Much has been made of the NBA’s annual draft lottery. Fortunes are won and lost at the whimsy of a bunch of specially marked pingpong balls in a ritzy Manhattan hotel.
Seems reasonable.
But don’t think the winner automatically becomes a contender. It only seems that way.
This year there is no surefire franchise player like Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, or LeBron James to be had.
Still, it’s fun to witness.
Here’s how it works: The 14 teams that didn’t make the postseason send a representative to New York in hopes of beating the odds and landing the top pick. Slowly the selections from No. 14 down to No. 1 are revealed. Whoever get this first pick celebrates like it’s Christmas morning and then goes on to blow the pick, in the following month’s draft, by taking someone like Anthony Bennett, Andrea Bargnani, or Michael Olowokandi.
Okay maybe it only seems that way. We remember the misses more than the makes.
