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Magic number Orlando has three lottery picks and a good shot at No. 1
Posted: Sunday May 21, 2000 07:34 AM
SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) -- With no Tim Duncan in this year's draft, maybe it's not surprising that the guys who are making this year's NBA Draft Lottery interesting are Penny Hardaway and Chris Webber. Confused? Don't be. Back in 1993, the Orlando Magic took Webber with the first overall draft pick and then shipped him to the Golden State Warriors for Hardaway and three first-round draft picks. The Warriors will be paying off the last of those picks this Year, and that, combined with a trade with Denver, has given the Magic three picks and a remote chance at sweeping the top three spots when the lottery is held Sunday at the headquarters of NBA Entertainment. "I don't think we would have ever dreamed or allowed ourselves to dream very long that we'd be sitting there with the third pick from a trade" seven years ago, Magic general manager John Gabriel said in an interview posted on the team's Web site. "In hindsight, the Penny Hardaway deal from start to finish was a good one. It brought us an excellent player for the time he was here and the benefits that came after it, three No. 1s." With the last of the lowly Warriors' picks, the Magic will have the third-best chance (15.7 percent) of winning the ping-pong lottery which will be held at halftime of Game 7 of the New York Knicks-Miami Heat series. Orlando, the best team in the lottery with a 41-41 record, also owns Denver's pick (10th overall) from a trade in 1999 for Keon Clark and Johnny Taylor, and its own, No. 13. The Los Angeles Clippers (15-67) will have the best chance, 25 percent, of winning the lottery and earning the right to select first in the NBA Draft on June 28 at the Target Center in Minnesota. The Chicago Bulls (17-65), who won last year's lottery and took NBA co-rookie of the year Elton Brand with the top pick, have the second-best shot, at 20 percent. After Orlando, the teams involved in the lottery are: Vancouver (12 percent chance of winning), Atlanta (8.9), Washington (6.4), New Jersey (4.4), Cleveland (2.9), Houston (1.8), Orlando's pick from Denver (.9), Boston (.9), Dallas (.6) and Orlando (.5). During the lottery, Ping Pong balls numbered 1 through 14 are placed in a drum and four are pulled out to make a combination, such as 14-10-7-1. There are 1,001 possible combinations, and a computer will assign 1,000 of them to the 13 teams. The team that matches the right combination pulled Sunday wins the top pick. The second and third spots in the draft are chosen the same way from among the remaining teams. The order of selection for teams not winning one of the top three picks is determined by inverse order of their regular-season record. The Clippers have the most combinations (250), followed by Chicago (200) and Orlando, which will have 171 based on the Warriors pick (157), Denver's (9) and its own (5). Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin is considered the best player in the upcoming draft, but he broke his leg late in the season. Almost three dozen underclassmen have entered the draft, headed by Iowa State forward Marcus Fizer (22.8 points, 7.7 rebounds) and Texas center Chris Mihm (17.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.7 blocks). Other underclassmen include Joel Przybilla of Minnesota, Jerome Moiso of UCLA, Stromile Swift of LSU, JaRon Rush of UCLA, DerMarr Johnson of Cincinnati and point guards Erick Barkley of St. John's and Khalid El-Amin of Connecticut. "I think it's a decent draft," Nets general manager John Nash said. "I think that there aren't players at the top of the draft, like Shaquille O'Neal or Alonzo Mourning, but there are players who are going to be able to step in and play, probably like last year's draft. I also think that it's possible that a player selected 6, 7, 8, 9 -- even as far back as 10 -- could wind up rookie of the year."
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