David Stern became the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association in 1984, at the heyday of Lakers-Celtics/Magic-Bird rivalry that helped transform the league into what it is today.
Since Stern took over, only EIGHT NBA franchises have won the Larry O'Brien Trophy, given to the champions of the league. Of those eight, seven are in what are deemed to be "major TV markets."
The list is:
Los Angeles Lakers (8 titles, 13 appearances)
Chicago Bulls (6 titles, 6 appearances)
San Antonio Spurs (4 titles, 4 appearances)
Boston Celtics (3 titles, 6 appearances)
Detroit Pistons (3 titles, 5 appearances)
Houston Rockets (2 titles, 4 appearances)
Miami Heat (1 title, 3 appearances)
Dallas Mavericks (1 title, 2 appearances)
Going back to 1979-80, when Magic Johnson entered the league, the list only bumps up to NINE franchises (Philadelphia 76ers in 1983). The Lakers have won the title 10 times since 1980, while the Celtics have won it four times.
Coincidence?
Even Major League Baseball, which operates without a salary cap and allows the larger market teams to outspend the smaller market ones, has more parity than this. And, the NBA has had a salary cap, although that cap is rife with loopholes and other exceptions that basically make it a "salary cap" in theory.
Nine championship franchises in 32 years? Eight of which are in major markets, and all of which had some sort of gimmick going for them (a superstar player, a team nickname, etc.)?
Throw in the list of teams that reached the NBA Finals during that span and lost, that number expands to just 18 different franchises. 18 franchises in a 30-team league.
The franchises that have thrown the "olive branch" include:
Portland Trail Blazers (2 appearances)
Utah Jazz (2 appearances)
New York Knicks (2 appearances)
New Jersey Nets (2 appearances)
Orlando Magic (2 appearances)
Phoenix Suns (1 appearance)
Indiana Pacers (1 appearance)
Seattle SuperSonics (1 appearance)
Cleveland Cavaliers (1 appearance)
Oklahoma City Thunder (1 appearance)
Philadelphia 76ers (1 appearance)
None of these franchises made the NBA Finals until 1990. From 1980-89, the finals were dominated by just five teams -- the Lakers (5 titles, 8 apperances), the Celtics (3 titles, 5 appearances), the 76ers (1 title, 3 appearances), the Rockets (2 appearances) and the Pistons (1 title, 2 apperances). All of the 76ers appearances came from 1980-83, which was before Stern took over. The Sixers have only made it back once during the David Stern era.
Stern also ushered in the era of the NBA Draft Lottery, which began following the 1984-85 season. Stern's reasoning behind the lottery was because there was a belief that the Houston Rockets and other teams were "tanking" games in order to land the No. 1 overall draft choice in 1984 (which was Hakeem Olajuwon; Michael Jordan wound going third to the Chicago Bulls after Portland selected Sam Bowie).
For the first two years, all of the non-playoff teams had an equal chance of getting the top pick. From 1987-89, only the top three picks were "randomly" selected out of a hopper -- the remaining teams filled out the fourth pick on down based on their win-loss records.
In 1990, they changed it to "weighted" system, so that the team with the worst record had the most chances of landing the top pick on down. However, after the Orlando Magic wound up with the top pick in the 1993 draft despite only having one chance to land it, the NBA tinkered with their theory again.
From 1994 through now, the NBA uses 14 numbered ping-pong balls and assigns a certain number of four-digit combinations to the non-playoff teams. The worst team has the highest number of combinations, on down. The NBA draws three four-digit combinations, and the teams with those combinations land the top three draft picks. Picks four on down are assigned based on record.
Only twice has the team with the worst record in the NBA won the lottery and gotten the top pick -- 1990 (New Jersey Nets; Derrick Coleman) and 2004 (Orlando Magic; Dwight Howard). The Cavs were tied with Denver for the worst record in 2003, but yet won the lottery and selected LeBron James.
The team that has won the draft lottery the most since 1985 is the Los Angeles Clippers. Twice, they traded that top pick, and both times, that top pick wound up in the Cavs' hands -- 1986 (Brad Daugherty) and 2011 (Kyrie Irving).
The first draft lottery is the most suspicious of them all. With Patrick Ewing being the projected top choice, and the Knicks struggling in the top-media market, it seems pretty coincidental that the Knicks landed the top spot.
First, before the envelopes were placed in the hopper, the deputy commissoner banged one envelope on to a counter-top. Just one envelope. That gave that envelope a bent corner. Then, Stern drew out three envelopes at once, fumbled around a bit, and dropped the other two back in the hopper. The envelope he kept had the bent corner. That envelope had the Knicks logo on it.
Only 16 different NBA franchises have landed the top pick in the draft lottery. A lot of them seem too coincidental to be true.
The Magic got back-to-back top picks in 1992 and 93, which they selected Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Webber, who was promptly traded for Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway. O'Neal and Hardaway helped the Magic reach the NBA Finals once (losing to the Rockets) before Shaq bolted for the bigger L.A. market, joining the Lakers. The NBA really wanted basketball to take off in Florida, and the Magic reaped the early rewards.
The San Antonio Spurs had become a good franchise once David Robinson was able to report following two years of Naval service duty. But, Robinson was injured and missed most of the 1997 season. That enabled the Spurs to finish with the third-worst record in the league, and they won the right to pick Tim Duncan, one of the most dominant big men coming out of college the NBA has seen in a while. Duncan and Robinson immediately transformed the Spurs into a franchise that would win four NBA titles.
