30-year anniversary of conspiracy-laden 1985 NBA Draft Lottery
Type "1985" and "NBA" into YouTube and the first auto-fill option has nothing to do with on-court activity.
What will appear is the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, a draw so infamous for its conspiracy theories that its moniker - the Frozen Envelope - lives on in basketball lore alongside moments like The Baby Hook, The Shot and The Flu Game.
To combat the tanking that plagued the league in advance of the legendary 1984 draft, when the last-place finishers in each division took part in a coin flip for the top pick (Hakeem Olajuwon), the NBA instituted a new system of determining the lottery order whereby all non-playoff teams had an equal shot at the No. 1 selection.
The seven lottery teams would each get an envelope in a hopper, with commissioner David Stern randomly selecting the winning pouch.
The New York Knicks were coming off a 24-win season and were 12 years removed from their last finals appearance, and it was assumed that the league wanted Georgetown superstar and expected franchise savior Patrick Ewing in its biggest market.
That was the backdrop for this, on May 12, 1985:
Two prominent conspiracy theories have existed ever since.
The Frozen Envelope theory suggests that the league froze the Knicks-emblazoned envelope so that Stern would know which envelope was New York's by its cool touch.
The other is that if you notice at the beginning of the video, the fourth envelope inserted in the hopper is placed in differently than the other six, somewhat banged against the side of the contraption. Was the Knicks' envelope defaced so that Stern would know what to feel for?
The general public may never know what, if any, kind of mischievous activity went down that day. What we do know is that Ewing went on to a Hall of Fame career that included averages of 21 points and 9.8 rebounds, 11 All-Star appearances, seven All-NBA selections and two finals appearances.
A championship eluded Ewing and the Knicks, but as the commentator in the lottery boldly proclaimed, basketball was indeed back in New York City.
A weighted lottery system replaced the envelope format in 1990.