least into the top three picks.

[Killakobe81]

It's like showing the judges deliberations for Miss America: you'd know the winner right away. There's more suspense when they open the envelopes for the 14th pick on up to #1. Everyone knows the odds order, so if someone's envelope isn't opened, you know they jumped at least into the top three picks.

I guess ... well if they did show it (the balls) i guess you run the risk of having the balls repeat (example: Charlotte showing up again after both balls were chosen) to show the balls they would have to go back to giving everyone an equal chance in the lottery. SO if you do a weghted drawing it would be boring to watch the machine spit balls, but I would prefer seeing the balls if the teams all had equal chances at winning, if not that WOULD suck.
And the envelope stuff is way cheesy especially the interviews and the commercial before the last 3.

[will_spurs]

NBA is hiding the drawing of the lottery balls because it is less dramatic and spectacular than the whole envelop show they are showing on TV. If there were some way to make the balls drawing more entertaining, they will show it instead of what they show. It's just a TV rating thing.

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.

Every other lottery I can think of, including the dra for the groups in the World Cup, is done using balls and having personalities perform the draw. The whole envelop thing is for stuff like movie awards and so on, typically rigged events.

Having a NBA draft fully above suspicion is somewhat more important to the league than a relatively meaningless TV rating.

[Killakobe81]

Every other lottery I can think of, including the dra for the groups in the World Cup, is done using balls and having personalities perform the draw. The whole envelop thing is for stuff like movie awards and so on, typically rigged events.

Having a NBA draft fully above suspicion is somewhat more important to the league than a relatively meaningless TV rating.

Great points ...:hat :toast

[hater]

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.

because that never happens in real life

[will_spurs]

It's like showing the judges deliberations for Miss America: you'd know the winner right away. There's more suspense when they open the envelopes for the 14th pick on up to #1. Everyone knows the odds order, so if someone's envelope isn't opened, you know they jumped at least into the top three picks.

Put all the balls in a big glass bowl, with numbers on them. Draw the first, remove all the balls with that number. That's the #1 pick. Rinse, lather, repeat. Then open the balls from 14th to 1st.

People could even try to guess which team got which number based on the apparent density of balls of a certain number (warning: Twitter might explode).

[coyotes_geek]

Interviews with goofy kids and dumb blondes are entertaining?! :lol

No. That's just filler because opening 14 envelopes won't fill a 30 minute tv time block.

[Bruno]

Every other lottery I can think of, including the dra for the groups in the World Cup, is done using balls and having personalities perform the draw. The whole envelop thing is for stuff like movie awards and so on, typically rigged events.

Having a NBA draft fully above suspicion is somewhat more important to the league than a relatively meaningless TV rating.

The draft lottery process is way more complicated than the usual soccer world cup drawing. You can read how it works here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Draft_Lottery

As you can see the draft drawing process isn't TV friendly. Being above suspicion isn't a priority for the NBA because, as far I know, there are very little suspicion about it. Saying that, the NBA could do something very easily to reduce suspicion by putting the video of the real drawing on their website.

[Obstructed_View]

Because it would be more boring than the Lebron decision show. Drawing combinations of four numbers 50 times would just suck to watch.

[hater]

they could easily stream the whole thing through nba.com/lottery

[K-State Spur]

As Bruno said, it's not TV friendly as a weighted lottery.

As I heard it, NOH's combination came up first - then CLT, then CLT again, then CLT again, before they got WAS with the fifth draw.

FWIW, in recent years, they have opened the room to many members of the media to watch and - to a person - they have written that it's overly complicated, but not fixed.

[kidd_91]

why not hand out the appropriate number of balls to each of the teams representative. Then have them dump them in live on TV, then shoot them out to a long tube that's covered in the front. Then instead of opening envelopes just slide back the front one ball at a time. Best of both worlds, you get to see everything happen and you still get the suspense of one pick at a time.

[Beaverfuzz]

Bring back the rigged draft from 1985!

