Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  91 responses

David Kahn Thinks the NBA Draft Lottery is Rigged


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

With a less than remarkable NBA Draft class at hand, reps for bad teams were already on edge last night at the Lottery, which meant the potential for hilarity was off the charts.

And as always, Minnesota Timberwolves GM David Kahn came through. After the L-Wolves nabbed the second overall pick, Kahn opened up to the media about his theories regarding how the Draft Lottery process truly works.

According to Kahn, it’s not as random as you may think. From the AP and Star Tribune:

ESPN took a commercial break at that point while they assembled representatives of the three remaining teams center stage. That meant Kahn stepped forth. So did Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor. And so did Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s bespectacled, bow-tied 14-year-old son, Nick, who is afflicted with a rare neurological disease.

“I did tell Kevin O’Connor when the three of us were asked to stand up on that little elevated stage, as soon as the 14 year old joined us, we were toast,” Kahn said. “There was no way the 14 year old was about to be denied in a league that has a habit of compelling storylines.”

Timberwolves General Manager David Kahn said he knew Minnesota was “dead” when it got down to the final three of himself, Utah executive Kevin O’Connor and Nick Gilbert, the son of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert who was born with neurofibromatosis. “This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said. “Last year it was Abe Pollin’s widow and this year it was a 14-year-old boy and the only thing we have in common is we have both been bar mitzvahed. We were done. I told Kevin: ‘We’re toast.’ This is not happening for us and I was right.”

KAHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

Kahn, who has a long and amazing history of putting his foot in his mouth, can expect to receive a not-so-pleasant call from the League office this week.

Here’s to hoping the Timberwolves don’t fire David Kahn anytime soon; he’s far too entertaining to be kicked out of the NBA.

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  • http://dsjkflf.com Jukai

    Hahaha at the part where BC and Philo said they were morons. “We know” said the rest of the world.

  • Eddie1

    y’all laughed at Eddie when he said illuminati. Now Eddie laughing at you. EDDIE. SQUAD UP.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    actually if you don’t feel like the draft is atleast a little rigged, or rigged sometimes, then you are more likely to be the moron. The lottery turns out pretty close to perfect story line wise, every year or two.

  • http://www.bulls.com Rigo Gonzalez

    @nbk – because it would’ve made for another “incredible story line”.
    Griffin played HS ball in OK, played college ball at OK, then he joins up with Durant to take his hometown team to the top of the L.
    I do think it’s rigged too tho.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I guarantee he still pulls in more money for the league turning the clippers into a relevant franchise then he would have playing for his hometown team in Oklahoma City. The draft lottery is not rigged for a great story, its rigged for great business. The great story and great business aspect just go hand in hand a decent amount of the time. And they can’t make it too obviously rigged, because then there wouldn’t be those out there to jump to the lotteries aid everytime a team gets a suspect draw (which happens almost annually, in a system that is supposed to be 100% random)

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    Oh look, it’s the Buddhist…

  • dsleepy

    way to stay classy there, kahn.

  • JD

    He’s got a point

  • dsleepy

    i’m actually laughin at eddie now. eddie cracks me up by referring to himself in 3rd person and referencing illuminati for a professional basketball draft lottery.

  • dsleepy

    damn eboy you are ice cold. have some sympathy for the franchise your commander-in-chief straight up robbed.

  • http://www.bulls.com Rigo Gonzalez

    Actually, I thought Stern was just throwing Sterling a bone with that one.
    Ha ha I know what you mean though.

  • T-Money

    you guys realize that team reps are allowed in the room when they’re picking the ping pong balls, right? usually they send a pr guy but as one writer pointed out yesterday, khan himself could have devided to attend. and besides, why would you even care about a product that you think is rigged? makes no sense.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    you realize they can dictate the weight of each ball. and they are hundreds of different scenarios, you think every person in that room has a cheat sheet with each one? they can’t video tape, or record the numbers drawn in anyway, and unless any of them are rainman its impossible for them to actually tell you anything coming out of that room.

  • dsleepy

    i love this website. The work day ain’t complete until I’ve seen some of the hilarious SLAM comments. Props and love to the SLAM fam.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    Hawks also skipped JR Smith, Deng and Iguodala. I think skipping Paul and Williams hurts the most

  • Eddie1

    In case y’all aint in the know. Slam banned my last user ID “Eddie” cuz they felt I kept harping on the illuminati. But seriously, when something like the NBA draft is brought up where that nerdy kid got the first pick, y’all know some ish is going down. It’s Illuminati. Eddie upgraded version 1.0. Holla if ya heard.

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    T-Money, team reps ARE NOT allowed in the room while the lottery TAKES PLACE, meaning, nobody representing a team actually SEES it happening. The only thing you know are the possible combinations that each pick yields, but the process still takes place BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.
    Ah, but what would we do without your cynicism? Unless you can read it in the newspaper or on some website, then it’s purely speculation and simply not true.

  • T-Money

    The drawing of the ping-pong balls is conducted in private, though observed by independent auditors and representatives from each team. (clears throat)

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Which is essentially meaningless. You can draw numbers infront of people all day doesn’t mean it isn’t fixed. I could probably holler at my boy David Blaine and he’ll do some magic that is much more impressive then rigging a lottery that is conducted infront of clueless independents and representatives.

  • Eddie1

    And how do we know the great David Stern does not employ an illuminati agent well-versed in magic and the dark arts to provide some manual manipulation of the draw to allow glasses the first pick. Ah anything for a story eh illuminati? Y’all even don’t realize the actual date today is August 12, 2011. The finals took place 2 months ago. It was Celtics vs. Grizz, but once again the illuminati had to rewrite history, most likely now dallas vs Miami. I am the neo of this world. Here me roarrrr. EDDIE. SQUAD UP.

