1985 NBA Draft
1985 was the first year of the NBA Draft Lottery. Prior to 85, the team with the worst record in the NBA would get the first pick in the draft (ala the National Football League). Had this been the case in 1985, the future of the NBA would have been very different.
The Oakland-based Golden State Warriors finished with the worst record in the NBA during the 1984-85 season, and the highest probability of landing the first pick in the draft. That year, Georgetown center Patrick Ewing was the favorite to be the number one pick in the draft. The large-market New York Knicks finished with the third worst record in the league that season.
When the Knicks won the draft lottery, eventually drafting Ewing (who would become a legend on the team, leading New York to the NBA Finals in 1994 and to a lesser extent in 1999), many believed that it was because the league staged the result.[54]. The "Frozen Envelope Theory" is partly based on how the lottery is conducted: the teams are selected behind closed doors. Those buying into the theory allege that the envelope with the New York Knicks' logo on it was frozen so that it would be easier to draw when it came time to select the team that had the first pick in the draft. [55] While the NBA denies this ever happened, it is still occasionally referred to (for instance, the 2002 and 2003 drafts, featuring Yao Ming and LeBron James respectively, both occurred in years where the New York Knicks missed the playoffs. In both years, several observers believed that the Knicks would win the first pick.)