[DMC]

If the league is going to purchase a franchise, they should do everything necessary to avoid creating the appearance of impropriety. If that means sacrificing the insane excitement over the draft lottery as it is, so be it.

Having said that, it serves MJ right to miss the 1st overall, after he allowed or perhaps even instructed his team to fail so horribly. It serves the Hornets right because they did not tank (or not as bad as the Lolcats anyhow) to get the 1st overall pick. In the long run, it's going to be better for the NBA.

[coyotes_geek]

I'm sure we can't be too far away from ESPN turning the lottery into a month long reality TV series where all the team representatives have to live in the same house with each other while performing zany challenges. Don't tell me people wouldn't tune in to watch Chandler Parsons getting pissed at that hipster Gilbert kid for cock blocking him from that hot russian broad.

And America, you too can get in on the action. Just text your vote for which team you think should win the NBA draft lottery and make your voice be heard! (standard text messaging charges do apply)

[Bruno]

And if you have some doubts about the lottery being rigged, read this article:
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/30/nba-draft-lottery/

[SenorSpur]

Believe it or not, the drawing of the lottery ping pong balls is monitored and scrutizined. As a matter of fact, there was a female member of the media on with Mike and Mike this morning. She was one of a very select few members of the independent media that were invited to witness the drawing process behind closed doors. She went on to describe how the ping pong ball machine is brought in, along with a locked briefcase containing the envelopes with the team logos and such. She watched the process for end-to-end. She described step-by-step how the balls are withdrawn and the order in which the drawing is performed. After watching this process, end-to-end, two years in a row, her take is it would be virtually impossible for the NBA to rig this thing.

People should let the conspiracy theories go.

[coyotes_geek]

Believe it or not, the drawing of the lottery ping pong balls is monitored and scrutizined. As a matter of fact, there was a female member of the media on with Mike and Mike this morning. She was one of a very select few members of the independent media that were invited to witness the drawing process behind closed doors. She went on to describe how the ping pong ball machine is brought in, along with a locked briefcase containing the envelopes with the team logos and such. She watched the process for end-to-end. She described step-by-step how the balls are withdrawn and the order in which the drawing is performed. After watching this process, end-to-end, two years in a row, her take is it would be virtually impossible for the NBA to rig this thing.

People should let the conspiracy theories go.

Yep. Not to mention that each team gets to have a representative in the room to observe.

Besides, the collective futulity of the knicks and nets should be proof positive to everyone that it's not rigged because there's nothing the NBA wants more than a dominant team in the league's biggest market.

[SenorSpur]

Yep. Not to mention that each team gets to have a representative in the room to observe.

Besides, the collective futulity of the knicks and nets should be proof positive to everyone that it's not rigged because there's nothing the NBA wants more than a dominant team in the league's biggest market.

Amen :toast

Another thought is if this Lottery process is rigged, wouldn't the NBA want to see it's greatest player ever, and most famous owner, Michael Jordan, have the best chance to rebuild his franchise, by securing the number one overall pick?

[will_spurs]

Being above suspicion isn't a priority for the NBA because, as far I know, there are very little suspicion about it. Saying that, the NBA could do something very easily to reduce suspicion by putting the video of the real drawing on their website.

When one of the most respected (and read) NBA beat writer writes about it on a major website, I think that counts as suspicion:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nba-s-problematic-ownership-of-hornets-opens-door-to-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.html

As for the TV aspect, some reality shows are working on a lot less than this. Watching bad GMs cringe for 30 minutes would be fun. We could even have trash talk sessions in between.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Another thought is if this Lottery process is rigged, wouldn't the NBA want to see it's greatest player ever, and most famous owner, Michael Jordan, have the best chance to rebuild his franchise, by securing the number one overall pick?

What? Like over NBA's own team they have to sell for as much as possible?

[Obstructed_View]

There have been, by my count, three hall-of-fame, no-brainer number one picks since 1975, and the Spurs got two of them. I seriously don't think the process is rigged.

[TE]

NBA is hiding the drawing of the lottery balls because it is less dramatic and spectacular than the whole envelop show they are showing on TV. If there were some way to make the balls drawing more entertaining, they will show it instead of what they show. It's just a TV rating thing.

