Minnesota Sports Forum

http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2tk9xa/chad_ford_changes_his_draft_boards_years_after/

Something has always bothered me about this guy, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it...so I kept reading him, and often believing him. Now the news is out that this sleazeball regularly changed his draft boards after the fact to make himself look better...unbelievable! ESPN needs to sack him...today.

Yep. He'll have some explaining to do. If "inflate gate" is a top story on every news cast, then I have to believe this will catch some momentum (people like a good cheater story). Deadspin has picked up on this now: http://deadspin.com/espns-chad-ford-has-been-retroactively-editing-draft-bo-1681631642

Why do his big boards matter after the draft has happened? How does moving guys like Giannis up to 9 make him look that much better when Giannis is a top 3 guy in that draft? I don't think I've ever looked at a post draft big board because we can see with our eyes whether the guys are any good or not. As with any sport, the draft is a crapshoot so him being wrong shouldn't matter this much both for him editing his blog and people caring whether he was wrong in the first place. I pretty much only care about his scouting reports of the players and make a judgment off that and my own eye test. This literally is deflate gate. It shouldn't be as big a deal as it is starting to get. The only reason any of them have jobs at ESPN is because they got in early before these drafts became such big events. ESPN could find guys who are right more often, but then they'd have ridiculous turnover every few years because there will always be someone who better guessed a draft than them. You keep guys like Ford because they at least have connections in the organizations to get some insight into what they would be thinking to select come draft time. I guess I don't think it is that big of a deal because I don't really use his big boards at all once the draft is done so it doesn't matter to me that much.

Right when he started to pull for the Wolves.

Now is there some way this can take down Bill Simmons as well? I'd take a day off and celebrate if he were to get canned.

Khans, I know there are many who will agree with you, that this is not a big deal, but I think it's a very big deal. Ford's bonehead move shows that he lacks two vital characteristics...integrity, and intelligence. Integrity, because he altered his "final" Big Board to make himself seem much more prescient than he is. And intelligence, because he was too stupid to think he would get away with it. Non-casual NBA fans take the draft very seriously and analyze it with a fine-tooth comb. I, myself, often go back to final mock drafts to see who did the best job of predicting, and I can actually remember a few times being surprised that Ford had a certain player ranked higher than I remembered. I just didn't take it to the next step, but it was inevitable that somebody would eventually.

Ford is one of the reasons some sports fans shell out the money for ESPN Insider, and ESPN has to be feeling a lot of heat and embarrassment right now. I would be quite surprised if Ford survives this. ESPN has to make a strong move quickly to preserve their credibility.

I doubt there are many if any NBA fans who subscribe to ESPN Insider because of Chad's draft prognostications. Instead, we subscribe to get information and insights we can't get ourselves or from our local media. As already mentioned, Chad's value in relation to the NBA draft lies solely in the information and analysis he provides based on the contacts he has with NBA front office and scouting personnel. His predicted draft order has no value to me and I can't see it having much if any value to any serious NBA fan.

I find it odd that ESPN was all over the deflated football story, but yet the only mention of Chad Ford is in a statement sweeping the issue under the rug. Not one big name reporter that I have witnessed, has spoken out.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2015/01/statement-on-changes-to-chad-fords-nba-draft-prospect-rankings/


After reviewing the post on Reddit today, we have found that changes were made manually to Chad Ford's NBA Draft prospects rankings. We have not been able to determine who made the changes, or when. We have talked to Chad Ford, who strongly denies any involvement, and based on his past work and professionalism, we believe him. Our review will continue but it is unclear at this time if we will be able to ascertain who was responsible.


Lip, regardless of whether some of us value Ford's analysis, it is deceptive at the very least.

Not sure how this stuff works, but would Chad Ford even have access to directly publish on ESPN? This isn't like twitter. Seems this kind of thing would need to be submitted through editor, etc. In that case, wouldn't ESPN in general benefit most from making people think that Chad Ford is smarter than the rest of us? Seems maybe like something they would do to continue to convince folks they need their "insider" stuff. And would anyone really be shocked if that was the case? And we now think ESPN is real journalism?

Hicks123 wrote:Not sure how this stuff works, but would Chad Ford even have access to directly publish on ESPN? This isn't like twitter. Seems this kind of thing would need to be submitted through editor, etc. In that case, wouldn't ESPN in general benefit most from making people think that Chad Ford is smarter than the rest of us? Seems maybe like something they would do to continue to convince folks they need their "insider" stuff. And would anyone really be shocked if that was the case? And we now think ESPN is real journalism?

I don't know how their network is setup, but I have to believe they have a way of tracing who updated the columns. I would guess Ford and his superiors were aware of the changes, or I would expect Ford to be going postal.