TripleThreat wrote:

awe1028 wrote:You beat me to it. Doncic (and Michael Porter) is exactly why you root for the Knicks to lose a whole lot of games and get a whole lot of ping pong balls in the 2018 draft.

Depends on if you think the NBA draft is rigged or not. I believe it is, and based on that, my best guess is the Clippers and/or Minnesota will end up with the top two picks.

Less than 80 percent of all POTENTIAL playoff games were played last postseason. Why is that? Both conferences were very very top heavy. That's a lot of lost revenue. Cleveland will be gutted after this season, but Golden State has to drive Adam Silver nuts. They destroy everyone and they aren't that marketable. (not compared to some wannabe rapper who shoots up nightclubs and gets 15 stewardesses pregnant and has his own cologne and dunks over a car - you know the kind of players that NBA love to market with full swag and fervor)

If you are a new owner or an owner who spent big recently on a franchise, the NBA wants you to win. Because winning and winning FAST is an incentive for more non NBA owners to bid and bid crazy to get a team and hop on that ride. The Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars got extra picks their first year for a reason. If they both win and win fast, it ups the valuation of ALL FRANCHISES.

Ballmer spend TWO BILLION on the Clippers. Paul is gone and Griffin is probably going to get hurt. And they have no reason to be a treadmill team.

Minnesota can actually be in a position to slow down Golden State and drag out a series.

The league would have gift wrapped either Doncic or Porter to the Lakers if they had a pick. But they don't. Clearly the league wants the Lakers/Celtic rivalry to be reborn. Clearly LBJ and Paul George will end up on the Lakers next season.

Knicks have no chance at Doncic or Porter. Was there any doubt where Anthony Davis was going to go? Kyrie Irving? LBJ? Derrick Rose? This draft process is so rigged that people in the industry just joke about it in public now.

If the Knicks want top lottery picks from now on, Dolan has TO SELL THE TEAM FOR A RECORD PRICE, and the new ownership will be "gifted" some top lottery picks as the bounty for raising the value of all franchises with some stupid over the top offer.

I am not sure I agree with you the draft is rigged. I am not saying I disagree either. I have no COMPELLING evidence either way.

You state, "Clearly the league wants the Lakers/Celtics rivalry" and I think in part you are basing this on the fact the Celtics and Lakers got the top two picks in the draft.

However the NBA draft just as in other sports' drafts is set up to reward the worst teams with the highest picks. Unlike other sports the worse team is not GUARANTEED to get the first pick. In looking at the history, it seems to me the NBA draft has gone just about as would be expected

In 2017, the Celtics (via the Nets) and the Lakers had the two worse records thus it is not surprising they "won" the top two picks. Where is the evidence of rigging?

In 2016, 2015 2011 Philadelphia Minnesota Cleveland all had the worst records respectively and got the first picks. Again where is the rigging?

There have been persistent rumors of draft rigging and if you subscribe to the theory "where there is smoke there is fire" which I do to some extent it is probably prudent to keep an open mind about the possibility. But to accuse the NBA of rigging, I am not ready to go that far. Until further evidence is presented at most I will say is I have an open mind.

I will also have to disagree with your comment, "the Knicks have no chance at Donca and Porter". Having a competitive team in New York would certainly be good for the NBA. The League was never more popular and profitable than when the Knicks and Bulls were battling it out during the Patrick and Michael era.

IMHO, The knicks are on the verge of and one wing superstar (Doncic, Porter) away from being competitive again. Given the impact a once again relevant Knicks team would have on the NBA, it seems to me if rigging is indeed going on the Knicks have a very good chance of being gifted Doncic or Porter.

No the question of why hasn't NY gotten the #1 since 1985? Either Silver/Stern hate Dolan for some reason, or they feel like we don't deserve it since we got it in 85.

I think we should focus this entire season on developing chemistry between the players we want to keep. This should be the goal and it needs to be communicated to the team - so they are not frustrated about results/playoffs and other noise.

Bench/reduce Melo or keep him home
Play Noah off the bench even if he is healthy
Tell Jeff his job is safe. He ALONE gets to decide on what style to play and who to sit/start - anyone who has issue with this can rot on the bench
Jeff should run various lineups consistently and experiment enough so we have solid foundation of what works against what type of opposition
Prioritize developing defensive chemistry between KP/Willy
Prioritize defense - set defensive benchmarks and hold players accountable to those
Bench everyone who can't accomplish their defensive assignment
Bench anyone who exceeds a certain preset hard limit of isolation offense (percentage of possessions)
Reward players who buy into team concept and play defense with increased PT
Don't worry about W/L tally
Don't worry about lottery or Doncic
Keep building the team the right way - focus on defense, unselfishness and teamwork
Everything else will take care of itself

TripleThreat wrote:

awe1028 wrote:You beat me to it. Doncic (and Michael Porter) is exactly why you root for the Knicks to lose a whole lot of games and get a whole lot of ping pong balls in the 2018 draft.

