It’s one of the few lotteries in life where the lucky winner ends up paying millions. But we’re talking about the NBA draft, where teams happily clamor to turn some college or high school athlete into an instant millionaire in the hopes he will catapult them deep into the playoffs. Tuesday night’s draft lottery will be no different for the 14 teams vying for the No. 1 pick.
Add the Bulls, who own the rights to New York’s pick, to that list.
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The Bulls have a long shot — longer than a Ben Gordon-from-half-court-kind-of long shot — to land the No. 1 overall draft pick, but other teams’ lonely lottery balls have defied incredible odds to rise to the top. And with several prospects available through the draft and free agency, the Bulls don’t have to win it all on Tuesday to hit the jackpot.
POWER BALLERS
Here are some scenarios facing the Bulls. The first three picks are chosen from the lottery. Once those are determined, the remaining teams are slotted based on their reverse order in the standings, the team with the lowest remaining record picking first. In that event, the Bulls likely would fall between the ninth and 12th picks.
11th or 12th possible pick:
Spencer Hawes
7-0, C, Washington
9th or 10th possible pick:
Roy Hibbert
7-2, C, Georgetown
2.7%, Possible pick:
Al Horford
6-10, F, Florida
2.2%, Possible pick:
Kevin Durant
6-9, F, Texas
1.9%, Possible pick:
Greg Oden
7-0, C, Ohio State
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BY THE NUMBERS
1987
The first year the lottery determined the order of selection for the first three teams only. The current system was adopted in 1994.
78.4%
The odds the Bulls’ draft pick (through the Knicks) will stay put at ninth overall.
14
The number of ping-pong balls, numbered 1 through 14, that are placed in the lottery drum. Only four of the balls are drawn. But there are 1,001 combinations that can emerge from those four balls, and each of the combinations is assigned to a lottery team. The weakest team gets the most four-digit combinations.
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What’s the deal? Maybe nothing
Bulls GM John Paxson didn’t sound Monday like somebody interested in making a blockbuster trade. “Look, I’ll listen to people and talk to people,” he said. “But if you’re giving up a couple of things that you currently have to get something you need, you’d better have something in mind to replace those guys you’re giving up.” These players could become available:
— Pau Gasol
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— Zach Randolph
— Jermaine O’Neal
— Kevin Garnett
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LOTTERY BREAKDOWN
TEAM / RECORD / LOTTERY CHANCES (out of 1,000)
Memphis 22-60 / 250
Boston 24-58 / 199
Milwaukee 28-54 / 156
Atlanta 30-52 / 119
Seattle 31-51 / 88
Portland 32-50 / 53
Minnesota 32-50 / 53
Charlotte 33-49 / 19
New York 33-49 / 19
Sacramento 33-49 / 18
Indiana 35-47 / 8
Philadelphia 35-47 / 7
New Orleans 39-43 / 6
L.A. Clippers 40-42 / 5