NBA Draft Lottery

Right now, while you are reading this post, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz are preparing for game 2 and game 3 of their Conference Finals. In less important news, the bottom dwellers of the NBA found out what position they would draft in the 2007 NBA Draft.

The 3 teams who had the greatest chance of getting the NO.1 pick were Memphis (25% chance), Boston (19.9%) and Milwaukee (15.6%). They all lost out as all of them got picks from 4-6. The 3 teams that were left for the final 3 picks were Atlanta, Seattle and Portland. Portland had the worst odds to win the NO.1 pick as they only had a 5.3% chance of getting the 1st overall pick. But the Trailblazers beat the odds getting the 1st pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

This a little bit of revenge for the Trailblazers, as they had the worst record in the league last year, and ended up getting the 4th pick.

After the lottery, Memphis Grizzlies president Jerry West was fuming about the NBA's questionable lottery procedure, which rarely gives the worst NBA team the NO.1 pick.

"It's about as disappointing as you could ever hope for," West said minutes after the lottery was announced at the NBA Entertainment Center. "It's like pitching pennies. It's grossly unfair to the team, but I've said it before, I don't think the lottery is fair. I never liked it. I don't think it's a good system at all, period.

"There have been a lot of picks in the lottery that have (failed). There are two in the lottery this year that are not going to fail. There are two superstars in the draft. I think for the teams fortunate enough to get them, the fortunes of their
franchises have changed forever."

West does have some evidence to back up his anger towards the draft lottery system. Since the NBA switched to the weighted lottery system 1994, only two NBA teams with the best chance of landing the top pick have gotten it -- the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 (LeBron James) and the Orlando Magic (Dwight Howard) the following year.


The players that are expected to be picked 1st and 2nd overall are Ohio State all-star Greg Oden and Texas star Kevin Durant.

These 2 already have their college success known around the world as they are both new additions to the USA Senior Men's Basketball Team.

Oden averaged 15.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks despite being limited for much of the season while recovering from right wrist surgery.

Durant led the Big 12 with 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, and was the AP national player of the year.

Here are the rest of the NBA Draft Lottery Results:

NO.7: Minnesota

No.8: Charlotte

NO.9: New York

NO.10: Sacramento

NO.11: Atlanta

NO.12: Philadelphia

NO.13: New Orleans

NO.14: L.A Clippers