2014 NBA Offseason

[CS85]

NBA subreddits top posts are fantastic:

The Bulls post linked to this video:

[Nyk33]

The Cavs getting the #1 pick AGAIN is crap! I almost wish the NBA would reward teams for NOT tanking, like the Suns. Instead, every year, the top pick goes to the same garbage teams who waive the white flag by December.

You do realize the Cavs were in the thick of the playoff race with two weeks left in the season, right? They hardly tanked.

But it doesn't fit your " all over Ohio at every possible opportunity" narrative so you couldn't just admit that.

In his defense I think he must have just looked at their record and assumed they were tanking because the East is atrocious.

[PittsburghSucks]

The Cavs getting the #1 pick AGAIN is crap! I almost wish the NBA would reward teams for NOT tanking, like the Suns. Instead, every year, the top pick goes to the same garbage teams who waive the white flag by December.

You do realize the Cavs were in the thick of the playoff race with two weeks left in the season, right? They hardly tanked.

But it doesn't fit your " all over Ohio at every possible opportunity" narrative so you couldn't just admit that.

In his defense I think he must have just looked at their record and assumed they were tanking because the East is atrocious.

I don't buy that. He dumps on Cleveland every chance he gets.

[NJTank]

This almost has to be fixed, how does a team win 3 of 4 years, and only have a 1.7% chance for the number one this year. It really is a joke, but hey, I'm not complaining

May Dan Gilbert is some sort of Wizard

[Cujo]

The Cavs getting the #1 pick AGAIN is crap! I almost wish the NBA would reward teams for NOT tanking, like the Suns. Instead, every year, the top pick goes to the same garbage teams who waive the white flag by December.

You do realize the Cavs were in the thick of the playoff race with two weeks left in the season, right? They hardly tanked.

But it doesn't fit your " all over Ohio at every possible opportunity" narrative so you couldn't just admit that.

Are you kidding? Outside of Indiana and Miami, EVERYONE in the East was tanking. Just that some teams were "better" at it than others.

[alxy8s]

The Celtics, Magic, and Sixers were the only teams trying to tank in the East. The Raptors meant to, but ended up being good somehow. The Bucks didn't intend to at the onset of the season.

I can't believe the number of people saying it was rigged for CLEVELAND. Reports are they want Embiid. He seems like the only possible way to mess up this pick, so I'm sure that'll happen.

[Lights Out]

The Cavs getting the #1 pick AGAIN is crap! I almost wish the NBA would reward teams for NOT tanking, like the Suns. Instead, every year, the top pick goes to the same garbage teams who waive the white flag by December.

You do realize the Cavs were in the thick of the playoff race with two weeks left in the season, right? They hardly tanked.

But it doesn't fit your " all over Ohio at every possible opportunity" narrative so you couldn't just admit that.

Are you kidding? Outside of Indiana and Miami, EVERYONE in the East was tanking. Just that some teams were "better" at it than others.

Cleveland was legitimately trying to make the playoffs this time, hence their signings of/trades for veterans like Andrew Bynum and Luol Deng. They just failed miserably and got rewarded for backing their way in.

[CubsFanBudMan]

If anything proves the lottery ISN'T rigged, it's Cleveland winning again. The NBA doesn't give a (shut your mouth) about the Cavs.

[ESTONES6]

In typical Cleveland fashion... the Cavs would be interested in Embiid...

[C's]

They'd actually have a good thing going if they didn't pass on Drummond in 2012 for Dion :censored:ing Waiters... the GM should have been fired on the spot for that one.

[BBTV]

If anything proves the lottery ISN'T rigged, it's Cleveland winning again. The NBA doesn't give a (shut your mouth) about the Cavs.

Really. I'm amazed that anyone thinks its in the league's best interest to have a strong team in Cleveland.

Rigging it so a guy like Wiggins (who I've never seen, but based on TV and this board it seems like he's a star) could play in LA, Boston, or even Philadelphia would have made much more sense. Even if the Cavs are a legit contender, unless this guy is a star in the same class as LeBron, Kobe, or to a lesser extent Kevin Durant, who would really care?

What really sucks about the NBA is summed up in an article I was reading about the 76ers today.

They have the #3 and #10 pick this year, as well as last year's #4, the reigning ROY, and a ton of cap room, yet are in a position where all they can do is spend their tons of money on expiring contracts and try again next year. I'm not sure how you acquire an expiring contract other than via trade (but then again I thought that salary had to match up kinda) but either way that's just a crappy way for a league to work.

I remember when they got Jamal Mashburn, who was hurt and they knew would never play for them, but they paid him just to wear a sweatsuit so that they could wait out his contract and free up money the following year. That's just a stupid, stupid league, and I can't believe that they went through a lock out and still this was the best system they could come up with.

[Xist2inspire]

I think people are just sick of the lotto at this point, and I can't blame them. It's a terrible, broken system that enforces sticking some franchises in neutral for a long time. Instead of a team sucking because they draft terribly, a team can suck because despite being terrible, the randomness of the lotto denies them a pick high enough to improve. That's messed up. I read about the 1996 NBA draft, and it said that because the Grizzlies & Raptors were expansion teams, they wouldn't have been allowed to select first if they won. That despite the fact that they probably needed it more than anyone, being fresh teams. What messed-up league does that?

[Lights Out]

Exactly. The lottery system is the problem.

