Welcome to your guide for Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery, where we’ll tell you everything you need to know leading up to the night when all 14 lottery teams will learn their picking order for the June 25 draft.
So without any further adieu, here we go:WHAT WILL HAPPEN
While Head Coach Scott Brooks will represent the Thunder on stage at the NBA Entertainment Studios for the nationally televised portion of the lottery (ESPN, 7 p.m. Central), General Manager Sam Presti will actually be the first person to know the organization’s draft position.
Presti will be joined by representatives of the 13 other lottery teams as well as NBA officials and an accounting firm in a separate room prior to the broadcast for the actual drawing.
Fourteen ping pong balls, numbered 1 through 14, will be placed in a drum. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, and each team has been assigned a percentage of the combinations based on their won-loss record from the 2008-09 season.
Four balls will be drawn to the top to determine a four-digit combination. The teams that have been assigned that combination will receive the number one pick. The four balls are placed back in the drum and the process is repeated to determine the second and third picks.
The order of selection for the teams that don’t win one of the top three picks will be determined by inverse order of their regular season record. So the Sacramento Kings, owners of the worst record at 17-65, cannot draft any lower than fourth, Washington (19-63) no lower than fifth, the L.A. Clippers (19-63) no lower than sixth and the Thunder (23-59) no lower than seventh.
So, when you see a team representative look surprised or upset on stage, know that those are true emotions; they’re not informed of the draft order prior to the national broadcast.WHAT THAT MEANS FOR THE THUNDER
The Thunder will receive anywhere between the No. 1 through No. 7 draft selections.
By now, you’ve already heard that the Thunder’s odds of landing the top overall pick in the draft are just 11.9 percent.
That’s just a gentler way of saying the Thunder has an 88.1 percent chance of NOT drawing the top pick. So, should the Thunder not receive the top pick, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The Thunder has a 12.57 percent chance of nabbing the second overall pick, a 13.24 percent chance of getting the third pick, a 9.98 percent chance of landing the fourth pick, a 34.99 percent chance of getting the fifth pick (its highest percentage for a pick), a 16.05 percent chance of having the sixth pick and a 1.26 percent chance of ending up with the seventh pick.
But before your brain goes into overdrive with all these possible scenarios, heed this: the Thunder will get a good player wherever it falls in the lottery, whether it keeps or trades the pick. It’s a valuable asset to have. And it’s a pretty simple concept to grasp.A LOOK AT HISTORY
As mentioned earlier, the Thunder will draft no lower than seventh. Dating back to 1989, there’s been several impact players selected at the seven spot, as well as some role players and current budding stars.
Really, this line of thinking can be applied for all 14 lottery picks, because as history has shown us, draft status doesn’t necessarily dictate one’s career. You never know how a player’s career will pan out, whether he’s the first overall pick or the last of the second round.
With that in mind, here’s a few notable players who were drafted seventh overall: