Perhaps somebody can shed some light on this: If we finish with the same record as Cleveland, they swept the season series, so they would get a higher seed than us in the lottery (we would get more ping pong balls), but, what is going to happen if we finish with the same record as New York and/or Denver? We will have split the season series with both of those teams if we finish with the same record as them, so, can somebody tell me what the tie-breakers will be?
This question has come up before and I believe the answer was a coin flip. I recall that was supposed to be true even if the Rocks tied with Cleveland. That is what was said previously, but maybe someone else knows for sure.
I covered a little bit of that here .... http://www.clutchcity.net/news.cfm?NewsID=954 From my new understanding, that tiebreaker with Cleveland does not exist. Any ties in draft order are broken by a "draw", basically a behind-the-scenes coin toss. So, if Houston and Cleveland ties, they do the draw to see who gets higher draft position if neither wins the lottery. This is the case for lottery and non-lottery picks. <B>NOW</B>, in the case of the lottery, while they still do the draw, both teams have an equal shot at the top pick. Meaning they get the same amount of ping pong balls, or combinations. This happened in 1999-2000 ... the Rockets lost to the Grizzlies on the final day, breaking out of a three-way tie for the 9th spot in draft order. Boston and Denver were tied for 10th. The NBA did a "draw". Denver won. Now, both teams had 9 chances out of 1001 to win the lottery.... since neither did, Denver got the 10th spot and Boston 11th. Interestingly enough, the Rockets were involved in one of these -- in 1992-93 they had a great team and lost a tough, 7-game series to the Sonics, who they had tied during the regular season but Seattle held the tiebreaker and had homecourt. Since they had identical records, the NBA held the "Draw" and Seattle won that too. Didn't seem fair... until you realize Seattle got Ervin Johnson with the 23rd pick and Houston got Sam Cassell with the 24th.
Thanks, Clutch.. you are among the best. The number 5 seed gets 89 balls and the #6 worst record gets 64 balls. If Cleveland and Houston have identical fifth worst records, they each share the 153 (153/2 = 76.5) chances for the top 3 spots (not sure how the 1/2 chance is handled - it is a mathematical generation and not an actual ping pong ball so probably no problem). If the Rockets win the draw/flip and neither is in the Top 3 then the Rocks pick 5th and Cavs 6th. However, if the Cavs somehow bump one of the current 1-4 worst records out of the Top 3, then that "bumped" team will fall to 4th seed and 4th worst drops to 5th pick forcing the Rocks to pick at #6. At least that it is what I understand from Clutch's post.
Clutch knows all. Thanks for the response. Last question to clear everything up......how does a 3-team coin flip work, if us, Cleveland, and NY were to all end up with the same record?
