The NBA Lottery has come and gone, and David Stern hopes all the quiet whispers of suspicion and innuendo that normally accompany the Draft order selection have gone with it; this time hopefully for good. For years, the lottery has been the scapegoat allowing many bitter fans to justify why other teams win and their team fails, over and over again. It is just more comforting to see the world as unjust, to know there is a wizard behind the curtain pulling all the strings and bestowing championship rings to lesser, unworthy teams with richer media markets.

Truly coincidences do happen; otherwise the word coincidence would not exist. However, the NBA is the home of several particularly interesting “coincidences” to which advocates of NBA conspiracies cling to salvage what they can of their tattered faith and pride. Among these “coincidences”, the fact that the Boston Celtics are the only team not situated in one of North America’s ten largest cities to win a championship since 1979 looms large. Boston, a long-time Mecca for basketball popularity, likely would be much higher up if the list were the cities with the largest population of basketball fans. This means it has been almost a quarter of a century since a small-market team has claimed the coveted prize, the last being the 1978-79 Seattle Supersonics. This prompts theorists everywhere to speculate, where would the league find the most revenue with its winning franchises?

In addition to the always popular “Largest Market = Most Money” conspiracy is the “Jordan's Rules” conspiracy in which star players receive favourable calls over lesser talents to give the already popular players even more legendary statistics. The term “Jordan's Rules” is a bit of a misnomer since in effect the types of plays that combine to make this theory existed long before Michael Jordan, but never before were they more publicized, scrutinized, and catalogued. The league freely admits to these types of mistakes, acknowledging the fact that referees are only human and do make mistakes. This coincides with their general feeling that rookies should pay dues and earn respect before being seen as equals in the league.

So it is without doubt that “Jordan’s Rules” exist in the NBA, it is only the degree to which they exist that is argued. Once during an interview, Chicago Bulls shooting guard Steve Kerr joked that half of his career fouls have come from playing on the same team as MJ. One cannot help but laugh at some of the incidences in which referees have made blatant mistakes; for example, the time a ref gave a foul that would belong to MJ (he being the only Bull even close to the fouled player) to Dickey Simpkins, who had fallen while the Bulls had been on offence before the fast break transition bucket. Dickey was literally lying on the other end of the court and picked up the foul. However, there are other less humorous instances for which a case could be made. These calls had a lasting impact, like game three of the '96 Finals when, despite extended belligerent yelling and verbal abuse, officials refused to give MJ a second technical foul.

Conspiracy junkies will claim the effects of these star power calls are much more severe than the league would concede. Instead of just being a foul here and an extra free throw there, they believe officials are in fact determining games, rankings, and therefore champions. Add to that the fact that the league’s head of officials, Ed T. Rush, can communicate his feelings about the performance of refs around the league during games, and theorists believe the NBA headquarters has its hands on the pulse of any contest, always able to sway the odds if it pleases.

But regardless of popularity or population, no single event in the NBA arouses more suspicion from NBA critics than the annual NBA Draft Lottery. The Lottery first came about in 1985, at which time the seven non-playoff teams in the NBA were all given equal chance to grab the top spot. At stake was the sure-fire superstar Patrick Ewing, who was coming out of Georgetown as the most acclaimed and talented big man to hit the NBA in years. Here again we find interesting coincidences; many speculated that the best financial outcome for the league would be to have the dominate Ewing in New York and, lo and behold, the largest market in the league, the New York Knickerbockers, left the dance with Ewing on their arm.

As the league expanded so did the Lottery, growing to now include the eleven teams left out of the playoffs. In 1990, the draft was weighted to give the worst team the best chance at the number one spot. Another incentive for the change was in part to quell the whispers of corruption that followed San Antonio, L.A., and Philadelphia, all large-market teams, winning the “equal opportunity” draft. The change was seen as good news to perennial losers throughout the league who were now given a light at the end of the tunnel. This feeling was reinforced as the New Jersey Nets, the worst team in the league, won the 1990 Lottery. It must be noted, and many conspiracy theorists would point out, the 1990 Nets are still the only last place team to have ever won the Lottery.

In the early 90’s, a pair of expansion clubs which appeared to be a big risk for Stern “found” good fortune at the Lottery; Charlotte won the #1 spot in '91 with Larry Johnson and the #2 spot in '92 to get Alonzo Mourning. Likewise, the Orlando Magic took the #1 selection in both '92 and '93, which translated to Shaquille O’Neal and Chris Webber (who was traded for Anfernee Hardaway).

In 1994, the Lottery weights again changed to give more of an advantage for a shot at a top three spots to the worst teams, adopting the 1001 combination system the league still uses today. But still allegations of corruption would surface almost every year, as between '96 and '99, top markets like Philadelphia, San Antonio, L.A., and Chicago would all see the number one spot.

If corruption did exist in the Draft system, it was not helping the league as much as would be hoped. In the late 90’s, the league was under a microscope as attendance and interest began to wane in the NBA; the supposed cause being the departure of Michael Jordan. So it was with great joy that the league learned MJ was thinking of coming back in a playing capacity. In fact so great was the joy, so immense was the hype and anticipation, that just as in 1985, conspiracy fanatics began preparing for what they knew was coming. When Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards walked away with the top spot it was a commercial paradise that could not have been scripted any better, so much so that many couldn’t bring themselves to believe it was anything but scripted.

So finally this year, David Stern decided to try to remove all doubt from the naysayers by doing what determined sceptics have been demanding for years, showing the ping-pong balls as they fall in front of the media. Did it work? Probably not; the NBA decided to show only four journalists and still denied the national audience a view of the draw. On top of that, again two giant-market teams, Houston and Chicago, defied the odds and came up one and two.

This year’s answer to Patrick Ewing comes in the form of Yao Ming the 7’5” Chinese wonder that has scouts everywhere drooling, and the Rockets are not one of the golden boy’s top options. It would seem New York would be the better fit with its huge Asian-American population and much bigger television audience allowing the coverage the Chinese government is looking for. So can the Knicks swing a trade to land the big center? If they do, expect a chorus of conspiracy believers to cry foul thinking the number one spot was given to an already determined trade partner and that they are witnessing 1985 all over again.

The NBA cannot win; the public has been so inundated with scandals from the world of professional sports that they will just naturally see shadows of corruption wherever they look. This is thanks to the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” throwing the World Series, Alan Eagleson robbing the NHLPA, Pete Rose, drugged horses at the Belmont Stakes, bribed judges in Olympics robbing Roy Jones Jr. or Sale and Pelletier, bribed IOC board members giving the 2002 games to Salt Lake City, steroid use in the Tour De France, fixed rankings and phantom punches in professional Boxing, NCAA academic standards being side stepped, or any of a thousand other scandals. Because of events like these, and the world we live in, fans know better than to trust the NBA, regardless of the assurances David Stern tries to make. Are fans that take these extreme views just jealous? Yes. Are they a little paranoid? Yes. Are they crazy? Almost certainly. But are they wrong? More often than not, to be sure, but unless secrecy, luck, and subjective judgements are removed entirely from the NBA, you will never actually be able to say yes.

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