Doug: Yes! I believe

This time of year, so many people come to me and ask me one simple question: “Do you really believe the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged?”

Of course there are times when I say something I don’t mean because I’m a sarcastic person. Yes, sometimes I say something I don’t mean just to get Wolf’s goat. However, it’s easy to tell those situations. I’m over-the-top when I’m being sarcastic so it should be easy to tell. When I’m just getting Wolf’s goat, I say so within seconds of his reaction. In all other instances, I would never say something I don’t mean just to get your attention.

Yes, I think the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged. You can’t follow my thinking if you don’t believe in the famous 1985 draft lottery being rigged. The prize is Patrick Ewing. The desperate are the NY Knicks. If you don’t think it’s rigged, watch this video.

Now that you’ve watched it once, watch it again looking for the clues.

1) Why does the guy dropping envelopes toss every envelope in the hopper but he throws one them against the side of the hopper? At about the 6 second mark, watch how differently that envelope gets put in versus the other envelopes.

2) Why is Stern so nervous? At the :43 second mark he has this big sigh which tells me he’s thinking, “I hope this works.” Normally I don’t make a big deal about the way someone breathes but it’s David Stern! He’s one of the most arrogant men on the planet. How could he be so nervous about pulling an envelope out of a hopper?

3) Watch how he reaches for an envelope. Everyone on the planet who has ever “randomly” chosen a winner either mixes up the entries and then pulls one out or just grabs the one on the top. Stern reaches for the bottom. Gets two envelopes. Flips them over. Lets one of the envelopes slip from his grip. Pulls the Knicks envelope from the hopper. Why does he deal from the bottom of the deck?

4) The last clue is the envelope itself. Check out the bent corner on the envelope as Stern pulls it up. If you miss it, click pause the moment the clock ticks to :48 seconds. The corner is bent back.

So why was he so nervous? I think Stern is smart enough to know he couldn’t fiddle around looking for the envelope. I think he had come to grips that there’s a chance he wouldn’t be able to locate the envelope in enough time to fool the masses but the plan was to give it a shot. He knew you need a good team in NY and he was nervous for the league’s future to make it work.

If you now are at the point you question the authenticity of the 1985 draft lottery, why stop there? If you believe Stern would consider fixing one lottery, why not keep doing it?

Here’s the Doug Franz ranking of the teams chances on winning the lottery based on…THE STERN FACTOR

1) KNICKS: it’s 1985 all over again
2) THUNDER: yes it’s a small market but you want to establish consistency and home boy Blake Griffin will do that
3) T’WOLVES: don’t count out the thank you the league owes them for the KG trade
4) KINGS: need a new arena or a marquee ticket for Las Vegas
5) NETS: needs hype on their way to Brooklyn
6) GRIZ: they saved the Lakers with the Gasol trade so now it’s the league’s turn
7) WARRIORS: they sell a lot of tix @ home but little on the road, this would help
8) PACERS: don’t forget what a great image this franchise used to have and the league cares deeply about image
9) RAPTORS: huge market but they don’t struggle enough to win
10) BOBCATS: league would like to reward fans for new arena but there are more pressing needs elsewhere
11) WIZARDS: since Redskins don’t create the competition in the market anymore, why bother?
12) CLIPPERS: it is LA but is it really?
13) BUCKS: they’ll let them win when Bogut’s the pick but they won’t let Griffin go there
14) SUNS: letting PHX win would be saying “I’m sorry” for suspending Amare and Stern would never do that

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