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    And the fact that many people feel the process is rigged holds no bearing on how they view the “product” which in this case is NBA basketball. That assertion makes no sense.
    People who feel the NBA “wants” certain teams to play in the Finals, not that sort of conspiracy theory is indeed stupid. The only way I’ll believe the lottery isn’t rigged is if the League allows more transparency.

  • http://pickandroll.tumblr.com airs

    eddie has stepped his game up.

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    T-Money, you might want to read Mary Schmitt Boyer’s Plain-Dealer article IN PRINT today. You know, since that’s the only thing you believe.

  • izzo

    I don’t understand why this is controversial.

  • Jono

    They can easily eliminate this by showing all that table tennis balls being drawn. I understand it’s slightly long and the process is complicated but what else do you have to show on an afternoon on NBA TV that’s that important? Play-offs are on ABC, ESPN or TNT anyway. I really really doubt the first ball that was picked up in 08 was the Chicago Bulls. Call me stupid but I’m an auditor so I’d like proof! They do it in Europe with the Champions League and in the World Cup. Why not show it on the tele Sterny?

  • flipnoyce

    I don’t think it’s rigged at all, thats why they called it lottery. You just never know what you’ll get.Just because one team has more picks doesn’t guarantee the #1 overall. The thing about the NBA is that certain team doesn’t draft right according to what the team already has. If a team already have a decent CENTER then draft a piece that you’ll most likely need and not the same POSITION the lottery indicate.

  • http://slamonline.com Ghost

    2011 draft #’s 3-10 = late teens any other draft.

  • http://twitter.com/BeezKneezy LA Huey

    I don’t believe its rigged. If it were, the Clips would not have won the Griffin lottery, Boston would have won the Duncan or Durant/Oden lottery, Knicks would have got the 1st/2nd pick in the LBJ/Melo lottery. I agree that the results do seem convenient at times.

  • Eddie1

    @LA Huey. Boston winning Durant/Oden wouldn’t mean ish in terms of a story. Plus how can Stern deny this kid with bird on the brain and whose father went off the deep end when the King left Cleveland the first pick? Lesson to be learned. Think of a gimmick to help your team get a higher draft number. Send your kid, ex-owner’s wife, hot girlfriend, whatevs.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    The whole idea that if it was rigged the NBA would be stupid about it is hilarious. Why wouldn’t the clips have gotten blake griffin? one logical reason will do. – why would Boston have gotten Oden? And that draft is the most “un-rigged” of all of the drafts over the last decade or so IMO. Even though the whole Jordan analogy seemed to play itself out perfectly for that season, coincidentally (if that’s what you believe) enough. — And LeBron to Cleveland was PERFECT, it resurrected a whole city and the NBA. He was too big of a star for the market to matter, sending him home to a place rife with professional sports disappointments seemed pretty fitting, and story book if he could squeeze out a championship or two. San Antonio rigged that whole 97 season so they would have a shot at duncan, and Stern was more then likely foaming at the mouth to have a good guy counterpart to the budding Laker dynasty of the time. I mean I can probably defend every lottery from a rigged not rigged persepctive, either way. And if the lottery weren’t rigged in any way, i doubt I would be able to do that, year after year after year.

  • Waggle

    Shout out to Eddie.

  • retrobat

    Wayno FTW!! That ish had me laughing so hard!

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    As long as you all know that Patrick Ewing to the Knicks was not rigged.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Congrats to the Cavs and Nick Gilbert though, their team definitely needed that first pick. No complaints here.

  • Harlem_World

    Teams are going to have to draft well because there is not enough talent in the draft to trade draft picks for quality vets.

  • monkeyball

    Stern is too smart to rig the lottery. He knows if he got caught it would be a PR disaster. Same with conspiracy theories about ref calls (e.g., game 6 of the 02 Lakers-Kings WCF). I just don’t believe it. Not because these guys have scruples, but because they don’t have the tools to make sure there are no leaks.

  • jose

    As much as i felt bad for The L-wolves for lucking out again, Cleveland deserved some bright spot out of whats happened this year.. . .th way i see the lottery when it comes to 1st round picks is sure you have a largest chance to get the 1st pick compared to each respective team, but combined the other 13 teams have a 75% of getting that pick, vs your 25%. . .yea . .

  • http://www.twitter.com/JoshElam JE

    man, it probably is. it was definitely a ballsy move for him to say it given the circumstances, but it probably is. There’s no real reason to not show the ping pong ball process live, other than to adjust the picks the way you want, when you want.

  • Waylonakolipse

    C’mon, they got a Jew commish….Fix the draft a little and generate $100,000,000+ for an NBA team over the course of a players carreer. That’s a no brainer. Notice how bad teams in good markets rarely get top 5 picks?

  • http://dsjkflf.com Jukai

    More amazingness from BC: “THAT conspiracy theory is really dumb and people who think it are dumb. THIS one though, is pretty obviously true.” He brings joy to my day.
    Also, when someone says “he’s Jewish OF COURSE he should be good at marketing” I never know whether to be offended or not.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dfrance21 dfrance21

    In this day and age, I don’t know how anyone could put anything past anybody. It doesn’t have to be rigged in the sense that every year Stern decides what teams get what picks, but when you have a once in a generation player like James in the draft and the team in his home state has a chance at the top pick, why not make it happen?

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