JUST THE WAY THE BALLS BOUNCE

The NBA Playoffs are still in full effect, as the Celtics/Cavaliers and Spurs/Warriors are playing in their conference championships trying to win a bid to the NBA Finals. While those games are going on, the rest of the league is in full offseason mode and on Tuesday the NBA held their annual draft lottery. If you don’t know what that is, I will explain it for you. Basically, every year the NBA has a draft, just like any other league. The only difference is that the NBA doesn’t base the draft order on whoever has the worst records to the best. They have a lottery to see who will get picks 1-14 and then the rest are playoff teams. This gives teams who aren’t very good chances at a very high pick to help rebuild their team.

Now, the fans of these God awful teams get a chance to watch this and hope that their team gets a top pick. This event can get very intense and nerve wracking as you wait for your team’s name to be called; trust me, I know from personal experience. I am a die hard Boston Celtics fan and even though my team is playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, they also had the best chance of landing the number one draft choice. They made a trade with Brooklyn back in 2013 which gave them the Nets pick in 2016, 2017, and 2018. This past year, the Nets had the worst record in the league and gave the Celtics the best chance at the best pick.

The way the lottery works is that each team has ping pong balls in a machine. The worst record you have, the more ping pong balls you have. The Celtics had a 25% chance at landing the number one pick, thanks to the Nets, and they did just that. The Celtics claimed the top spot of the draft and are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, first time that has happened since the 1982 Lakers who won the NBA Championship while holding the Cavaliers pick that ended up being the number one pick.

The final draft order for the top 14 is set. It goes: Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia Sixers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, and the Miami Heat. Since I am a Celtics fan, I’m very much looking forward to the draft. My guess is that the Celtics will select Markelle Fultz, Washington PG. This will definitely be one of the most interesting drafts.