From Mitch Lawrence's NBA Column: Bullish on Idea Clippers in Tank Former No. 1 overall pick Michael Olowokandi doesn't play. Tyrone Nesby gets benched. Troy Hudson, who started the season as the starting point guard, is released. Maurice Taylor is sitting out so he won't hurt his value for this summer, while Lamar Odom isn't exactly rushing back from injuries. If it sounds like the Clippers are tanking games to try to finish the season with the best chance of getting the No.1 pick in the draft, you may be onto something. The Bulls certainly believe so. They've been asking around about all of the Clips' strange moves and if tanking is the motive. The Clips and Bulls are vying for the most Ping-Pong balls in the lottery. But as one GM noted: "They're both so bad, how can you tell if they're tanking?" ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
Well, don't forget that the Rockets tanked to get Hakeem. That's why the league imposed the current NBA Lottery ping pong balls. ------------------
Why are the Bulls even trying to beat the Clippers? They must know you cannot get 2 number 1 picks in a row. #1 Clips-Martin #2 Bulls-Mihm Both teams happy. ------------------ Check out the best source for draft info. Draftsource.net
since when??? 1983 - Rockets select Ralph Sampson #1 1984 - Rockets select Akeem Olajuwon #1 1992 - Magic select Shaquille O'Neal #1 1993 - Magic select Chris Webber #1
Since the year they changed the draft format after Houston years. Houston got it due to seriously tanking and during those years it was a coin-flip. Last 2 place teams flip for first pick. To avoid that from happening again NBA changed the draft into lottery. As for Shaq and Webber, Maybe there is no rule against having 2 number 1 of that teams' picks in row. I'm not sure if during those years, they had like another team's pick. Theorically for example, if the Bulls obtained the Clippers pick, they could get two number 1s that way. First year its their own, following year its really the Clippers but its still theirs. That's how I thought Orlando got it. If anyone knows about this, please tell... All I could find from nba.com is this: The NBA Board of Governors, meeting in Salt Lake City in June of 1984, voted to adopt a lottery system among the non-playoff teams to determine their order of selection in the first round of the NBA Draft beginning in 1985. Sixers President Pat Croce poses with NBA Commissioner David Stern after winning the 1996 NBA Draft Lottery From 1966 through 1984, the teams that finished with the worst records in each conference participated in a coin flip to determine which team would draft first. The remaining teams picked in inverse order of their won-lost records. Under the system adopted prior to the 1985 NBA Draft, the NBA Lottery determines the order of selection for the non-playoff teams (or the teams holding their picks through trades) for the first round only. Teams pick in inverse order of their records in the second round (or, prior to the draft being reduced to two rounds in 1989, in all succeeding rounds). Under a procedural change adopted by the Board of Governors in October of 1986, the Lottery determines the order of selection for the first three teams only. The remaining non-playoff teams select in inverse order of their regular season records. Therefore, the team with the worst record in the league is assured of picking no worse than fourth, the team with the second-worst record no worse than fifth and so on. In a further refinement in October of 1989, the Board of Governors adopted a weighted system beginning with the 1990 NBA Draft Lottery, which included 11 teams due to expansion. The team with the worst record during the regular season received 11 chances at the top pick (out of a total of 66), the second-worst team got 10 chances and the team with the best record among the non-playoff clubs got one chance. The Board of Governors approved a modification of the Lottery system in November of 1993 that, effective with the 1994 NBA Draft Lottery, increased the chances of the teams with the worst records in the league winning one of the top three picks in the draft while decreasing the lottery chances of the teams with the best records. The new system increased the chances of the team with the worst record drawing the first pick in the draft from 16.7 percent to 25 percent, while decreasing the chances of the team with the best record among lottery teams from 1.5 percent to 0.5 percent. Under the system, 14 ping-pong balls numbered 1 through 14 are placed in a drum and four balls drawn to the top. 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, teams are assigned combinations based on their order of finish during the regular season. In October of 1995, the Board of Governors increased the number of teams participating in the Lottery from 11 to 13 to account for the addition of expansion teams Toronto and Vancouver. Starting in 1996, the team with the worst record in the Lottery continued to have a 25% chance of winning the first pick under the new system. Teams two through six have slightly fewer chances, team seven has the same number of chances and teams eight through 12 have slightly more chances. The number of chances for team 13 did not change. ------------------ Check out the best source for draft info. Draftsource.net [This message has been edited by rocketsfan34 (edited April 02, 2000).]
Just a question...didn't Orlando only have one lottery ball one of the years they got the first pick? Or am I making that up? ------------------
I've never heard of a rule that prohibits a team from having the first pick overall in consecutive years. ------------------
