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Duh http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/91027/inept-timberwolves-gm-david-kahn-implies-nba-draft-lottery-was-rigged/There has always been an uneasy air that surrounds the NBA draft lottery. Since the mid-80s when the Knicks miraculously got the opportunity to draft Patrick Ewing the integrity of the lottery has come into question. Since then, whenever a team lands the No.1 pick in the draft against strong odds people are quick to cry foul and suspect a conspiracy. These people are nothing more than sore losers–the type of people who buy the most 50/50 tickets and flip a shit when their number isn’t called. David Kahn, the general manager for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is one of those people.
The NBA draft lottery is a weird, tension-packed half hour of television, broadcasted near the North Jersey swamps in the blue-collar town of Secaucus, NJ. Thirteen representatives from teams that didn’t make the playoffs sit around awkwardly, as they nervously await their fates, which rest on a ping-pong ball.
It’s similar to how Yolanda Vega interrupts Wheel of Fortune every night to disappoint millions of New Yorkers with the lotto numbers. Except it only happens once a year and the winner gets to give an 18- or 19-year-old millions of dollars.
The lottery is a nerve-racking game of pure luck over which franchises have no control. So many of the teams’ representatives at the event are viewed as a lucky rabbit foot. Team general managers, presidents, coaches, and players sit stoically, with fingers crossed, hoping that their squad’s name is called last. Twelve teams leave disappointed.
Last night the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team, city and fanbase that has suffered an immeasurable amount of pain and heartache over the years won the NBA lottery and will draft No.1 in the 2011 draft. The Cavs have two picks in the top 5 (one and four) translating a pick they received from the LA Clippers in a trade into the number one overall selection. The odds of this scenario playing out were a minuscule 2.8 percent.
But the star of last night’s draft lottery wasn’t the NBA, Cavaliers, or the City of Cleveland. It was owner Dan Gilbert’s 14-year-old son and “hero,” Nick, who served as the Cavs representative and lucky rabbit’s foot. Nick Gilbert, sporting a bow tie and thick black-framed glasses, was born with a rare nerve disorder known as Neurofibromatosis. The disease causes the frequent and unpredictable growth of tumors in his small frame.
But when Nick was interviewed he appeared to be strong, optimistic, and the owner of a good sense of humor. When the final three picks were being announced Nick was roughly half the size of Timberwolves GM David Kahn and Utah Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor. It was a pleasant surprise when the little guy won.
But Kahn, whose Timberwolves won the No. 2 pick, wasn’t very gracious in his post-lottery remarks.
“This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines,” Kahn said, while smiling, on Tuesday. “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 (Utah executive) Kevin (O’Connor): ‘We’re toast.’ This is not happening for us, and I was right.”
It appears as though Kahn implies that NBA Commissioner, David Stern, rigged the lottery in an effort to create a storyline over the course of the past two seasons. Even if the comment was said in jest, it remains classless and idiotic. In fact, it’s almost as stupid as drafting two point guards with the No. 5 and 6 picks in the draft, which Kahn did by drafting Ricky Rubio and Johnny Flynn in 2009. Rubio is still in Spain and Flynn averaged 5 points per game in an injury-plagued ’10-11 season.
Kahn has made some notoriously poor draft decisions in his two seasons as general manger of the Timberwolves. With four first-round picks in 2009, he drafted three point guards and a shooting guard, the most productive of which, Ty Lawson, he traded on draft day for Darko Milicic, a player who is best known for being picked in front of Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.
If Kahn wants to blame the NBA, Abe Pollin’s widow, and a 14-year-old kid for not getting the No.1 pick the past two years then so be it–it only makes him look like a complete asshole. But after failing to draft a player who can even average a meager 10 points per game in a season and after having seven first round picks in the past two years, he looks like a completely inept asshole. [AP via Yahoo]
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