Friday, May 15 (2:39 p.m.)
Getting Ready For Secaucus
General Manager Larry Riley will be one of the Warriors' two representatives at Tuesday's Draft Lottery. (photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty) |
Well, the NBA Lottery is scheduled for next week (Tuesday) at the NBAE Studios in beautiful Secaucus, New Jersey. The best thing about Secaucus? The bus stop in front of the Embassy Suites that enables you to make the quick 15-minute trip to the Port Authority in New York City. I have been the team's representative at the Lottery on a few occasions and have always utilized the route extensively. Don't get me wrong, Secaucus is a nice place, but I'd rather spend my free time in Times Square and not the movie theater on the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel.
Larry Riley (General Manager) and I, Raymond Ridder (Executive Director of Public Relations), will represent the Warriors at this year's Lottery. Riley will spend his time with 13 other high-profile team executives at the made-for-TV event on stage. Meanwhile, I will be sequestered in a back room at NBAE, where he will have no communication with the outside world for about an hour after the actual lottery takes place (around 4:40 Pacific Time). No cell phones. No blackberries. No laptops. I won't need any of that; he just needs four lucky ping-pong balls and the right combination.
The aforementioned back room is where the entire landscape of the NBA can change in a matter of seconds. Six years ago, I was in the room, saying a few Our Fathers and Hail Marys, hoping that the Warriors might get a little lucky and win the LeBron James Sweepstakes. Meanwhile, a representative from the Cleveland Cavaliers was sitting two tables in front of me. The Cavs, as you may recall, ended the previous season with the second-worst record in the NBA (17-65) and had the second-best chance of winning the Lottery. And, as fate would have it, the first combination of ping-pong balls dispensed from the hopper would match those assigned to the team in Ohio, LeBron's home state. The gentleman from the Cavs sitting in front of me - trying his best to remain calm and under control - gave out a little "yeah!" with a quick fist pump. He knew the fortunes of the Cleveland franchise had taken a quick turn for the better, but he wanted to remain somewhat reserved and not rub it in to his 13 peers from around the league.
The future of some NBA teams will be dependent on the four-ball combination that this hopper produces on Tuesday. (photo: David Dow/NBAE/Getty) |
Could you imagine winning $20 million in Las Vegas and trying to remain subdued? If the Warriors' combination had appeared first, I probably would have jumped up, hollered "yeah!" six times, pumped both of my fists, broke through the locked door, grabbed my cell phone, my blackberry and, heck, even a bullhorn and called our offices in Oakland. And, Larry King. And Oprah. Other than that, I would have remained relatively calm and unemotional.
In all seriousness, the back room is filled with nervous energy as a representative from the NBA office (usually Adam Silver) instructs each team on the rules of the Lottery and how it will unfold. A representative from an accounting firm, typically Ernst & Young, is provided the task of actually reading the ping-pong balls when they pop to the top of the hopper. There are 1,001 potential combinations that could evolve when you pluck four (4) ping-pong balls from a hopper that has 14 ping-pong balls numbered 1-14. The first four-ball combination that is recorded will be matched with a team and that team will earn the first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft on June 25.
As this transpires, the 14 representatives write down the numbers on their NBA notepad and compare them to the 1,001 combinations that have been previously assigned to the various teams (each representative will be provided a list of all 1,001 combinations and which team owns those different combinations). As a result of our regular season record, the Warriors will have 43 possible combinations in this year's lottery; the Sacramento Kings, who have the best chance to win the lottery, will have 250 possible combinations. As an example, when I last attended the Lottery in 2006, the five combinations for the 14th team in the Lottery were as follows:
9, 12, 13, 14
10, 11, 12, 13
10, 11, 12, 14
10, 11, 13, 14
10, 12, 13, 14
Based on those numbers, the team with the smallest chance to win the lottery – the 14th team - in 2006 would have captured the first prize if any of those exact combinations would have appeared (in that order) when the four ping-pong balls were pulled from the hopper. This scenario (four balls drawn from the hopper) is executed three times during the lottery --- the first combination will select first in the draft, the second combination will select second and the third combination will select third.
As noted, the Warriors will have 43 possible combinations in this year’s lottery. While that might not sound like many when you consider there are 1,001 combinations possible, remember this: Last year, the Chicago Bulls had 17 combinations and, despite those odds, the No. 1 pick, Derrick Rose, still ended up in the Windy City. And, for good measure, the last – and only – time the Warriors owned the seventh slot entering the lottery, the team darted up to No. 3 (1993).
Probable? No. Possible? Yes.
All NBA teams will have a vested interest in what happens at this television studio in Secaucus, N.J., on Tuesday. (photo: Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE/Getty) |
And, the myth about the Lottery being rigged is simply that - a myth. The 14 ping-pong balls are placed in a clear hopper and each ball and corresponding number is shown to the assembled team members one by one before the lottery begins. And, a few years ago, the NBA started to allow selected members of the media access to the back room where they could witness - and document - the entire event. There are no shenanigans. Impossible. It is all based on pure luck and odds.
At the end of the lottery, the team representatives in the back room must remain there until the made-for-TV event is announced approximately one hour later. In other words, I will know the results of the lottery long before Larry Riley or any of the ESPN viewers at home.
After this year's lottery, Larry Riley is tentatively scheduled to do interviews from Secaucus with various local Bay Area media outlets, including KGO-TV, KPIX-TV and a conference call with our two beat writers (news scoop: The Warriors have a new beat writer from the San Francisco Chronicle, where Rusty Simmons will replace Janny Hu). Riley’s post-lottery obligations will increase should Golden State move up and secure one of the top three spots. Of course, if we move up in the lottery, he won't need to head to the airport to catch a flight back to California; he'll simply fly home on adrenaline.
Let’s hope for the best………
For continued coverage of the Lottery, including the history of the event and the Warriors participation in it, check out Warriors Draft Lottery Central.
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