Lottery Question

by Rodmaniac on Apr 6, 2006 9:01 AM CDT

Hypothetically, IF the Bulls miss out on the playoffs, is it possible that they COULD land TWO picks in the top three? If the Knicks' pick AND the Bulls' pick wind up in the top three, would that be worth missing the playoffs? Or does the NBA just give the Bulls one chance at a pick in the top three, combining the Knicks' and Bulls' lotto combinations? I know the chances of the Bulls getting into the top three after barely missing the playoffs are astronomical, I'm just wondering how the process works.

FanPosts are user-created posts from the BlogABull community, and are to be treated as the opinions and views of that particular user, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I Believe

that the NBA draws for the top pick and then the subsequent picks fall in order of record. they may draw for the top three slots, but it's one of those two. the bulls, if they didn't make the playoffs, could definitely have two top three picks. If their actual pick was drawn as top pick (or top three) and nobody else moved up from their slotted spot, the bulls would have the first and then the knicks pick would fall in order of record (likely 2nd or 3rd). It could happen. Now, is it worth it happening? I don't think so. I think we can still get value in mid-first with that second pick. Plus, I can't think of a situation where any team made that large a leap into the first spot.

by CookDing on Apr 6, 2006 9:36 AM CDT reply actions

Actually....

In 1992 the Magic won the draft lottery and selected Shaq #1. The following year, they won the lottery again with the least amount of ping pong balls. They then selected Chris Webber and traded him to Golden State for the #3 pick Penny Hardaway and a couple other future picks.

The worst team has a 25% chance of winning the lottery and the "last" team in the lottery has a 0.5% chance of winning.

by Jobu on Apr 6, 2006 2:21 PM CDT up reply actions

i knew that

just kidding

by CookDing on Apr 6, 2006 2:59 PM CDT up reply actions

According to NBA.com

"Under a procedural change adopted by the Board of Governors in October of 1986, the Lottery determined the order of selection for the first three teams only. The remaining non-playoff teams selected in inverse order of their regular season records. Therefore, the team with the worst record in the league was assured of picking no worse than fourth, the team with the second-worst record no worse than fifth and so on."

by Rodmaniac on Apr 6, 2006 10:24 AM CDT reply actions

Playing the lottery on ESPN

If you haven't already, go to ESPN.com and go to the NBA draft page. You can click on "2,000 combinations" or something like that, and "play" the lottery. It shuffles the teams based on current standings and does a simulated lottery drawing. Find out how many times you have to click it to see the Bulls' own pick to show up in the top 3. I did it once, just to see who they had the Bulls picking if they had 2 of the top 3 picks. It took me forever...it really lets you get the feel for how slim the chances are of this happening. After that, I decided that I'd go ahead and root for the Bulls to make the playoffs.

Besides, it looks like the players and Skiles are having a blast right now. After so many tough losses this year, I'm happy for them that things are going well. If they go to the playoffs, they don't have to win a series...even if they manage to take Detroit or Miami to 6 games, the team should feel good about themselves going into next season. At the very least, making the playoffs means another week of Bulls basketball.

by MMP on Apr 6, 2006 4:42 PM CDT reply actions