Fansided

Get Off My Lawn: The NBA Draft Lottery

By Hamilton Bones

May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; General view during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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The NBA Draft lottery is next week, and I wish the year was 1985.

No, I don’t subscribe to the “NBA Fixed the lottery for the Knicks theory” (though there is some pretty compelling proof out there). It’s because I am not looking forward to an agonizing hour of television coupled with commercial breaks leading up to what everyone cares about – who is in the top three.

The NBA should do its fans a favor and skip picks twelve through seven. Assuming no team gets out of those slots and moves into the top three, those picks are pure chalk. Sure, you will have your occasional Cleveland Cavs leapfrog, but more often than not we are forced to stare at the depressed face of a nameless Orlando Magic executive.

TARRYTOWN, NY – AUGUST 7: The 2016 draft class poses for a photo during the 2016 NBA Rookie Shoot on August 7, 2016 at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
TARRYTOWN, NY – AUGUST 7: The 2016 draft class poses for a photo during the 2016 NBA Rookie Shoot on August 7, 2016 at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images) /

All of this is a moot point. The NBA has turned the lottery into an event. What used to be a few GM’s schmoozing in front of a makeshift curtain backdrop has turned a televised circus to see who gets to draft a zit-faced 18-year-old from Chechnya. While I am generally a fan of everything the NBA does, it does feel like Adam Silver has felt the heat from the NFL’s off-season success and is playing up every transaction period. While the NBA draft itself is a fun night of television, it does not have the gravitas that the NFL draft has. The NFL is helped by the fact that it has three days of coverage and seven rounds. The NBA essentially has about twelve compelling picks, then it turns into a series of overseas stashes, role players and Hail Mary shots at talent that could be leading the D-League in steals in six months.

It also hasn’t helped that there has not been that top-end talent coming out in recent years. Last year it was Ben Simmons and maybe Brandon Ingram. The rest of the talent in the 2016 draft was a complete crap shoot. I love Jaylen Brow, but if you asked me to project what he will be in five years, I would tend to lean towards him being more role player than all-star. Do you have any idea how much time I invested or wasted in the 2016 NBA Draft lottery and draft to be left with Jaylen Brown? Think about it.

This year’s lottery has a lot of the same story lines – top heavy with two clear talents: Fultz & Ball. Never mind that Ball’s jump shot takes eighteen seconds to get off and that he has a dad that is openly pining for the Lakers and will go nuclear on a franchise that plays his son twenty minutes a night (which he will probably need). Oh and never mind that Markelle Fultz college team lost thirteen straight games to finish the season. Giddy freaking up.

So this is where I am at. Sitting. Waiting. On ping-pong balls. I should probably just go outside and enjoy the green spring grass.

GET OFF MY LAWN.