NBA works its Instant Karma

By Jeff Glauser
The Phanatic Magazine

John Lennon was right: Instant Karma – this time in the form of ping pong balls – certainly can get you.

And now, three flailing franchises have the chance at instant resuscitation.

Meanwhile, the NBA proved that the lottery works. Perhaps because it’s rigged, but it works, nonetheless.

Boston, Memphis and Milwaukee – the statistical favorites in the Oden/Durant Sweepstakes - have nothing to cry about. Each franchise has a solid, young nucleus and ample opportunity to dig out of its self-inflicted doldrums this season. You will see no tears shed from me, or from anyone outside of their respective city limits.

The fact is that those three teams blatantly tanked the latter half of the season, especially when it became clear that the two prized possessions of the draft stood head and shoulders above the rest. In the end, they got their just desserts.

On the flip side, we can feel a sense of justification with the unsuspecting winners of the lottery.

Portland has a loyal fan base and a team which came oh-so-close to a championship appearance (and probable victory) at the beginning of this decade, if not for a complete collapse in the final minutes of the final series game against the Lakers.

The subsequent miscreants who represented the squad (and exponentially increased the aging process for Mo Cheeks) turned a once proud basketball town into the laughing stock of the league.

Seattle might be Philly Lite in terms of sports heartbreak, at least in recent years. First, the Mariners put together the best regular season in major league history only to bow out early in the playoffs. Then the Seahawks are handed a Super Bowl on a platter by the Steelers, only to out-ugly them and miss out on the gift.

Even the Sonics, left for dead after giving away Gary Payton, come out of nowhere to win the once-powerful West, only to tease its loyal fans – who have been taunted relentlessly with the threat of a move recently – into an apparent one-hit wonder of a season.

A player of the ilk of a Greg Oden or a Kevin Durant, players who should have the firepower to eventually be linked synonymously with the city they play for, should certainly make it harder for the club to up and go away.

But even the Blazers have won a championship and the Sonics have at least played in one. The Hawks, on the other hand, have squat.

Ever since the Human Highlight Film, AKA Dominique Wilkins, decided to painfully extend his career elsewhere, it’s been a downhill ride for those in Hot-lanta. And the view has been hideous.

By the margin of one slot in the draft order, the Hawks will get to keep a pick which would have otherwise gone to the Suns’ run, commencing in 2008, as the next NBA dynasty (providing, of course, they stay on the bench when necessary). Instead, there now remains a chance for Atlanta’s front office to reverse an unprecedented string of poor decision making and empty postseason promises to its fans.

On this side of the coast, would it feel more like vindication if our Sixers – who easily played with more heart and soul then any other lottery participant (and several playoff teams to boot) down the stretch – bumped up as well?

Absolutely.

But you can’t argue with Instant Karma. And something tells me that the powers-that-be in the NBA knew that too