NBA Draft Lottery, Interesting Not Earth Shattering

The NBA held it’s draft lottery before the Lakers-Nuggets game and as with any lottery anything can happen, anyone can win. Just ask the good people at Proline (which is actually barely factual if any are familiar with my history playing Proline and my 1 victory). It was not much of a spectacle as one may have hoped. The Deputy Commissioner has all the razzle dazzle of an accountant so that didn’t help the pageantry at all.

Here is a list of the possibility of the teams in the running to get the number 1 pick and where they will actually pick:

Movement
+2 Los Angeles Clippers 17.7% (1)
+4 Memphis Grizzlies 7.5% (2)
+1 Oklahoma City Thunder 11.9% (3)
-3 Sacramento Kings 25% (4)
-3 Washington Wizards 17.8% (5)
-1 Minnesota Timberwolves 7.6% (6)
0 Golden State Warriors 4.3% (7)
0 New York Knicks 2.8% (8)
0 Toronto Raptors 1.7% (9)

There was little movement at the back but there was a little shuffling at the top.
3 teams moved up 3 moved down. The largest gainer was the Memphis Grizzlies (+4) and the Clippers who took over the #1 slot, it is just too bad that there is no clear cut Lebron James caliber player in this draft. This is not good for a clippers team that has such a rep for being a basketball talent wasteland. Last time they had the number 1 pick they took Michael Olowokandi and that worked out real nice.

The Raptors go 9th and hopefully can get a player that can help them soon and not have to get a player to replace a Chris Bosh, should he be on the move a year from now as a free agent.

Sens Army Unite - In Mourning

If you are looking to watch your boys Spezza, Heatley and possibly Phillips or Fisher this spring you will have to switch your focus to the World Championships. As of last night the Ottawa Senators have officially been eliminated from the playoff picture. This marks the first time in many years that Senators fans young and old won’t see their team playing into the spring. It will be a bit of a culture shock for sure after a 10+ year run that saw them at least make it to the dance but this time around it was just not meant to be. Sure they had a decent conclusion to the year but basically in garbage time where it is easy to play loose because there is no real pressure.

April 12 is the last game on the schedule and that will conclude the regular season, then it will be playoff time for a good lucky 16, a time to brush of the golf clubs for the better part of the other wannabe’s.

April 14th is the next date to look at and that is the Draft Lottery. As it stands now the Senators are outside of the top 5 (or bottom side, however you look at it) and will not have a shot at Hedman or Tavares but are still in the top 10 most likely and by the looks of the prospects there is decent depth and player until 11 or 13 at least. As long as they don’t drop the ball like they did when they had the 9th overall pick and choose Brian Lee over Marc Staal.

At least with the early exit there will be plenty of time to gear up for the draft and open up all the speculation about Draft Day trades selections and July 1 Free Agency.