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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  • mike

    He’s right, though. LeBron to Cleveland. Rose to Chicago. Come on now…

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    KAHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

  • JayChau

    Let me know when the article that starts with “David Kahn has been fined by the NBA…” is posted on Slamonline.

  • Riggs

    but i aint do anything

  • 2dope

    Don’t worry David, they’ll be plenty of point gaurds on the board at #2.

  • J.C.

    Send Spree to represent you next year and see where you end up.

  • Jer dawg

    He shouldn’t be mad. If they need another point guard they are readily available. Knight, Fredette, Walker. They all have moxie. Not just Irving. Fredette’s got the Minnesota look and feel. Fans will like him. Walker Is just a mini Iverson scoring machine. Knight looks to be more physically gifted than all other point guards In this class and he is clutch as seen during his run in NCAA tourney. Made it farther as a freshman than Irving. Only thing separating knight and Walker from winning championship was extra 2 years experience. He would’ve drafted another point guard anyway and looked just as dumb as he did drafting Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn.

  • EtheKnickfan

    ^LOL

  • Rasheedionics

    No JC… Spree’s children.. They gotta eat!

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Sometimes Kahn, you just need to accept that you are, in fact, a loser.

  • AT33

    Kahn is gay. #justsaying

  • Myung

    Ewing in 1985 to NY in the first year of the Lottery (Stern’s favorite team: NYK). Orlando getting the #1 pick in 1993 a year after getting Shaq in 1992 (with the lowest odds of any team in the lottery to get #1, at a 1.5% chance), allowing them to draft and trade CWebb for Penny. San Antonio getting Duncan (to team up with the Admiral) after having the 3rd worst record in the NBA in 1997. Bron going to his home state team in 2003. Rose going to his home state team in 2008 when the Bulls had a 1.7% chance of getting #1. And like Kahn mentioned, Pollin (RIP) last year and Gilbert’s kid this year. A compelling conspiracy case can certainly be made. That being said, conspiracies had nothing to do with 2009, when he passed on Steph, Jennings, Teague, Lawson, Holiday, Maynor, and Beaubois. Don’t play the blame game, Kahn. Just make better picks.

  • EtheKnickfan

    Sterns fave team is Chicago

  • EtheKnickfan

    @AT33 “Kahn is gay. #justsaying” You owe me coffee dude u made me spill mine with that one.

  • http://www.walshsportsblog.com Darren

    This is taken a bit out of context isnt it? Seemed like a joke to me.

  • http://POsterous BOko

    Cavs suck

  • Shadojoker

    KAHN = Entertainment!! Do NOT fire this man!!

  • http://www.iowsports.com/ Blue

    Well now…at least we know who was actually TRYING to tank last season.

  • SylvioMac

    U MAD?

  • http://www.twitter.com/dfrance21 DFrance21

    Yeah Kahn sucks at drafting people, but lets not act like the lottery isn’t suspect. How convenient is it that the Cavs got the top pick when LeBron was in the draft, same thing with Rose? How convenient that the summer after they got burned by LeBron, they end up winning the lottery? The jig is up!

  • http://bulls.com airs

    ha, no lie i thought the same thing kahn did when i saw gilbert’s kid up there, like of course this kid’s gonna win.
    but who can resist a feel good story, right.

  • T-Money

    1- watch the vido, very tongue-in-cheek. 2- anyone who thinks the draft is rigged is a moron.

  • http://redoftoothandclaw.ca/ niQ

    Lol. 1) Don’t stop being you Mr. Kahn. 2) If they get Rubio then they don’t even need Irving.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to the Illuminati.

  • Monstarzz

    He was joking. but funny stuff.

  • http://slamonline.com Bryan Crawford

    Then I guess I’m a moron then.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    ^Me too…

  • the truth

    Anyone who would make the assumption that the video proves it’s not rigged is a moron. And count me as and most people on here as being morons according to you

  • Myung

    Me three (you were talking about the lottery and not the actual DRAFT, right, T-Money?). Why don’t they at least just let us see the balls being picked (like in real lottery drawings)? And who’s to say the envelopes don’t get mixed up (human error or “error”)?

  • Myung

    (the truth beat me to it… I guess Me Four).

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    Kevin Garnet to David Kahn “You’re a neurofibromatosis to your team and the league”…

  • matt

    Kahn is right. My raps get screwed over like always. Don’t know why cleveland gets that pick, they had their chance – they had the best player in the world play for that team for 7 years, they wen to the finals, constantly first, EC champs. Minnesota – this team should turn some of their assets in2 better players (trade them) – I think they could give up some depth and seriously get some1 like JSmoove or Bynum. Jazz have been to the finals twice + had a legendary coach. I fail to see how my raps don’t deserve 1st. No one wants to come here, we have the best country in the world, best city in the world, 4th largest city in N.America. When we get good picks they are in horrible drafts. Leonard = James Johnson, Knight + Kemba = Bayless. AKA we have to take Valanciunas (contract problems) or Biyombo (next big ben :) )

  • http://slamonline Brion

    Who didnt guess that the Cavs were gonna win it when that kid went up there? Also @ EtheNickfan someone calling a dude gay makes you spit up your coffee? are u that easliy amused?

