The NBA lottery Gods have spoken, the ping pong balls have fallen and draft conspiracy theorists continue to pontificate. The speculation and anticipation for many an NBA general manager is officially over as they can each now focus on a specific draft slot and target specific players for availability.
As it is with every lottery system that employs odds of success and ultimately disappointment; there are winners and losers. Let’s take a look at the biggest winners of the night as well as those who went home disappointed or worse off than expected.
WINNERS:
Starting with those who came out ahead from Tuesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers are of course leading the pack. They vaulted nine spots in the draft and parlayed a measly 1.7% chance into a winning lottery ticket...literally. The Cavs will now have the enviable position of deciding on the best of the best college prospect or potentially moving the pick for a proven and established NBA star to help the club immediately.
Given the Cavaliers recent draft history, despite having good draft positioning, one can’t help but think that they absolutely must get this one right. They simply can’t afford another Anthony Bennett or Dion Waiters situation. They need to find the gem of the draft be it Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker or whomever else they see fit; but they can’t be wrong this go round.
Another team that came out ahead after Tuesday night was the previously lottery excluded Charlotte Hornets. The Hornets went into the evening needing the Detroit Pistons to fall in the draft from their 8th overall spot and wouldn’t you know it with Cleveland’s surprising rise Detroit slipped down a spot to number nine. With that marginal slide the Piston’s pick was then forfeited to Charlotte as a part of the Ben Gordon salary dump. As it stands now the only playoff team from this season who has a lottery pick is the Hornets who will look to add yet another piece to their franchise come draft day.
It’s tough to call the Milwaukee Bucks winners here in so much as they did lose out on the top overall pick; however, given the draft history it is nonetheless fortunate to hold onto the second overall spot here in what is believed to be a deep draft. Who's to say that the Bucks don’t end up with their top guy regardless here. In a draft where there are at least five top picks, the Bucks could play their hand right and nab their guy at the two spot.
LOSERS:
As mentioned the Detroit Pistons had a terrible night. Despite having a woeful record this year: as it stands now they won’t be players come draft day. It’s easy to critize in hindsight here as the conditional pick that was gauranteed in the Gordon trade finally came to fruition; however, the Piston’s really should have been a better squad last year than they were and this pick really should have been turned over based on a better regular season performance rather than the drama of lottery night.
I have to think that almost every team is somewhat dissapointed about sliding down a rung on the draft ladder here; however, the Los Angeles Lakers in particular have to be quite disappointed. The Lakers were really hoping to land a top five pick or better as they definitely need the help but also in hopes of enticing a trade for a proven star, perhaps a Kevin Love or Rajon Rondo. As it stands now the Lakers will find it harder to land a dance partner with the seventh overall pick, unless of course there are some massive surprises come draft day.
The final lottery loser from Tuesday is none other than the New York Knicks who of course have no lottery pick despite missing out on the playoffs. The Knicks will be perennial draft losers of course as they have traded away a huge portion of their picks over the next three years. They do still have a first-rounder for next season; however, if that picks turns out to be a lottery selection the franchise is going to have some larger issues to deal with. Leave the Knicks down as losers for now and go ahead and pencil them in for the next two years at least.