The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [28]
This is one conspiracy theory that will not go away. The youtube comments ranged from brilliant to bizarre. Many fans wrote that the Knicks envelope was frozen before it was placed in the drum, so that Stern would be able to tell it by touch. Still, others did not see anything suspicious. Some did, but rationalized that the Knicks didn’t win a Championship in the ensuing Ewing-era, so it was much ado about nothing. Without giving any unwanted publicity to the person who posted the video, I must say it’s fascinating to go back and stop the tape at different points. I know it’s not the same as watching the Zapruder film of the JFK assassination, but for sports fans, it’s as close as we’re likely to get.
THE RESULT OF EWINDING UP WITH THE KNICKS
In the forty-eight hours after the Knicks won the right to draft Ewing, the club received more than 1,000 season ticket requests. The league had one year remaining on CBS′ four-year contract to televise the NBA nationally. At the time, the NBA was getting only $22 million per year from the network. Ewing in New York meant millions more in the next television contract.
And how did Ewing respond to playing in New York? In Garden Glory, an oral history of the Knicks, historian Dennis D’Agastino quotes then-coach Hubie Brown as saying of Ewing, “The thing that we immediately saw as a coaching staff was that he could score. He was a better scorer than he was a rebounder and shot blocker. He came out of college as a rebounder and shot blocker. Well, for NBA standards he was below average in both of those categories, but he was a prime-time scorer.” Despite missing thirty-two games with a knee injury, Ewing won the NBA Rookie of the Year award after the 1985-86 season, averaging twenty points, nine rebounds, and two blocked shots per game. The Knicks failed to make the playoffs in Ewing’s first two seasons, due in part to injuries to Ewing (who also missed nineteen games in his second season) and the lingering injury to King. Following that, Ewing led the Knicks to thirteen consecutive playoff appearances—twice leading the Knicks to the NBA Finals. Logic dictates that there would have been more Finals appearances and possible NBA titles, if not for a certain player in Chicago named Michael Jordan.
When, after fifteen years, Patrick Ewing left the Knicks, they had enjoyed a run of 347 consecutive sellouts at Madison Square Garden, one of the longest home sellout streaks in NBA history. In fifteen seasons with Patrick Ewing, the Knicks sold out Madison Square Garden 394 times in the regular season. By contrast, they had only 205 sellouts in their first thirty-nine seasons without Ewing, most of them clustered around their two Championships.
Ewing played in 135 playoff games for the Knicks, and was responsible for millions of dollars of playoff revenue at Madison Square Garden. He concluded his Knicks career as their all-time leader in games (1,039), points (23,665), minutes played (37,586), field goals made (9,260), field goals attempted (18,224), free throws made (5,126), free throws attempted (6,904), rebounds (10,759), blocks (2,758), and steals (1,061). He was selected to eleven NBA All-Star games, and in 1996 was voted one of the Fifty Greatest Players in NBA history.
MY OPINION
On the NBA’s official website, nba.com, there is a section on the evolution of the draft and the lottery. It seems strange to me that in this section it says “A lucky bounce of the ping-pong balls [in 1985] made the New York Knicks the first draft lottery winner.”
It’s strange because the ping-pong ball machine wasn’t used that year.
I’ve written many articles and I know that mistakes are made, and not always caught by even the most sharp-eyed editors. But this one seems particularly curious.
Also, the NBA has gone to great pains to ensure that there would be no questions concerning any hanky-panky