7 Lottery Teams That Could Make The Playoffs

Mar 15, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards point guard John Wall (2) shoots as New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon (10) and guard Greivis Vasquez (21) look on during the second half at the Verizon Center. The Wizards defeated the Hornets 96 – 87. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA Today Sports

It happens every single year. Some lottery bound team makes the leap to the playoffs. Sometimes it is a team that missed the playoffs once due to injuries or a ridiculously stacked conference. Other times it is perennial laughingstocks breaking the glass ceiling for the first time in years such as the Golden State Warriors this past year.

More often than not the answer is somewhere in the middle, as the talent difference between the 8th seed in the East and the 11th seed is not all that vast, nor is the talent from the 4th seed in the West to the 9th.

After the Draft and the yearly arms race that is the opening of Free Agency, quite a few teams feel confident that this is their year. While the name of the game for many organizations is to tank for the loaded draft class of 2014, several others are taking a more sportsmanlike and romanticized view of competition, and are raging against the fates to pull themselves out of the NBA underworld and back into the post-season, which let’s face it, is the season that matters. Here are several of the teams that look to make a run at the playoffs and leave their sad days in the lottery behind!