2014 NBA Draft Lottery Viewing Guide
The 2014 NBA Draft Lottery takes place tonight and the Cleveland Cavaliers will once again be in attendance. Last year, the Cavaliers won the No. 1 pick with 15.6 percent odds of landing the top pick. They used the pick to select UNLV forward Anthony Bennett. This year, the odds are longer for the Cavaliers. With the ninth worst record in the NBA, Cleveland has a 1.9 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick again.
Only the first three picks are actually decided by the lottery. After that, the order is decided by inverse order of their regular season record. Thus, the league-wrost Milwaukee Bucks can pick no lower than fourth and so on. Here is a full explanation of the process via the NBA:
"“Fourteen ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a drum. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. Prior to the lottery, 1,000 of those 1,001 combinations will be assigned to the 14 participating lottery teams.“The Milwaukee Bucks finished the season with the NBA’s worst record (15-67), so they will be assigned the first 250 combinations. The Phoenix Suns, the best team in the lottery at 48-34, will have only five combinations out of 1,000.“Four balls will be drawn to the top to determine a four-digit combination. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the number one pick. The four balls are placed back in the drum and the process is repeated to determine the number two and three picks. (Note: If the one unassigned combination is drawn, the balls are drawn to the top again.)“The order of selection for the teams that do not win one of the top three picks will be determined by inverse order of their regular season record. Thus, Milwaukee can pick no lower than fourth, Philadelphia (19-63) no lower than fifth and Orlando (23-59) no lower than sixth.“The actual Lottery procedure will take place in a separate room just prior to the national broadcast on ESPN with select media, NBA officials and representatives of the participating teams and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young in attendance.”"
Another difference this year is that neither majority owner Dan Gilbert nor his son Nick will not be representing the team. Instead newly appointed general manager David Griffin will represent the organization in New York.
Here are the full odds for the 14 teams in the lottery, will airs tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Game 2 between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers will air immediately after the lottery’s conclusion.
- Milwaukee Bucks – 25.0%
- Philadelphia 76ers – 19.9%
- Orlando Magic – 15.6%
- Utah Jazz – 10.4%
- Boston Celtics – 10.3%
- Los Angeles Lakers – 6.3%
- Sacramento Kings – 4.3%
- Detroit Pistons* – 2.8%
- Cleveland Cavaliers – 1.7%
- New Orleans Pelicans** – 1.1%
- Denver Nuggets*** – 0.8%
- New York Knicks (To Denver or to Orlando via Denver)**** – 0.7%
- Minnesota Timberwolves***** – 0.6%
- Phoenix Suns – 0.5%
* – This pick may be sent to the Charlotte Hornets
** – This pick may be sent the Philadelphia 76ers.
*** – This pick may be sent to the Magic.
**** – Orlando will receive this pick, or Denver’s first-round pick, depending on which is higher
***** – This pick may be sent to the Suns.
Here are the full draft odds for each pick, provided by the NBA. The Cavaliers have a 81.32 percent chance to end up picking ninth.
Photo provided by Getty Images.