2023 DRAFT: Mavs take Lively, OMP, sign Mike Miles to 2-way, sign Jordan Walker

[Hogmelon]

This might be cynical, but on a year when the Mavs were the only team punished for overtly tanking, I have a tough time imagining the NBA allowing them to win the lottery.

I am quite serious, and I don’t believe one must adopt a blanket “the lottery is rigged” viewpoint to see the logic in what I’m suggesting.

KillerLeft, I'm not at all interested in starting an argument, but I would seriously appreciate a clarification of your post.

First of all, exactly what do you mean by the phrase "win the lottery"?  Only the # 1 pick (Mavs' purported probability = 3%)?  A Top-2 pick (Mavs' purported probability = 6.27%)?   A Top-3 pick (Mavs' purported probability = 9.87%)?   A Top-4 pick (Mavs' purported probability = 13.88%)?  Or, perhaps, something else?

Second, when you write "the NBA," exactly who (or what) do you mean?  Do you think Adam Silver is involved in not "allowing [the Mavericks] to win the lottery"?  How many people do you think would be involved in making that decision?  How many people do you think would perform all the actions necessary to ensure that the Mavericks do not "win the lottery"?

Knowing how the draft lottery purportedly works (in the presence of a boatload of witnesses, including Michael Finley), with the # 1 pick being determined FIRST (by four ping pong balls being randomly [or not randomly???] chosen, one at a time, out of the fourteen balls in the machine), would you please explain specifically and in detail how "the NBA" would implement a plan not to allow the Mavericks "to win the lottery"?  I mean, physically, how exactly would the NBA's plan be effectuated?

Thanks in advance for helping me better understand your previous comment ("I have a tough time imagining the NBA allowing them to win the lottery").