2005 Draft Lottery

The 2005 Draft Lottery is due to begin shortly, and picks 1-13 will be revealed in short order! Feel free to follow along. Some housekeeping:

Default Odds: tsfbl.proboards.com/thread/2801/default-lottery-odds

Tiebreakers:
Kings over Heat
Pacers over Hawks
Suns over Lakers over Hornets
Raptors over 76ers
Knicks over Pistons
Magic over Mavericks over Spurs
Bulls over Bucks
Grizzlies over Nets

Of course we end up 9th lol damn

The 13th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Philadelphia 76ers!

(94.24% chance of landing in this spot)

After three straight years of making it to the Conference Finals (including one Finals trip), the 76ers blew up most of their roster this season and found themselves tumbling into the lottery. With a top-13 pick in a deep draft, they'll have either a promising young player or an intriguing trade chip on their hands.

6shots in .. ready for disappointment

The 12th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The San Antonio Spurs, by way of the Toronto Raptors!

(88.26% chance of landing in this spot)

The Raptors' previous management had plenty of incompetent moves, but trading this pick -- unprotected -- for Adrian Griffin all the way back in 1998 is right up there with the worst of them. The Spurs, fresh off a surprise Conference Finals run, will add a valuable piece to one of the league's most exciting young cores.

The 11th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Indiana Pacers, by way of the Utah Jazz!

(79.55% chance of landing in this spot)

The Jazz dealt this pick away back in 1999 -- coincidentally, the last year they made the playoffs -- in exchange for Bob Sura and Travis Knight. It eventually made its way to Indiana, who decided to gamble and trade their leading scorer (Antawn Jamison) over to Utah. It made this pick worse, but it landed them another two Jazz first round picks which, if history is any indication, have a good chance of being in the lottery.

The 10th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Charlotte Hornets!

(62.16% chance of landing in this spot)

The Hornets flirted with a much better landing spot than this all season, but a surge to end the year and tiebreaker luck has landed them all the way down at #10, assuredly a nightmare scenario for a team that had hopes of a very quick rebuild. Four picks in, and we've had no movement so far.

LAKER NATION HAS ARRIVED

The 9th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Los Angeles Lakers!

(47.53% chance of landing in this spot)

After falling just one game short of a Finals berth in 2003, the Lakers stumbled all the way down to the lottery this season after getting priced out of two starters from the season prior. With Jason Kidd still leading the charge, they'll have to decide whether they'll pivot into a full rebuild or try to bounce back into the playoffs after the one year swoon.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The 8th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Sacramento Kings, by way of the Phoenix Suns!

(35.37% chance of landing in this spot)

After a playoff berth in 2003, the Suns tried to pivot towards contention this season by trading two draft picks and a former lottery pick for former #2 overall pick Chris Bosh. Clearly, the season did not go as planned, and the #8 overall pick has wound up in the hands of the Sacramento Kings as a result. The Kings will hear their name called again tonight, but they'll hope it's not for a while.

The 7th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Atlanta Hawks!

(19.22% chance of landing in this spot)

Despite top five picks from each of the past two drafts in tow, the Hawks once again find themselves picking towards the top of the draft. They did not get their usual lottery luck this season, but in such a deep draft, they can be sure to find another talented piece to add to the young core at #7. Still no jumps to this point, very surprising!

The 6th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Sacramento Kings!

(26.9% chance of landing in this spot)

A nightmare scenario for the Kings, who find themselves getting jumped by three times on the way to landing at #6. One of the bleakest rosters in the league will have to assess their gameplan for the off-season, as they are not currently in position to land one of the three generational prospects from this draft. This means the Pacers, SuperSonics, and Heat have all jumped into the top four! One more team will join them, who will it be?

The 5th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Washington Wizards!

(47.64% chance of landing in this spot)

This is the epitome of brutality for a tanking team, but it's what you sign up for. Despite having the worst record in the league, the Wizards only had slightly better than a 50-50 chance of landing in the top four. Obviously they flipped the wrong coin tonight. This means the Warriors will join the other three teams in our top four, stay tuned to find out the order!

The 4th pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Seattle SuperSonics!

(10.57% chance of landing in this spot)

One year after picking #1 overall, the SuperSonics find themselves with another pick inside the top four. Coming into tonight with the fifth-best odds at picking first overall, they'll have to consider this a win, although this draft has a clear drop-off after the top three. With Antoine Walker, Grant Hill, and LaMarcus Aldridge already in Seattle, there's no reason to think Seattle should be back in the lottery next season.

The 3rd pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Golden State Warriors!

(12.8% chance of landing in this spot)

All three of these top three teams won the lottery this year, as they'll leave the draft with a generational prospect to build around. The Warriors might need it as much as any of the three, as their roster largely consisted of stopgap players this season. Josh Howard looks to be a solid wing to build around, but that's about all that's in the cupboard right now for the Warriors.

The 2nd pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Miami Heat!

(12.85% chance of landing in this spot)

What a great building block this is for the Heat's new management. Despite being led by the old guard of Michael Finley and Sam Cassell this season, there is plenty of young talent to like in Miami's front-court. While it's not the #1 overall pick, they'll be just fine in this year's draft. And this means.....

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The 1st pick in the 2005 Rookie Draft belongs to:



The Indiana Pacers!

(8.34% chance of landing in this spot)

What a turn of events this is. On paper, this team should've been the #1 overall pick before the lottery even started. They had the lowest payroll in the league by season's end, and still complained about wanting to cut more. The irony is had they been allowed to do more, they wouldn't have ended up exactly where they are right now. And a flip of the coin was the difference between picking first and the Hawks, who fell seventh. This is why the lottery's randomness is undefeated. Congratulations!

Full Order:
13. Philadelphia 76ers
12. San Antonio Spurs (from Raptors)
11. Indiana Pacers (from Jazz)
10. Charlotte Hornets
9. Los Angeles Lakers
8. Sacramento Kings (from Suns)
7. Atlanta Hawks
6. Sacramento Kings
5. Washington Wizards
4. Seattle SuperSonics
3. Golden State Warriors
2. Miami Heat
1. Indiana Pacers

INDIANA THIS IS FOR YOUUUUUUU