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.

You have a point, but I'd rather see the drawing as it happens.

[Obstructed_View]

You have a point, but I'd rather see the drawing as it happens.

We wouldn't watch it. It used to happen at halftime, and they've now expanded it to a half an hour, and I changed channels becuase it was so goddamn boring.

[Bruno]

When one of the most respected (and read) NBA beat writer writes about it on a major website, I think that counts as suspicion:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nba-s-problematic-ownership-of-hornets-opens-door-to-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.html


Well, the article was written after this year lottery. Before this year draft, I don't remember a mainstream media having suspicion on the weighted lottery system.

With a big media now calling out the NBA on it integrity, I think they should react for the 2013 lottery. The balls drawing should be tapped and made available to fans on NBA website.

[will_spurs]

It's certainly unfortunate that an NBA-owned team won the lottery. At the same time I'm really happy for NO as a city, for the ex-Spurs staff there and because they played hard at the end of the season and didn't try to tank, to the contrary of the Bobcats which were (historically) putrid. So all in all the outcome suits me well.

And FWIW, I don't actually think the process is rigged.

But to me it shows it's about time for Stern to step down. He's now been through 2 lockout seasons, the Donaghy scandal, the Palace brawl, the league having to own one of its franchises, the NO-Lakers censored deal... and now this. Given the situation, he should have had the foresight to be especially open about the whole process this year in particular. Now (and as usual recently) the only thing he can do is clean up the mess. The guy is spent and should retire, really.

[Obstructed_View]

But to me it shows it's about time for Stern to step down. He's now been through 2 lockout seasons, the Donaghy scandal, the Palace brawl, the league having to own one of its franchises, the NO-Lakers censored deal... and now this. Given the situation, he should have had the foresight to be especially open about the whole process this year in particular. Now (and as usual recently) the only thing he can do is clean up the mess. The guy is spent and should retire, really.

Probably not a coincidence that Silver has been by his side so much recently. I think David Stern is the second best commissioner in the history of sports, but he's just drawn too much fire over the last decade and it's probably best to let history write his epitaph.

[coyotes_geek]

When one of the most respected (and read) NBA beat writer writes about it on a major website, I think that counts as suspicion:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--nba-s-problematic-ownership-of-hornets-opens-door-to-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.html


I certainly respect Wojo, but I have to take stories based on anonymous quotes from NBA team executives whose very jobs hang in the balance with a grain of salt. For all we know "I think it's rigged" could really just be code for "I'm pissed that I'm not the one who gets to save my job with this draft pick".

[ShoogarBear]

Because it would be more boring than the Lebron decision show. Drawing combinations of four numbers 50 times would just suck to watch.

Actually, you only draw about 3-10 combinations in order to determine the first three spots, and the rest are determined by record.

According to this interesting behind-the-scenes article, the drawing only takes about three minutes.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/30/nba-draft-lottery/#more-18102

(EDIT: this is the same article Bruno posted.)

[boutons_deux]

NBA's problematic ownership of Hornets opens door to talk of rigged draft lottery

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.

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/d7CHM?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=nba

[BlairForceDejuan]

NBA is hiding the drawing of the lottery balls because it is less dramatic and spectacular than the whole envelop show they are showing on TV. If there were some way to make the balls drawing more entertaining, they will show it instead of what they show. It's just a TV rating thing.

And the idea that they aren't showing it because it's rigged, is crazy.


How much Stern paying you bruh?

[Arcadian]

There are no physical ping pong balls... It's all done computationally with a weighted random number generator. This makes it truly random (with weighting, of course). If a human interfered, it would be pseudorandom at best.

Lol, did you guys actually think there were physical balls?

[TE]

boutons with the bleacherreport link :lol

[maverick1948]

have they ever done that, even in the past?

crazy huh lol, what's so special about a cardboard with the team's logo.

