Has the NBA Draft Lottery Screwed the Phoenix Suns: A look into history
The NBA draft is an institution that was put into place after the 1983-84 season; a season in which the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls tanked to levels Sam Hinkie had never come close to accomplishing. Today we look at the Suns’ lottery history and see if, and when, the lottery was fixed against them.
The 1986 NBA Draft Lottery
After a controversial NBA draft in 1985, in which the NBA basically gave Patrick Ewing, the star Georgetown center, to the big market New York Knicks, the NBA needed to prove that they were not fixing the lottery.
So as a followup, the #1 pick ended in the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, a playoff team who acquired the pick from a previous trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. To make matters worse the defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, had the 2nd pick, acquired in a trade with the Seattle Supersonics.
In 1986, the lottery was not decided based on a team’s record, but on what teams logo would be drawn first from a bingo-style bucket. So basically when because the 76ers’ logo was drawn first, they acquired the first pick and so on. The Suns ended up moving up a spot from seven to six getting the chance to draft super bust William Bedford, a man who I had to Wikipedia to find out who he was.
I think this could have been fixed, but with owners upset that the New York Knicks acquiring Patrick Ewing in the previous draft, I doubt it.