The NBA lottery _ one of the dumbest things in sports, which almost seems a compliment, at that _ has come, and gone.
If only it could be gone for good.
If only Russians could hack it and make it fair and smart.
In its wake as usual is controversy, with New Orleans (not nearly the worst team) getting first pick and the ridiculous notion that, rather than playing in NOLA, Zion Williamson would just as soon forego $20-plus million and return to Duke's gourmet training table delicacies and fireside chats with Coach K.
Hate is too powerful a word. We see too much hate in its most hateful form. So it doesn't fit here.
But I will say I dislike the NBA lottery. I dislike it immensely.
No big NBA fancier here, but I'm a crusader when it comes to eliminating stupid whenever I can. And the lottery is stupid and makes no sense and the league is idiotic and arrogant for having it _ another made-for-ESPN reality show.
It's a gimmick and gimmicks aren't necessary when it comes to drafts.
Drafts are unconstitutional as hell. They are, however, collectively bargained, so thus overlooked by the cockeyed eyes of justice. But they serve a purpose. They can be the leveler of playing fields, the wedge under a short table leg.
So, unless picks are traded away, they are supposed to provide the worst teams with the opportunity to acquire the best players they believe will help them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it provides the juice.
A whole lot of people thought the fix was in on the 1985 lottery, when the Knicks somehow got No. 1 overall and selected Patrick Ewing. Big hue. Big cry.
Fact of the matter is, the Ewing Knicks never won a damn thing. They did get to the finals twice, but, I, like the rest of the world, have a way of forgetting second places.
The media were so sure Zion would be going to the Knicks, even he seemed to be sure it was where he was headed.
At 17-65, the Knicks had the league's worst record, so if not for the stupid lottery, they would have been first overall instead of third.
New Orleans, with 33 wins, got No. 1, and Memphis, also with 33, No. 2 overall. Cleveland and Phoenix each went 19-63, and got the Nos. 5 and No. 6 picks, respectively.
This somehow seems all right? This ain't politics.
The NBA changed lottery odds, with the bottom three teams each having an equal chance (14 percent) of getting No. 1 overall among the 14 teams. Between the Knicks, Suns and Cavaliers, that totals 42 percent. Still not good enough for one to get it.
This is so wrong, but the NBA, with playoff ratings down 18 percent, isn't doing away with it.
If nothing else, the least it should do is maybe have five or six lottery teams. The 14th should not have a chance at the top pick.
