Im also excited to see stuff about FIFA 13 at E3!

I don't know if it usually is but definitely seems like it was after the CP3 thing happened to the Hornets.. IJS

Rondo was unstoppable last night! It's sad that it was in a losing effort though.

Theb Lottery definitely LOOKS fixed, but there is no way to prove it.

QOTD: I want transparency... Funny how Ewing in 85 was it? Kyrie last year and then Hornets this year... I could probably make a list of suspected stuff if we looked at it close

Sad face about the lottery. Hopefully, Beal or MKG slip to 4.

QoTD: The NBA could stop all the talk about it being fixed by televising the actual ping pong ball draw. Lots of "convenient" lottery winners:
Knicks with Ewing, Magic getting first pick with worst chance of all lottery teams, Cavs getting Lebron, Bulls getting Rose, and now this.

It is a rather odd coincidence that the league-owned Hornets won the lottery. However, I don't think it's rigged. Dan Patrick was saying this morning that members of the media are allowed in the room for the bingo ball bonanza. If they suspected shenanigans I'm sure we'd hear about it.

QOTD: Oh, the Hornets won the NBA draft lottery? I should stop posing as a Hornets fan, I really don't care for the NBA much and it feels wrong to pledge allegiance to a team if I really don't follow them. As for being fixed... who knows. As they say, if there's a chance, it's possible...

You are correct about the Patrick Ewing fiasco happening in '85, but not much else. Back then, then envelopes were simply placed into a covered container and the commish fished them out, live on air, to choose the lottery order. Speculation arose that one of the envelope for the Knicks was frozen so that Stern could feel it.

It's precisely because of that incident that the lottery has been amended to become almost tamper-proof. Without getting too much into the specifics, it takes a certain 4-digit combo of ping-pong balls to determine the top 3 draft order. Thus in order for their to ave been tampering, the NBA would have had to find a way to make sure that the Hornets' combo came up exactly. That would involve a huge conspiracy - people to rig the balls, technicians to work on the machines, etc.

As for transparency, every team in the lottery has reps there that watch the ping-pong balls form start to finish. Just because it isn't broadcast on national TV means nothing. You really think that would be a huge ratings grab? Seriously? In addition, the NBA hires multiple independent auditors and law firms to verify the validity of the results from start to finish.

And now for the most obvious reason it was not fixed - because everyone was clamoring beforehand that, if the Hornets won, the fix was in! Why would you go through all the trouble of committing fraud through an elaborate conspiracy when, if it is successful, would be the most transparent conspiracy ever created. Everyone was waiting for it to happen. It would have been so obvious that there is no way it was fixed.

Michael Jordan Retired and The Bulls got the 1st Pick the next draft. LeBron James left the Cavs and they got the 1st pick in the next draft. Chris Paul left "The Big Easy" and the Hornets have the 1st pick of this year's draft. Mr. Stern, you must be working wonders behind closed doors. I see Orlando Magic getting 1st round pick next year when Howard leaves. lol

Here is a good read on what happens in the ping pong room. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...pingpong-balls

LeBron went to Cleveland, his hometown and a small market team
D-Rose to Chicago, a Chicago native
Blake to the Clippers, years of mediocrity get a huge piece to help the crappy team in the biggest market in the world
Brand to Chicago, the season after MJ and crew left
Irving to Cleveland, after losing LeBron
Howard to Orlando, lost big pieces constantly
2001 1st pick to Washington, a favor returned to MJ from Stern
Ewing in 85, the first year of the lottery, announced i think part way through the season
the Hornets this year, i think part of the deal for the new owner to buy the team, he gets the 1st overall to keep the team in NO for as long as the NBA made in the contract
its clear to me that the nba gives the top pick(s) to the "smart" team choices