SHOW US SOME BALLS! :lol


I dont want to see David Stern's balls. No one else in the NBA league office has any. :rollin:rollin:rollin

[ShoogarBear]

There are no physical ping pong balls... It's all done computationally with a weighted random number generator. This makes it truly random (with weighting, of course). If a human interfered, it would be pseudorandom at best.

Lol, did you guys actually think there were physical balls?

Uh, wrong, there are balls. Read the article Bruno and I linked.

[Obstructed_View]

Actually, you only draw about 3-10 combinations in order to determine the first three spots, and the rest are determined by record.

According to this interesting behind-the-scenes article, the drawing only takes about three minutes.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/30/nba-draft-lottery/#more-18102

(EDIT: this is the same article Bruno posted.)

Okay, you won me over. I'd actually sit through that. It certainly beats little disturbing douchebag junior sitting at the podium in his bowtie.

[Dr. John R. Brinkley]

I wouldn't put too much weight into Wojo's article. Though he praises the Spurs and is therefore a god, at the same time he is bitter, paranoid, and loves to rail against Stern at any possible moment. I'm not opposed to critiquing Stern - I think he's past his prime and new leadership (not his stooge assistant) should take over at anytime now. But, I think people need to consider the author. He's often sensational and as not part of the ESPN/NBA partnership, and instead part of a more marginal news source (Yahoo), he can get away with shooting arrows.

Does he have a point in general? Yes, the league should be more transparent and have less centralized control. But at the same time, despite his pro Spurs bent, he's still a writer trying to get attention.

[pgardn]

There are no physical ping pong balls... It's all done computationally with a weighted random number generator. This makes it truly random (with weighting, of course). If a human interfered, it would be pseudorandom at best.

Lol, did you guys actually think there were physical balls?

Weighted random number generators are not truly random if you use a mathematical definition. And there are physical balls.

All the time this has been going on, with all the people involved, and no one has written a book on the big fix. Amazing.

Have we been to the moon or was it a fix... ? Why is it so hard to see that the coverup is much more difficult than the actual act of fixing. I like scrutiny, but not paranoia.

[Beaverfuzz]

There are no physical ping pong balls... It's all done computationally with a weighted random number generator. This makes it truly random (with weighting, of course). If a human interfered, it would be pseudorandom at best.

Lol, did you guys actually think there were physical balls?


Wrong, there are balls.

[will_spurs]

He's often sensational and as not part of the ESPN/NBA partnership, and instead part of a more marginal news source (Yahoo), he can get away with shooting arrows.

Is Yahoo really such a marginal source in sports reporting? Given their large fantasy sports market share and general public outreach I thought they were quite mainstream. They are a pure player, compared to the other 2 giants (ESPN and SI) and their paper magazines + TV, but I wouldn't think of Yahoo as as a marginal news sources when it comes to sports. At least that's my main news source for that matter, but I might be an outlier.

Woj is also one of the best writers out there (actually I'd say the best) with insanely good connections: he is breaking stories much faster and with more reliability than the other major NBA news sources, and many people turn off his twitter feed during the draft because he spoils everything with uncanny accuracy.

It's clear he was on a rant, and the story stayed less than half a day on yahoo main page because he quickly wrote a Celtics article after that, but I still wouldn't overlook it.

[Obstructed_View]

I think teams that whine about lottery conspiracies should be dropped a place in the draft for each infraction. If you don't like the fucking process, don't fucking participate, but don't wait until after you lose to bitch.

[cantthinkofanything]

At the very least, why not tape the full process of putting the balls in the hopper and pulling them out. Then make it available for any owners/gm's that want to see it afterwards.

[Obstructed_View]

At the very least, why not tape the full process of putting the balls in the hopper and pulling them out. Then make it available for any owners/gm's that want to see it afterwards.

A representative of each team witnesses the full process. Why they would bitch about it afterwards is what's so mystifying.

[coyotes_geek]

At the very least, why not tape the full process of putting the balls in the hopper and pulling them out. Then make it available for any owners/gm's that want to see it afterwards.

Any owner/gm who wants to see it can witness it in person. Each team has a representative in the room.