Depends on if you think the NBA draft is rigged or not. I believe it is, and based on that, my best guess is the Clippers and/or Minnesota will end up with the top two picks.

Less than 80 percent of all POTENTIAL playoff games were played last postseason. Why is that? Both conferences were very very top heavy. That's a lot of lost revenue. Cleveland will be gutted after this season, but Golden State has to drive Adam Silver nuts. They destroy everyone and they aren't that marketable. (not compared to some wannabe rapper who shoots up nightclubs and gets 15 stewardesses pregnant and has his own cologne and dunks over a car - you know the kind of players that NBA love to market with full swag and fervor)

If you are a new owner or an owner who spent big recently on a franchise, the NBA wants you to win. Because winning and winning FAST is an incentive for more non NBA owners to bid and bid crazy to get a team and hop on that ride. The Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars got extra picks their first year for a reason. If they both win and win fast, it ups the valuation of ALL FRANCHISES.

Ballmer spend TWO BILLION on the Clippers. Paul is gone and Griffin is probably going to get hurt. And they have no reason to be a treadmill team.

Minnesota can actually be in a position to slow down Golden State and drag out a series.

The league would have gift wrapped either Doncic or Porter to the Lakers if they had a pick. But they don't. Clearly the league wants the Lakers/Celtic rivalry to be reborn. Clearly LBJ and Paul George will end up on the Lakers next season.

Knicks have no chance at Doncic or Porter. Was there any doubt where Anthony Davis was going to go? Kyrie Irving? LBJ? Derrick Rose? This draft process is so rigged that people in the industry just joke about it in public now.

If the Knicks want top lottery picks from now on, Dolan has TO SELL THE TEAM FOR A RECORD PRICE, and the new ownership will be "gifted" some top lottery picks as the bounty for raising the value of all franchises with some stupid over the top offer.

Well one thing we have going for us is that we have an all minority front office, if we can push that narrative then maybe the NBA will take notice and finally give us a top 3 pick to help put them on a path to success. However, if I had to bet, the top 3 will be the Clippers for the reasons outlined in your post, the Bulls (they give the Bulls a top 3 pick almost every time they are in the lottery), and Cavs (that BK pick will either help entice LeBron to stay or start the rebuild when he leaves. The league loves giving the Bulls and Cavs top 3 picks that's for sure.

Portland has done OK, they got Bill Walton and a chip, and they had a long streak of playoff success for years, DESPITE those "Mistakes".
My point is this was all done not because of conspiracy but by their own decisions. They were in control of their own destiny.
Clippers for years drafted aweful. Ted Septien used to trade his picks for years when he owned the Cav's. The lakers and Celtics made masterful trades for picks that set up for the showtime/bird era.
For all Dolan is, he is a senior owner and a powerful one at that. The notion that the league favors one vs. another is beyond my comprehension.
The only thing I can wrap my head around is the league might mandate a ref to extend a series but to that extent if it was ever disclosed it would be economically devastating to the league and how it would govern itself. They are except from many labor practices. The Public funds many of the arena's as well. It would be ugly.

Knicks have only their decisions to blame.

KP4Life wrote:If NBA draft is rigged (which I believe it is) why havent ww been gifted a number 1 since 1985? Shit I feels like we have the worst luck in the last ten years in drafting. We always end up going down. Not up. Meanwhile cavs gets 3 #1s in like 5 years. Seems crazy fishy to me. I think in the next few years we will be gifted a number 1 by stern. But who knows.

It's definately rigged. Just look at how the NBA rigged it so we would pick Frank over Dennis Smith Jr.!

nixluva wrote:

meloshouldgo wrote:Been happily immersed in fantasy football land...reading this thread and laughing a bit. Knicks not winning the lottery = the lottery is rigged?
NBA wants new owners who bet on a franchise to win? Tell that to the Brooklyn Nets?

I think we should focus this entire season on developing chemistry between the players we want to keep. This should be the goal and it needs to be communicated to the team - so they are not frustrated about results/playoffs and other noise.

Bench/reduce Melo or keep him home
Play Noah off the bench even if he is healthy
Tell Jeff his job is safe. He ALONE gets to decide on what style to play and who to sit/start - anyone who has issue with this can rot on the bench
Jeff should run various lineups consistently and experiment enough so we have solid foundation of what works against what type of opposition
Prioritize developing defensive chemistry between KP/Willy
Prioritize defense - set defensive benchmarks and hold players accountable to those
Bench everyone who can't accomplish their defensive assignment
Bench anyone who exceeds a certain preset hard limit of isolation offense (percentage of possessions)
Reward players who buy into team concept and play defense with increased PT
Don't worry about W/L tally
Don't worry about lottery or Doncic
Keep building the team the right way - focus on defense, unselfishness and teamwork
Everything else will take care of itself

I have no doubt that the Knicks are SOLELY focused on developing the talent they have and trying to improve this season. There's no way they can do their jobs and keep them if they focused on trying to draft a top prospect. Now if they lose but do so fighting and playing hard then so be it.

