Is it me, or does this Celtics team remind me of the 2001 Patriots?

[Fencer]

Inside the Numbers: Draft Lottery Q&A has the lottery probabilities in great detail. Probabilities for the 4th position team getting each of the top 7 picks are given as:

1. 10.4%
   
2. 11.2%
   
3. 12.1%
   
4. 9.9%
   
5. 37.3%
   
6. 17.6%
   
7. 1.4%

 

[RobertWeathers]

My question was meant to be why you think the league didn't want Duncan to go to the Cs.

This will come off as irrational but I believe it to be true

Red is on record as having gotten along with all the commishs from Kennedy to O'Brien to Stern but IMO it all started when the NBA was ******** when Red backed out of running the Knicks in 1978. The NYK owner was pissed as was O'Brien who brokered the deal and Stern did the Ts & Cs.. When Red wanted a 2nd rounder when Lenny Bias died they league said FU. When Reggie died and Red wanted cap relief Stern said FU (after other owners *****ed he said ok a year later and the Celts were still screwed). Red publicly embarrassed Stern for being a douche and hes a guy that holds a grudge and never forgets.

So did the league blatantly go out of its way to screw the Celts like Goody does the Pats? I don't know but Stern sure as hell was not giving them quarter. Did he manipulate the 1997 lottery? I think history tells us that funneling players to stable or marque franchises that are in good standing with the league tells us that Stern just might have done it.

Since Stern is out and Red has passed away I don't think there is a "the NBA hates the Celtics" undertow anymore but IMO it was very much a real thing.

 

[Fencer]

A bit of a stretch, in my opinion -- but yeah, I can imagine Stern/Auerbach grudges that serious.

What I can't imagine, however, is Stern going to a ping-pong ball system and then rigging the lottery anyway. It's just too difficult. If he wanted to rig it, he'd never have let that be the system.

This will come off as irrational but I believe it to be true

Red is on record as having gotten along with all the commishs from Kennedy to O'Brien to Stern but IMO it all started when the NBA was ******** when Red backed out of running the Knicks in 1978. The NYK owner was pissed as was O'Brien who brokered the deal and Stern did the Ts & Cs.. When Red wanted a 2nd rounder when Lenny Bias died they league said FU. When Reggie died and Red wanted cap relief Stern said FU (after other owners *****ed he said ok a year later and the Celts were still screwed). Red publicly embarrassed Stern for being a douche and hes a guy that holds a grudge and never forgets.

So did the league blatantly go out of its way to screw the Celts like Goody does the Pats? I don't know but Stern was sure as hell was not giving them quarter. Did he manipulate the 1997 lottery? I think history tells us that funneling players to stable or marque franchises that are in good standing with the league tells us that Stern just might have done it.

Since Stern is out and Red has passed away I don't think there is a "the NBA hates the Celtics" undertow anymore but IMO it was very much a real thing.

 

[RobertWeathers]

A bit of a stretch, in my opinion -- but yeah, I can imagine Stern/Auerbach grudges that serious.

What I can't imagine, however, is Stern going to a ping-pong ball system and then rigging the lottery anyway. It's just too difficult. If he wanted to rig it, he'd never have let that be the system.

Could have used weighted balls. John Travolta was in a movie based on a 1980 incident that was exactly that.

 

[PittPatriot]

That gift's going to be giving for at least the next 3 years...

I think in the next 5-10 years, if things go well with the draft picks or they get parlayed for a superstar (or 2), Danny's handling of the big 3 will go down as the greatest series of moves in NBA history.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think in the next 5-10 years, if things go well with the draft picks or they get parlayed for a superstar (or 2), Danny's handling of the big 3 will go down as the greatest series of moves in NBA history.

Standing pat and praying for lottery picks to develop into stars is as much of a gamble as the lottery itself.

 

[PittPatriot]

Could have used weighted balls. John Travolta was in a movie based on a 1980 incident that was exactly that.

Travolta was also in a movie where people can morph into others simply by undergoing an outpatient surgery where their faces are exchanged.
Do we know if weighted balls actually work?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Travolta was also in a movie where people can morph into others simply by undergoing an outpatient surgery where their faces are exchanged.
Do we know if weighted balls actually work?

Faceoff...

They did in the 1980 issue. I think it was the PA lottery.

 

[PittPatriot]

Faceoff...

They did in the 1980 issue. I think it was the PA lottery.

Wow...I guess anything can be rigged if somebody wants. Scary.

 

[Boston Boxer]

the Celtics have a nice team. They need to do well in this draft and then get a star in FA (Durant). They are truly one star player away from being the top 1 or 2 teams in the east

 

[Fencer]

Could have used weighted balls. John Travolta was in a movie based on a 1980 incident that was exactly that.

I'd be surprised if you could make an engineering case for how that would work. For one thing, note that the same balls are used for all three draws.

Now, it WAS said that San Antonio drew not just the first pick but the second pick as well when they got Duncan. Doesn't matter to my argument.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I'd be surprised if you could make an engineering case for how that would work. For one thing, note that the same balls are used for all three draws.

Now, it WAS said that San Antonio drew not just the first pick but the second pick as well when they got Duncan. Doesn't matter to my argument.

I can't make the engineering case but in the 1980 PA scam the numbers 4 and 6 were weighed and it worked....until someone squealed and they went to jail.