In 2003, an Akron high school athlete had NBA scouts drooling. The Cavs were slagging in attendance after a few miserable seasons plagued by miserable roster decisions. Akron is only 30 miles south of Cleveland. Coincidence? Why not put the local phenom on the local team to inject life into a franchise that had just built a new downtown arena. For 7 years, it worked until that local phenom decided to sign with the Miami Heat as a free agent, who he's helped get to back-to-back NBA Finals berths.
In 2008, there was a Chicago high school phenom who went to Memphis for a year and entered into the draft. The Bulls had been struggling after Michael Jordan retired and needed a shot in the arm. What better way than to follow the LeBron-Cavs method. It's worked.
Before 1993, the once-proud 76ers had fallen on hard times, finishing with just 18 wins. What better way than to enliven one of the NBA's foundation markets by giving them the top pick, which turned out to Allen Iverson. Iverson was controvercial, but he turned the Sixers into must-see TV for a long time, even getting them to an NBA Finals.
In each of the last two seasons, two franchises lost two superstar players and then struggled in their wake. Both franchises wound up with the top-overall selection in the two most recent draft lotteries -- the Cavs (who lost LeBron) and the New Orleans Hornets (who lost Chris Paul and were owned by the NBA when Paul was traded).
Coincidence?
So, what does all of this mean, the stats on the lack of diversity atop the NBA's championship ranks and the holes in the draft lottery?
It basicially means that David Stern is the Vince McMahon of sports commissioners.
It means that the NBA is scripted and rigged.
Watching the most recent NBA Farce ... errr ... Finals between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder has conspiracy theorists, such as Joe Cleveland, beating their chests about how the NBA is rigged. The foul disparity between the two teams has been glaring. The referees are calling a lot more questionable fouls on the Thunder than on the Heat. There have been a few glaring no-calls, such as one on LeBron on a shot from Kevin Durant that could have tied Game 2 in the waning moments.
Tim Donaghy, a disgraced former NBA official who was busted betting on games he officiated, basically let the cat out of the bag in his book, "Personal Foul." I highly recommend any sports fan to pick up this book and give it a read.
Donaghy talks about how refs look the other way when superstars are involved, how certain refs will start calling fouls in favor of the losing team when a team opens up a big lead to try and make the games more competitive in the end, how violations like travelling, up-and-down, defensive three-seconds, and others get ignored, especially when superstar athletes are involved, and how sometimes, they'll nail a superstar with a call just to make a point.
He talked about how some refs would fraternize with the players. This was exposed during Michael Jordan's gambling bust, when it was revealed that he was hanging out with NBA ref Ed Rush Jr.
Basketball is one of the easiest sports to rig. Why do you think there are so many point-shaving scandals? Sure, teams have to make their shots, and sometimes, the ball just doesn't go into the little round cylander. But, refs can directly impact the flow of the game by their foul calls, or their non-foul calls.
All during the playoffs, there have been a lot cries from opposing fans and media about the seemingly preferrential treatment the Heat have gotten from the officiating crews during the postseason. This, on the heels of the draft lottery that seemed so obviously rigged that David Stern was outright asked about it on a national radio show (Stern embarassed himself by not denying it, but instead asking a rhetorical question about the radio host beating his wife), and the consipracy theorists are out in full force.
The Heat making the NBA Finals in back-to-back years is generating a lot of money for the league, the networks (specifically ESPN) and the sponsors, namely Nike.
Did you know that if LeBron James wins a championship, which could very well happen tomorrow night, it will generate $4 billion for Nike? Check out this link below:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/19/lebrons-4-billion-ring/
Stern knows the networks love it when a major market is playing in the finals, or a team with a major superstar. One of the lowest-rated NBA Finals was the 2007 finals when the Cavs were swept by the San Antonio Spurs. Does it not seem surprising that the wheels began to churn in motion at that point for what transpired in July of 2010 and beyond?
In 2009, Nike would have loved an NBA Finals featuring Kobe Bryant's Lakers and LeBron James' Cavs. They even engineered a marketing campaign around it using puppets. Of course, the Orlando Magic had other plans and denied that from happening. Perhaps, at that point, Nike knew the NBA would never solidly get behind the Cavs and their championship dreams.
LeBron leaving the Cavs to sign with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh reeks of something right out of a professional wrestling script. Remember Hulk Hogan aligning with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the New World Order (nWo) in 1996, and how much money pro wrestling generated from that maneuver through the early 2000s? This was LeBron's heel turn.
LeBron got the proverbial "chair shot to the head" last year when Dallas (led by one of the loudest consipracy theorists of them all in owner Mark Cuban) upset his "dream team" in the NBA Finals last year. This year, however, it appears to be time for the nWo to figuratively spray paint all over the NBA trophy.
Sure, a longer series might generate more dollars. However, a dominating Heat win reveals two things:
1. Super teams, regardless of their lack of chemistry and puppet head coaches, will always succeed in the modern NBA.
2. A superstar playing for a middling market may find it best to jump to a bigger lake when the time comes, because rarely does a middling market (such as Oklahoma City) get a moment of glory.
ESPN will start speculating on Kevin Durant's next move immediately after Game 5 ends (and the Heat win, although I'm praying for a miracle to happen) and won't let up until his contract expires or he demands a trade.
That's the way that it goes, unfortunately, and, as long as fans watch, Stern and his cronies will continue to get away with it.
One last thought: The NBA lockout cost every team 16 games of the regular season. That is the exact number of games that the Heat needed to win their "long awaited" NBA title. With those additional 16 games, Miami fell two wins short last season.
Coincidence?
This is why I love hockey and college basketball. This is also why, when I cover high school hoops, players get whistled for travelling one out of every five offensive possessions, and the players look to the refs and wonder why.
Screw you, LeBron James!
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
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