Mills, Perry and Jeff have stated that the team is focused on development and there's no reason to doubt that this is their priority. The Knicks have so much work to do as a franchise and they can't build anything of value if all they're thinking about is Tanking and putting it all on the luck of the Lottery. The jury is still out on whether the Sixers will ultimately prove to be successful doing it that way. Sure looks good right now but they also have lots of work to do.

Which is why I said don't focus on the draft and Doncic. One thing they can do is publicly announce Jeff is the coach and he is staying but that only works if they are committed to follow through with it even when (not if) it involves extended benching of Melo and KP. Those are the tires of steps that can get results or you can coddle the Stars and celebrate first round exit for the next two decades. You have to start somewhere, take a position and go with it. Can't forever analyze see what is the next move.

Gudris wrote:Doncic just now destroyed Spain and brothers Gasols and Hernangomez in semifinals http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2017/1409/Spain-Slovenia#|tab=boxscore_statistics

Gudris most impressive for Doncic is the 12 rebounds. Question: Is he as a good a rebounder as this game suggests or is it just an abnormally good rebounding game for him.

Welpee wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:

awe1028 wrote:You beat me to it. Doncic (and Michael Porter) is exactly why you root for the Knicks to lose a whole lot of games and get a whole lot of ping pong balls in the 2018 draft.

Depends on if you think the NBA draft is rigged or not. I believe it is, and based on that, my best guess is the Clippers and/or Minnesota will end up with the top two picks.

Less than 80 percent of all POTENTIAL playoff games were played last postseason. Why is that? Both conferences were very very top heavy. That's a lot of lost revenue. Cleveland will be gutted after this season, but Golden State has to drive Adam Silver nuts. They destroy everyone and they aren't that marketable. (not compared to some wannabe rapper who shoots up nightclubs and gets 15 stewardesses pregnant and has his own cologne and dunks over a car - you know the kind of players that NBA love to market with full swag and fervor)

If you are a new owner or an owner who spent big recently on a franchise, the NBA wants you to win. Because winning and winning FAST is an incentive for more non NBA owners to bid and bid crazy to get a team and hop on that ride. The Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars got extra picks their first year for a reason. If they both win and win fast, it ups the valuation of ALL FRANCHISES.

Ballmer spend TWO BILLION on the Clippers. Paul is gone and Griffin is probably going to get hurt. And they have no reason to be a treadmill team.

Minnesota can actually be in a position to slow down Golden State and drag out a series.

The league would have gift wrapped either Doncic or Porter to the Lakers if they had a pick. But they don't. Clearly the league wants the Lakers/Celtic rivalry to be reborn. Clearly LBJ and Paul George will end up on the Lakers next season.

Knicks have no chance at Doncic or Porter. Was there any doubt where Anthony Davis was going to go? Kyrie Irving? LBJ? Derrick Rose? This draft process is so rigged that people in the industry just joke about it in public now.

If the Knicks want top lottery picks from now on, Dolan has TO SELL THE TEAM FOR A RECORD PRICE, and the new ownership will be "gifted" some top lottery picks as the bounty for raising the value of all franchises with some stupid over the top offer.

And the Wizards got the #1 pick (John Wall) the draft after their owner Abe Pollin died in spite of having the 5th best odds.

...not to mention that John Wall is a DC product. Anytime there is a hometown kid with primere talent, the league seems to steer him home i.e. LeBron James to CLE, Derrick Rose to CHI, John Wall to DC, Lonzo Ball to LAL, etc. If it isn't under this pretense, there is some other compelling narrative i.e. the franchise losing its franchise player (e.g. LeBron to MIA; then Kyrie to CLE; CP3 to LAC; then Anthony Davis NOH/NOP; Elton Brand to PHI; then Blake Griffin to LAC; Kevin Love to CLE; then Karl Anthony Towns to MIN). Like the other skeptics, I think the draft is blatantly rigged.

awe1028 wrote:

Gudris wrote:Doncic just now destroyed Spain and brothers Gasols and Hernangomez in semifinals http://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2017/1409/Spain-Slovenia#|tab=boxscore_statistics

Gudris most impressive for Doncic is the 12 rebounds. Question: Is he as a good a rebounder as this game suggests or is it just an abnormally good rebounding game for him.

Yes, he is a triple double threat every night and that Spanish team is pretty much an NBA team so this performance is legit.

Gudris wrote:

Nice player indeed but not the best fit for this front court defensively . We would have to move Willy to the bench to get some speed and athletic ability at the 4