Bengals Banter: Little Plastic Balls Dictating Draft Order Screws Worst Team

They hold it every year. And every year I ask the same question with no foreseeable explanation that ever makes sense. Little plastic balls dictating the NBA draft order, dramatically dictating a team's overall chance to rebuild. Was there ever a season in which a team, in this case the Charlotte Bobcats, needed the top pick to acquire the best player entering the NBA Draft?

Instead the team with a 13.7 percent chance to earn the top pick (fourth among the lottery teams), wins it while the Bobcats, with a 25 percent chance after only winning seven games (SEVEN!), falls to the second spot. How can this process be allowed to exist?

Some are predictably hinting towards a conspiracy, arguing that since the New Orleans Hornets have the top pick, that it must have been fixed. The NBA previously owned the Hornets, selling to New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson in what some would describe as a back-room, wink-wink, type of understanding. However this seems just as unlikely because the media are allowed to monitor the picks being drawn over an hour before it's announced to the world.

Though the conspiracy does make sense -- despite it being highly unlikely -- the whole process is, well, stupid (apologizes for using a third-grade term to describe something I don't like). It's just another reason how the National Football League dominates their contemporaries with a simplistic formula that if you sucked more than everyone else, you get the first pick. Simple. Beneficial. Easy to remember. We move on. Charlotte sucked more than any other NBA team (in the history of the league based on winning percentage). How they're not picking first in this year's NBA draft is an insult to the process.

+ The NFL is giving the Pro Bowl one more shot, playing the 2013 game at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had previous contemplating eliminating the game under overwhelming criticism for a poor product.

+ The Bengals announced that tickets for two and four-game packs will go on sale on June 7 -- that's next Friday.

+ After a handful of days of signing his contract, Kevin Zeitler's contract numbers were made public on Wednesday. His four-year deal is worth $7.544 million with $6.124 million guaranteed.

+ Defensive end Michael Johnson clearly added weight over the offseason, with some observers saying he's nearing 280 pounds.

+ Brandon Thompson, the team's second third-round pick from the 2012 NFL draft, switched agents from Hadley Englehard to Michael Perrett.

+ Anthony Cosenza compares this year's group of wide receivers with last season.

+ Former Bengals tight end Bo Scaife was invited for a workout with the New England Patriots.

+ The Allen Wranglers released a statement on their decision to terminate the contract of Terrell Owens, as both a player and team owner.