Question on the nba draft lottery......

[NJmarbury1]

the lottery does not run through all thirteen picks does it? just thirteen teams have a chance at the top three spots. what i am trying to ask is....does the nba conduct a lottery for just the top three picks, then 4-13 (whoever doesn't get picked for one of the top three spots) goes in order of record. and one more question if anyone can answer it.......if two teams are tied at the end of the season, which team winds up with the better chance at a top pick.

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[Achebe]

1-3, with the rest according to record (inverse coorelation - best team gets the last pick all of the way until the 4th pick)

the 4-6 picks could be upset if the first 3 are all unexpecteds

such as the Rockets (11th) at #2

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[TheFreak]

In the event of a tie, I believe there is a coin flip to see who picks higher.

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[TeXaSalsa]

HUH?

i thought there was a big machine full of ping pong balls. worst teams get the most balls. there is no way it is according to record only. charlotte got the #3 pick last yer.

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--TEX

[Achebe]

there are ping pong balls, but your confusion texas, was the same as mine earlier this year. the lottery only dictates who gets picks 1-3. the rest are based on record.

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[Dr of Dunk]

Sauce d'Tejas,

The ping pong balls only affect who are the top 3 picks. After those 3 have been selected, the rest receive picks in order of their record with worst records getting higher picks. The worst team can get no worse than the 4th pick, however like you mentioned in Charlotte's case, the team with the best record in the lottery can get the 1st pick. For more info and explanations of what actually happens, go here for the selection procedures as of 1999 :
http://nba.com/news/draft_lottery_rules.html

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[Dr of Dunk]

TheFreak is correct, at least according to my most recent knowledge. If they haven't changed anything, a coin-flip decides who gets more lottery balls if 2 teams are tied with the best record. An example of this was when Boston and Dallas (actually the pick had been transferred to Phoenix in a trade) were tied and entering the lottery. Boston won that coin flip, so they picked ahead of Phoenix because Dallas lost the flip. Got that?

I'm not sure what would happen if there were a 3-way tie. I think a 3-way tie actually has happened before.

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[This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited April 16, 2000).]

[JuanValdez]

A coin flip? I could probably think of a dozen better ways to do it. Why not use the tie-breakers for determining seeding for the playoffs? Or, what if they added the balls together for the two (or more) positions in dispute and then evenly divided them between the tied teams?

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