NBA’s worst look for big lottery win
NEW YORK – After all those losses – some of them suspected on purpose – there’s finally a payoff.
Two of the NBA’s worst teams will be rewarded at the draft lottery today, winning the chance to choose Greg Oden or Kevin Durant.
Representatives from 14 teams are in Secaucus, N.J., hoping they earn the right to select another Tim Duncan or LeBron James, players who went No. 1 in the draft and now have their teams deep into the postseason.
“Someone is going to get very smart in a hurry,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “There is going to be a GM who all the sudden becomes a guru and a coach that is going to be very good.”
The Memphis Grizzlies, after finishing with a league-worst 22-60 record, have a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick. The Boston Celtics have a nearly 20 percent chance, and the Milwaukee Bucks will be looking to turn the league’s third-worst record into their second lottery win in three years.
The Bucks took Andrew Bogut with the No. 1 pick in 2005 and made the playoffs the following season, so they know the impact one player can make. And general manager Larry Harris has hinted that player would be Oden if Milwaukee beats the odds to win again.
“One player solves a lot of problems for us defensively,” said Harris, who will carry a stone submitted by a fan in a contest the team ran to find a lucky charm. “I mean, we were 29th in defense, 30th in rebounding, 30th in shot blocking.”
Oden could have been the top pick last year if not for the league’s age requirement, so he helped Ohio State reach the national championship game with his shot blocking and rebounding. Durant, a forward who was the college player of the year in his lone season at Texas, is more polished offensively.
With two potential franchise players heading this year’s draft, there is more attention on the lottery than any year since James was the big prize in 2003. “It just triggers your whole offseason,” Pat Williams, Orlando’s senior vice president, said of winning in the lottery. “It triggers your sales, it triggers your imagination. Above all, it triggers hope. The hope that the lottery brings you, you can’t put a price tag on it.”