NBA Draft Lottery Primer (flag)

Here's what you need to know in advance of Tuesday's NBA Draft Lottery (ESPN, 8:30p EDT):

Odds

Mike Zarren of the Boston Celtics front office has a rundown on all the teams' odds for each pick here. In short, here are each team's odds at getting a top-2 pick:

• Memphis:   46.5%
• Boston:       36.9%
• Milwaukee: 31.3%
• Atlanta:        24.5%
• Seattle:      18.5%
• Portland:    11.3%
• Minnesota:  11.3%
• Charlotte:       4.1%
• Chicago:        4.1%
• Sacramento:  3.9%
• Indiana:           1.7%
• Phialdelphia:  1.5%
• New Orleans:  1.3%
• Clippers:          1.1%

How You'll Know Something's Up

Selection numbers are revealed in reverse order. The #14 pick will be first up. If it's not the Clippers, then you'll know the Clippers have moved into the top-3. The same goes down the line. The standard reverse order should be:

• Clippers
• New Orleans
• Philadelphia
• Indiana
• Sacramento
• New York (which will go to Chicago)
• Charlotte
• Minnesota
• Portland
• Seattle
• Atlanta
• Milwaukee
• Boston
• Memphis

If any of these teams get skipped in order of announcement, they are in the top 3. Once the announcements get up to the top-3, the remaining teams can essentially be in any order.

Who Will Be There?

Here's a tentative/incomplete list of team representatives, based on various published reports:

• Jerry West, Memphis
• Tommy Heinsohn, Boston
• Larry Harris, Milwaukee
• Brandon Roy, Portland
• Randy Foye, Minnesota
• Larry Bird, Indiana
• Phil Maloof, Sacramento
• Fred Whitfield, Charlotte

How To Take It In

Zach from The Big Picture has a drinking game. Dan Shanoff will be liveblogging at Deadspin, and I'll have the honor of liveblogging the show at The FanHouse, starting at 8pm EDT. ESPN's pre-show coverage begins at 7:30p EDT, and the actual shindig kicks off at 8:30.

Further reading

The handy Ballhype tag 'NBA Draft Lottery' will lead you to just about everything that is written on the matter. Use it, abuse it. 

NBA

Los Angeles Clippers

NBA Draft Lottery

Boston Celtics

Memphis Grizzlies

Milwaukee Bucks

Sacramento Kings

vote downundo vote up tziller posted 5/22/2007

• Jason

  +1

  Is Phil the lucky Maloof?

  I'm secretly hoping for a Celtics win so that we're guaranteed some airtime for Tommy.

  Posted 5/22/2007 respond (flag)

  • tziller

    +3

    Well, George is the Maloof who bagged a pre-breakdown Britney, so I'd say he was the lucky one...

    Tommy is going to be the most entertaining personality there, that's for sure. (The Clippers can rectify this by sending Sam Cassell.)

    Posted 5/22/2007 respond (flag)

  • Atma Brother #1

    +1

    Nooooooooooo! Not the Celtics. I'm praying to the basketball gods that Danny Ainge's ineptness and their tank job aren't rewarded. Celtics fans and the Boston media complain way too much also.

    Let's go Bobcats and Hawks! The Warriors got back on the NBA map this season and I'd love to see these two teams and all 3 of their respective fans get some good fortune.

    Posted 5/22/2007 respond (flag)

• ygbfkm

  +2

  Is it just me, or does it seem weird to have a draft lottery that the Warriors aren't participating in? 

  Posted 5/22/2007 respond (flag)

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OPEN THREAD: NBA Lottery 2007 @ 5:30pm PST on ESPN
Golden State Of Mind — ... UPDATE: Check out TZ's NBA Draft Lottery Primer over at Ballhype for more lottery knowledge.

It's Showtime
Sactown Royalty — ... . I wrote a viewing guide at Ballhype which lists in what order the teams should be announced. Short version: if Adam Silver announces Indiana followed by New York, we've moved up to the top 3.

Oh, The Places Portland Will Go…
Empty the Bench — ... The phrase “jump for joy” has taken on a whole new meaning and relevance in the Portland area this morning. A day after beating the odds and winning the first overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft (read: Greg Oden, maybe Kevin Durant), the long-embattled Trail Blazers have quite a bit to look forward to: more jersey sales, more season-ticket holders, more national TV coverage, more, more, more!