NBA Fix Evidence

Many people are on my case trying to tell me that the NBA is not fixed. I am constantly trying to lay out the facts that if you look at who plays in the NBA Finals every year during David Stern’s run as commissioner, you will notice that there is at least one big market team in the Finals almost every year. And given how many teams are the NBA, it just does not make sense that we would never in those 30 years see a Milwaukee-Utah Finals or a Memphis-Toronto Finals.

I honestly don’t know all the ways Stern has fixed the NBA. He is very sly. We do know of the ping pong ball fixes in the lottery and the official who was fixing games. But Stern is good at not getting caught. He does not do obvious things like baseball which simply allows the big markets to spend millions of more dollars on its players. He tries to create the image that everything is fair.

But here we go with another Finals with a big market. If you don’t believe me, check this out. Here is a list of every Finals since the Lakers-Celtics 1980s dominance. In parentheses is what that team ranks on a scale of 1-30 as far as biggest NBA TV market.

2009: Los Angeles (3) vs. Orlando (20)
2008: Los Angeles (3) vs. Boston (10)
*2007: San Antonio (23) vs. Cleveland (16)
2006: Dallas (8) vs. Miami (11)
*2005: San Antonio (23) vs. Detroit (12)
2004: Los Angeles (3) vs. Detroit (12)
2003: San Antonio (23) vs. New Jersey (2)
2002: Los Angeles (3) vs. New Jersey (2)
2001: Los Angeles (3) vs. Philadelphia (7)
2000: Los Angeles (3) vs. Indiana (21)
1999: San Antonio (23) vs. New York (1)
1998: Utah (25) vs. Chicago (5)
1997: Utah (25) vs. Chicago (5)
1996: Seattle (NA) vs. Chicago (5)
*1995: Houston (13) vs. Orlando (20)
1994: Houston (13) vs. New York (1)
1993: Phoenix (14) vs. Chicago (5)
1992: Portland (22) vs. Chicago (5)
1991: Los Angeles (3) vs. Chicago (5)
*1990: Portland (22) vs. Detroit (12)
1989: Los Angeles (3) vs. Detroit (12)
1988: Los Angeles (3) vs. Detroit (12)
1987: Los Angeles (3) vs. Boston (10)
1986: Houston (13) vs. Boston (10)
1985: Los Angeles (3) vs. Boston (10)
1984: Los Angeles (3) vs. Boston (10)
1983: Los Angeles (3) vs. Philadelphia (7)
1982: Los Angeles (3) vs. Philadelphia (7)
1981: Houston (13) vs. Boston (10)
1980: Los Angeles (3) vs. Philadelphia (7)

Notice that the years with a star are the only four years that at least one Top 10 team was not featured. And only once (2007) were two teams from the bottom half of the NBA matched up against each other. Also notice that only on team (San Antonio) ranked lower than #13 has won a title. That means 16 of the 17 smallest markets in the NBA have not won a title during David Stern’s tenure. That screams out unfair competitive balance almost as bad as baseball.

I would suggest contracting the entire bottom half of the NBA and just keeping New York, New Jersey, the two L.A. teams, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Dallas, Golden State, Boston, Miami, Detroit, Houston and Phoenix. If those are the only teams that are going to have a chance, let’s get rid of the rest.