True. The producers of American Idol could draw something like this out to a three night television extravaganza. In addition they might want to get actual human beings to run the machine rather than those spaced-out android automatons that they have doing it now.
It's like a regular lottery with thousands of potential ping pong ball combinations. Each team is randomly assigned the percentage of combinations that their finishing record qualifies them for. I'm pretty sure that huge list behind them is the number combinations and the team that owns each one. Then the balls are pulled out of the hopper and they figure out who owns the winning combination. If the owner of the combination has already won an earlier pick then they redraw the ping pong balls. After that the remaining teams are slotted in reverse order of their record.
How are the numbers assigned to each team? Do certain teams have a higher percentage of two or three specific digits appearing on the list (for example, the 4, 6 and 9)? If so, there are ways to draw those balls to the bottom.
These are legit questions, however I am confident that the owners of the less favored teams are savvy businessmen who have satisfied themselves that the system is fair. I've heard people claim that the entire NBA benefits if the Lakers get a high pick, but to me that's ridiculous. There is no way that the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks or the Indiana Pacers or the Utah Jazz would condone a system that gives the Lakers an increased chance of getting a lottery pick for the good of the league. The owners of each one of these teams would benefit far more by getting the best pick possible for their own teams. Besides all of this, all of the owners already know that LA and a handful of other teams already have the advantage of being able to attract the best players in the primes of their career, in addition to superstars at discount rates in the twilight of their careers. There is no evidence at all that the modern NBA lottery is rigged. As for the lottery where Ewing was picked, that's an entirely different story. The NBA would be stupid to put themselves in a position like that ever again.How are the numbers assigned to each team? Do certain teams have a higher percentage of two or three specific digits appearing on the list (for example, the 4, 6 and 9)? If so, there are ways to draw those balls to the bottom.
No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but there would be ways to "fix" the system to give certain teams a MUCH higher percentage of a top-3 pick than by what is expected by their actual number of combinations - even with the drawing watched publicly. I haven't though it out much, so I'm sure there are other methods than what I came up with off the top of my head. Not necessarily guaranteed to give specific teams a better pick, but at least substantially increase their odds for a draft or two until it panned out. Sure is a lot harder than it was back in the days when all you had to do was mangle the envelope a little bit
Make sure you steal it, or at least get it from the thrift store. Don't send your money to the Lakers.