The #1 pick should go to the worst team, period, end of discussion. The lottery system has failed to prevent tanking as advertised, and really, there's nothing wrong with tanking. The real problem is with franchises that are either completely incompetent (Knicks, Cavs) or always trying to just get into the playoffs as a sacrificial lamb to sell more tickets and merchandise while never seriously trying to produce a championship team (Hawks, Bucks). The former type of franchise has been bailed out way too many times by the lottery system while usually wasting their good fortune, while the latter only serves to completely waste their fans' time.

[truepg]

I have a gut feeling this draft will be another Greg Oden/Kevin Durant situation if the Cavs select Embiid with the first pick..

[ESTONES6]

They'd actually have a good thing going if they didn't pass on Drummond in 2012 for Dion :censored:ing Waiters... the GM should have been fired on the spot for that one.

Dion Waiters is actually turning in to a nice scorer and a good defender (when he wants to be). Waiters wasn't the problem pick.

The problem pick was when they took Tristan Thompson at 4. They basically took a player who doesn't even know his dominant hand instead of young players like Valancunas, K. Thompson, Leonard, or Shumpert. They wanted "high character players" instead of players who could play.

If anything proves the lottery ISN'T rigged, it's Cleveland winning again. The NBA doesn't give a (shut your mouth) about the Cavs.

See, I could play devil's advocate and say that it is proof that the thing is rigged. When Bosh and LeBron left Toronoto and Cleveland, respectively, the NBA lost profits in 2 small market Cities. The NBA does better when the mid and small markets are successful, or at least have reason to be interested in the league. The Raptors made the playoffs this year and they had unbelievable support all over the Toronto area. The Cavs have been terrible... Giving them a shot at Parker or Wiggins would make them relevant again, and make Cleveland a profit center again, like we saw in the LeBron-era. But, as we have been reading... in typical Cleveland fashion... the Cavs are interested in an injured big man... when the league is wing/scorer oriented.

#1 in 3 of the last 4? That's crazy. I wouldn't say the NBA rigs the lottery to get 100% the order they want. But I think they can heavily influence the outcome. If everything was on the up and up, why not just do it live on TV? Why is everything behind closed doors? Again, I don't think they said hey the Cavs need #1 again... but I think they could have influenced the balls to get the Cavs in the top 3... or AT LEAST give them a shot at being in the Top 3.

[Sport]

I don't think the draft lottery is rigged every year, but the year the Cavs took Lebron it very easily could've been rigged. The Cavs were a struggling franchise, the "Hometown" kid was the next great player, and the franchise needed him. The NBA saved the Cleveland Cavaliers with that pick. It all worked out a little too cleanly.

I don't think they rigged it this year and Cleveland just got unbelievably lucky. But yeah, why not just go clean and do the ping pong balls or whatever out in the open?

[Gary]

NBA subreddits top posts are fantastic:

#5 completely how I feel about Detroit getting the 9 pick and having to give it to Charlotte. SVG better get the Pistons out of the cellar

[Muggens]

Of course the most famous "rigging" of the lottery is 1985. Knicks get Patrick Ewing. No way in hell was Stern going let Indiana or Golden State end up with Pat.

[C's]

They'd actually have a good thing going if they didn't pass on Drummond in 2012 for Dion :censored:ing Waiters... the GM should have been fired on the spot for that one.

Dion Waiters is actually turning in to a nice scorer and a good defender (when he wants to be). Waiters wasn't the problem pick.

Guys like Waiters are dime-a-dozen. 15-18 PPG on an iffy FG%? That's pretty damn replaceable in this league. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about Waiters' defense either. Drummond on the other hand is one of the few centers in the league worth a :censored:. 13 and 13? 13 rebounds a game in 32 minutes? That is absurd. Cleveland bombed that pick.

[ESTONES6]

They'd actually have a good thing going if they didn't pass on Drummond in 2012 for Dion :censored:ing Waiters... the GM should have been fired on the spot for that one.

Dion Waiters is actually turning in to a nice scorer and a good defender (when he wants to be). Waiters wasn't the problem pick.

Guys like Waiters are dime-a-dozen. 15-18 PPG on an iffy FG%? That's pretty damn replaceable in this league. There's absolutely nothing remarkable about Waiters' defense either. Drummond on the other hand is one of the few centers in the league worth a . 13 and 13? 13 rebounds a game in 32 minutes? That is absurd. Cleveland bombed that pick.

I never said he has remarkable defense. I said he is a nice defender when he puts emphasis on that end. As for his shooting percentage, the second half of the season it went dramatically up. Pre-All-Star Break, also known as the Kyrie Irving Dribbling Exposition, he was shooting around 40%, scoring about about 14 per game. Post-All-Star Break, also known as Kyrie Irving Learning To Share Era, he was shooting close to 50%, scoring 20 per game. That's nothing to scoff at. Once Kyrie and Dion started learning how to play together, his stats were going way up. Waiters was arguably the best player on the team the second half of the season.

Drummond... yes, was a 13 and 13 guy last year, but by comparison, Tristan Thompson was basically a 12-10 guy. According to NBA.com, Drummond was 13.5P 13.2R 0.4A per game. Thompson was 11.7P 9.2R 0.9A and arguably a better defender. Yes, Drummond was/is better, but not by much. Waiters wasn't/isn't the problem pick. It was Tristan Thompson.