NBA Draft Lottery

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

The envelope draw was much cooler than the ping-pong balls. Also why don't they do the ping-pong balls in front of everyone?

[Donuthole]

The envelope draw was much cooler than the ping-pong balls. Also why don't they do the ping-pong balls in front of everyone?

I've always heard that the ping-pong ball process is so convoluted that it wouldn't be entertaining TV, particularly because they don't do it in reverse order. I think that's a crap reason, and I, like you, would like to see it go down live. Though I would like to see them stick with the ping pong balls.

The lottery is conducted with witnesses verifying that all 14 balls are represented once as they are placed in the lottery machine. The balls are placed in the machine for 20 seconds to randomize prior to having the first ball drawn. The remaining three balls are drawn at 10-second intervals. NBA officials determine which team holds the winning combination and that franchise is awarded the #1 overall draft pick. The four balls are returned to the machine and the process is repeated to determine the second and third picks. In the event that a combination belongs to a team that has already won its pick (or if the one unassigned combination comes up), the round is repeated until a unique winner is determined. When the first three teams have been determined, the remaining picks are given out based on regular season record with the worst teams getting the highest picks. This assures each team that it can drop no more than three spots from its projected draft position.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Draft_Lottery#Process

[Color Me Badd Fan]

http://www.faniq.com/sports/nba/fani...ou-decide-2703

Pretty compelling video here. The 5:23 mark shows Stern pulling the envelope out for the #1 pick with the bent corner. Ewing goes to the Knicks.

I like the quote from the GM saying "there was a Mikan era, a Russell era, a Kareem era and now we're going to have a Ewing era" and then adds that he "doesn't see another era on the horizon."

I guess if you're limiting eras to big men and not to players like Jerry West, Larry Bird and Magic (all three were already regarded as top 10 players of all time by 1985), then the GM was horribly wrong. The Kareem era was basically drawing to a close and the Hakeem era would begin the next season with the Rockets going to the Finals. That lasted through the 1995 Finals the Shaq era began when he went to the Lakers. The Duncan era began in 2003 and is basically over now. No current big man could be definitively regarded as a Top 3-5 NBA player at this point. You have LeBron, Wade, Kobe and then everyone else.

[Blueintheface]

I like the quote from the GM saying "there was a Mikan era, a Russell era, a Kareem era and now we're going to have a Ewing era" and then adds that he "doesn't see another era on the horizon."

I particularly liked the part at the :50 mark. "He doesn't see another 'era' on the horizon". That dude that was drafted 3rd the year before turned out to be a total bust, not to mention the guy picked first.

Great minds...

[old_gregg]

No current big man could be definitively regarded as a Top 3-5 NBA player at this point. You have LeBron, Wade, Kobe and then everyone else.

Dwight howard. And we're not too far removed from shaq's dominance.

[LiveCoug]

Philadelphia and Wizards are winners so far.. now we will see who gets number 1....


At least the Jazz didn't fall from 9.

[MarkGrace]

Damn!

Like Surfah, I thought there was a really good chance one of the lower teams would jump into the top 3. After 14-13-12-11-10 went in order, I was starting to get my hopes up!

[MarkGrace]

The Wiz!!!

[LiveCoug]

Freaking lucky Wizards. Why can't the Jazz ever get that lucky?

[MarkGrace]

Too bad Kwame Brown isn't available this year.

[Surfah]

At least we'll get to hear something on the sports radio here other than Fat Albert Haynesworth not showing up to OTAs.

[MarkGrace]

Is it just me or did Wall looked depressed in that interview? Dude can't be happy going to the Wiz...that franchise looks like a train wreck right now.

[FN Phat]

Too bad Kwame Brown isn't available this year.

A friend of mine once lost a bet that Kwame was going to be the Most Improved Player of the Year, when he went to the Lakers.

[Surfah]

A friend of mine once lost a bet that Kwame was going to be the Most Improved Player of the Year, when he went to the Lakers.

[old_gregg]

while i understand that john wall is almost definitely going to be the top pick, i don't know why everyone's already congratulating him like it's already happened. while evan turner doesn't have the athletic ability he has, he has a lot of things wall doesn't: maturity as a leader (they had this in antawn jamison, but to say he wasn't very vocal would be an understatement), a refined jumpshot, and some serious clutch ability. i understand it's a longshot that he's picked number one (i think it will probably take flip saunders using some serious leverage), but i don't think the chance is so infinitesimally small that the sports world writ large should be dismissing it so quickly.