Jerry West Has a Right to Be Upset About the Draft Lottery

After reading Brian Berger's Sports Business Radio Blog yesterday, I became a little bit upset. In the post Mr. Berger criticized current Memphis Grizzlies GM Jerry West for these comments following the draft lottery:

"It's like pitching pennies. It's grossly unfair to the team, but I've said it before, I don't think the lottery is fair. I never liked it. I don't think it's a good system at all, period.

"There have been a lot of picks in the lottery that have [failed]. There are two in the lottery this year that are not going to fail. There are two superstars in the draft. I think for the teams fortunate enough to get them, the fortunes of their franchises have changed forever."

Berger categorized the comments as "sour grapes", stating that Mr. West only made the comments because his team lost the lottery. However, being the media watch dog that I am, I know that Jerry West had been urging the league to change its current lottery system long before Tuesday's draft lottery. In fact, in a podcast with Chad Ford back in early April, Mr. West spent half of the interview talking about how terrible he thought the system was.

And really, what was so bad about what he said? The lottery is flawed. There is no way that a team that played as bad as the Grizzlies shouldn't have received the top pick. And don't give me that tank nonsense, because the Grizzlies were playing with eight healthy guys at one point in the season. Anytime a team is counting on Chucky Atkins to drop 20 in order to secure a win, you know they are in need of a change. Every sport outside of basketball has a traditional draft where the draft order is strictly determined by record. And don't say that the lottery prevents tanking, because if anything the lottery would be the thing the one thing that encourages tanking. Think about it...It's pretty set in stone which team is going to have the worst record in the league. At the most, there are usually only one or two teams that are neck and neck for the worst record spot. But because of the lottery, every non playoff team has incentive to lose games at the end of the year.

If you're a lottery proponent, I want to hear why. Seriously, name one benefit of the lottery. I really don't think you can. I think that's all Mr. West was trying to say. When a respected and experienced person like Jerry West speaks, I think it's best that we not be so quick to be critical, because in most cases, he probably knows a thing or two more about the business of basketball than the rest of us.

Previously at Fanhouse:
The Debriefing: Tanking Is an Unfortunate Fact of NBA Life
How Bad Are Things in Memphis?