The Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards had such dreadful seasons in 2012 that both teams are worthy of landing the #1 overall pick in Wednesday’s 2012 NBA Draft Lottery. Just prior to the tip-off of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Miami, NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver will commence with releasing the ping pong balls to see which NBA team wins the #1 overall pick, presumably Kentucky forward Anthony Davis.
Per most consensus Mock Drafts, other players that have a shot at going within the first few picks include Davis’ teammate at Kentucky Micheal Kidd-Gilchrist, UConn big man Andre Drummond, Florida guard Bradley Beal, Kansas power forward Thomas Robinson, and North Carolina small forward Harrison Barnes.
The first three picks in the Draft will be determined by the Lottery and the remainder of the “lottery teams” will select in positions 4 through 14 in inverse order of their consolidated standings at the end of the regular season.
Micheal Jordan’s Bobcats finished a woeful 7-59, losing their last 23 straight games, setting the all time worst winning(or losing) percentage in NBA history. The Washington Wizards were only slightly better, finishing 20-46, despite having the services of 2010’s top overall pick John Wall bogged down by a lackluster supporting cast.
Other teams with he best statistical chance of prying away that coveted top pick from either Charlotte or Washington include the Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Hornets, and Sacramento Kings.
Despite snagging Kyrie Irving, the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year with the top pick and Tristan Thompson in last year’s Draft, the Cavaliers once again are in a great position to add another key piece going forward. The Hornets obviously hope to draft the best available player as a cornerstone of the franchise with Chris Paul now in Los Angeles, and Sacramento hopes to surround recent Lottery picks Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins with another quality starter.
Check out the odds that each team in the Draft Lottery has on getting the #1 overall pick:
Charlotte Bobcats 25%
Washington Wizards 19.9%
Cleveland Cavaliers 13.8%
New Orleans Hornets 13.7%
Sacramento Kings 7.6%
New Jersey Nets 7.5%
Golden State Warriors 3.6%
Toronto Raptors 3.5%
Detroit Pistons 1.7%
New Orleans(from Min) 1.1%
Portland Trailblazers 0.8%
Milwaukee Bucks 0. 7%
Phoenix Suns 0.6%
Houston Rockets 0.5%
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