  • neaorin

    ABJCavsInsider: Wanna get greedy? #Cavs were “thisclose” to top 2 picks. Balls for #2 pick came out 9-5-7-1. One of Cavs’ 199 combinations was 9-5-7-2.

  • Myung

    The lottery is one thing (conspiracy theorists unite); the draft is completely on the team to make the best of their position. No one forced you guys to take Camby over Kobe in 1996, Aleksandar Radojević in 1999, Michael Bradley in 2001, Rafael Araujo in 2004, or Bargnani over Aldridge in 2006. But take heart, Matt. I’m a Hawks fan. i don’t think any team can beat our front office in terms of drafting poorly. If bad drafts were rings, we’d be a dynasty.

  • http://www.boogiewilliams.com Boing Dynasty

    Myung, Dont forget about Joey Graham before Danny Granger.

  • http://www.boogiewilliams.com Boing Dynasty

    But that Sheldon Williams/Marvin Williams sandwich that ATL had to eat was pretty aweful too.

  • http://360special.blogspot.com dev0

    The lottery system is as abstracted as it could be. Ping-pong balls, combinations of numbers, secret envelopes. Makes one think if it really is random, and every year there are conspiracy theories (see 1985, Ewing). Kahn and the Wolves were predicted to finish second in the draft-order, and just because he’s not living in a fairytale world of his dreams, does not mean everybody else is. He needs to shut up about rigging the process, he obviously didn’t deserve to move up in the draft.

  • http://slamonline Brion

    Did they televize the actual part of drawing the ball out of the machine?

  • Myung

    I just went to the Wikipedia page for “Atlanta Hawks draft history” (I don’t think I can post the link here). My eyes started to bleed. And then I cried. And then I cried some more. Seriously, I dare a fan of any team to find a more pathetic list of players than what you see on that page. It’s particularly bad because 1. You have to remember how bad the Hawks were from 1999 to 2007, meaning we had high lottery picks 2. Pau Gasol and Jason Terry are 2 of our 4 best picks (the other two being Josh Smith and Al Horford) of the past 35 (THIRTY FIVE YEARS?!?!) years , and Gasol never suited up for us (draft night trade for Shareef) and JET was traded in a salary dump (we got rid of Alan Henderon’s terrible contract in the trade) years ago. We didn’t draft Dominique. The only other guys in the past 35 years worth mentioning are Tree Rollins, Doc Rivers, Stacey Augmon, Boris Diaw, Josh Childress, and Jeff Teague. I also found out that we drafted Arvydas Sabonis in 1985, but he obviously never played for us. I was a business major in college and never was a superstar in basketball, but I’m 10000000% positive I could do a better job of drafting than our franchise has done during my lifetime (I’m 33 years old).

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Shout out to Travis Mays.

  • Myung

    Mays wasn’t drafted by the Hawks, but he’s retroactively one of my favorite Hawks (along with Royal Ivey) because my wife went to the University of Texas. Too bad both Mays and Ivey sucked/suck as pro’s.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    I find the best part of it that the year the Cavs get another #1 pick…it’s in a year where the draft class is pretty bland.

  • dma

    Until they decide to televise it, people will continue to speculate. And even then I don’t think they will stop.

  • http://countdownnba.blogspot.com/ Clay

    Sorry Kahn. We know how much you wanted another point guard. The Cavs are now trying to package the first and fourth picks for LeBron.

  • matt

    Myung – NBA put in a rule that said that Vancouver + Raps couldn’t get 1st overall pick in 1st 3 years of the franchises. Also, no one could have predicted how good Kobe would be, wasn’t he picked 16th, exactly. Boing Dynasty – the graham pick and granger right after pains me the most. ATL – u guys have some history. We have 1 pennant and won 1 playoff series.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I feel the draft is rigged. I have felt that way since 85 and I wasn’t even born yet

  • JTaylor21

    For once I agree with Kahn. There’s something fishy about the way the cameras are not allowed to see the real process of picking out the ping-pong balls. Imagine if a state lottery was performed the same way.

  • Kaycee Coleman

    If it was rigged, Blake Griffin would have ended up in OKC.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    why? LA is the biggest market in the league. NO logical reason for 2 of the leagues top draws to play on the same team in one of the leagues bottom 5 smallest markets.

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