Hoops4theSoul

May

12

5-12-1985: Knicks Win Ewing Draft Lottery

Filed Under On This Day . . ., NBA, Loose Balls

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Patrick Ewing at Georgetown Patrick Ewing Is Selected #1 by the Knicks in the 1985 NBA Draft Patrick Ewing as a New York Knick After making three appearances in the national championship game and winning a national title in 1984 throughout the course of four dominating seasons at Georgetown University, Patrick Ewing was hands down going to be the consensus #1 pick in the 1985 NBA Draft.

The question came down to who would get the first pick.

Rather than deciding who would select #1 via a coin flip between the teams with the two worst records, as had been the tradition, the NBA switched to a draft lottery in 1985.

That switch enabled the New York Knicks, coming off a 24-58 campaign in 1984-1985 (third-worst in the league that season), to have a shot at Ewing.

Under the old system, the Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers, both of which tied for the worst record in the league with 22-60 campaigns in 1984-1985, would have flipped a coin for the #1 selection and the rights to Ewing.

Well, the Knicks would win the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery and select Ewing, an absolute no-brainer if there ever was one.

With that said, there has been quite some controversy about the Knicks winning this pick among the six other teams in the lottery.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed that NBA league commissioner David Stern wanted Ewing to land in New York, the largest media market in the country.

These people have pointed out to several things that took place at the actual draft lottery.

1. When the envelopes of the seven teams are individually placed into the lottery bubble, it looks as if the fourth envelope is intentionally hit against the side of the glass, possibly to bend it.

2.  Naturally, the Knicks’ envelope, which turned out to be chosen first out of the bubble, clearly has a bent corner. In other words, when Stern selected this envelope first (signifying the team that would get the first pick), he clearly feels around in the bubble before making his pick. Could Stern have been searching for the envelope with the bent corner?

3. None of the other envelopes appeared to have bent corners.

Here’s the video of the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery (watch carefully for these three points — they’re very interesting).

Anyways, here’s how the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery turned out.

When you look at whom each team selected in these first seven picks, it becomes clear what the difference was in having the first pick as opposed to the other picks in 1985, especially when it comes to the center position.

1985 NBA Draft

1. New York Knicks (24-58) — Patrick Ewing, Center from Georgetown

2. Indianapolis Pacers (22-60)  — Wayman Tisdale, Forward from Oklahoma

3. Los Angeles Clippers (31-51) — Benoit Benjamin, Center from Creighton

4. Seattle SuperSonics (31-51) — Xavier McDaniel, Forward from Wichita State

5. Atlanta Hawks (34-48) — Jon Koncak, Center from SMU

6. Sacramento Kings (31-51) — Joe Kleine, Center from Arkansas

7. Golden State Warriors (22-60) — Chris Mullin, Forward from St. John’s

Other notable picks in the first round of the 1985 NBA Draft included:

* Detlef Schrempf by the Dallas Mavericks at #8;

* Charles Oakley by the Cleveland Cavaliers at #9;

* future Hall-of-Famer Karl Malone by the Utah Jazz at #13;

* Joe Dumars by the Detroit Pistons at #18;

* A.C. Green by the Los Angeles Lakers at #23; and

* Terry Porter by the Portland Trail Blazers at #24 (the last pick of the first round).

Whether the 1985 NBA Draft lottery was or was not fixed, the Knicks had nothing to complain about.

Ewing would go down as one of the best players in franchise and professional basketball history.

And had it not been for Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, Ewing likely would have won at least one championship in New York.

As for Benjamin, Koncak and Kleine, they would be different stories.

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