We fast forward to 1993 now. The Orlndo Magic won it despite having the least chance of winning out of any team in it. Which led people to cry out 'fix!' Was it? Let's take a look.
The situation:
The Bulls were about to three-peat. Charles Barkley is riding high as the reigning MVP, and the glow of the 1992 Olympics is still there. It is truly the best of times for the league. Bird and Magic have just recently retired, by MJ is such a big deal globally that there's no dropoff business-wise. Of the four Old Money teams (Boston, the Lakers, Philly, and the Knicks), only the Sixers in Philly are bad. The next big star, Shaquille O'Neal, has just finished his rookie year, and proven to be the goods. And there's a draft class coming up that features some major talent in Chris Webber, Anfernee Hardaway, and Jamal Mashburn, to name a few. O'Neal's Orlando Magic team has just missed the playoffs and is in the lottery. The fading former champion Pistons are in as well with two lottery picks, along with the Sixers, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Bullets, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, and Denver Nuggets. Of the ten teams with lottery picks, six are outfits that darn near lived in the lottery almost from its inception. The other four (Detroit, Milwaukee, Philly, and Golden State) are teams that were used to making playoffs but had fallen on recent hard times.
The stakes: Everyone had a big need here. The Magic were ready to crash the playoff party with O'Neal, but badly needed a Robin to his Batman if they were going to be anything more than a second round or conference final loser to the Bulls, Knicks, or Indiana Pacers. The Pistons were in the midst of a four year spiral that saw them go from NBA Champs to a lottery team, and badly needed some new blood to start the post Bad Boys era. The Sixers were still recovering from the loss of Barkley and needed a new anchor. The Bucks, once a perennial thorn to the Sixers and Celtics, were now a bad team in need of a new anchor as well. The Warriors missed the playoffs due to injuries, and probably would have been fine if everyone was healthy again, but needed a boost to become more than a first round loser. The other five teams were teams that were always bad (Minnesota, Sacramento, Washington) or former playoff teams look for a new start (Dallas and Denver). Literally everyone involved was a player away from a big step up in the standings.
The motive:
Let's see.......you have the new star in need of top quality help. That would favor Orlando. But you also have the fading power in Detroit that still has enough cache to warrant a handout to return to glory. And then you have the old money 76ers who needed a boost. That's pretty much it. No one else in the lottery had the name recognition, history, or whatever necessary to warrant getting the first pick handed to them in a rigged process.
The result: Orlando get the first pick, followed by the Sixers at number two. Detroit gets it's two picks back to back at then end of the lottery, which means no C-Webb or Penny or Mashburn. The magic take Webber first, but then the Sixers go off the reservation and take Shawn Bradley, a 7-foot-6 center from BYU who played one year, put up good numbers, and then went off to do a Mormon mission. Bradley was considered a feast or famine pick, and the Sixers got the famine over the next few years. Golden State picked third and took Hardaway. Dallas got Mashburn at four. Detroit used it's back to back picks on Lindsey Hunter and Allan Houston.
The theory: The league wanted a good number two guy to ride with Shaq, and since this would probably be the last time the Magic would be in the lottery for a while they figured it was best to make sure they could get Webber or Hardaway.
The debunking: Well, the tin foil hat crowd may be right here. Shaq got his deputy with the first pick, and then the very important Sixers got the second pick. But why on Earth would you give the Sixers the second pick so that they could take Shawn Bradley? I would like to think that a fix would be put in with the understanding that a specific player would be taken. Of course that's only the second pick; the number one pick is the real focus here. I have to revert back to the old risk/reward argument. The league surely wanted to get Shaq in the playoffs as soon as possible, but it still wasn't vital at this point. Not enough to rig anything. David Stern and company are smart enough to know better. Now I don't put it past them totally, but I trust to at least know when to do it.
Next up: 2001
Looking forward to what you have to say about the 93 class. Thats C-Webb and Penny's group
If you look at that Philly team, the Bradley pick wasn't that far of a reach. They already had their backcourt set with Hawkins/Hornacek. Both were 20 point scorers and were pretty much starting they prime, so Penny wouldn't have been a option. And they just drafted Spoon, who was showing some promise even though he was undersized at 4. They needed somebody inside at 5, and with Webber gone, taking a chance on Bradley was the next best thing. Orlando proly knew they wanted Penny, GS knew they wanted C-Webb but he wouldn't have made it past Philly, so they had to make that trade.
If you're looking at it strictly from a drafting for need viewpoint, then no it wasn't. But from a player quality standpoint, they needed to take the best player available. As good as Hawkins and Hornacek were, and as promising as 'Spoon was that first year, they finished the year in the crapper. Bradley's sole interesting quality was his height. If he were 6-11 he'd have been a late first rounder at best. I'd probably have taken Mashburn if I were them.