Percentage of the teams with the highest lottery chance ended up with a top 4 picks

Having a horrific record had always played it’s part, but so has luck. For years, the team with the worst record in each conference would flip a coin to see who received the first pick, the loser picking second. In the first season the Rockets played, in San Diego, they won 15 games and the Baltimore Bullets in the East won 35. We won the coin toss and picked the great Elvin Hayes. In ‘83 and ‘84, after tanking like crazy (in my opinion), we won the coin toss in each draft and, as everyone knows, selected Sampson and then Olajuwon.

That luck in two straight years caused the NBA to get rid of the long standing “coin toss” entirely and go with the lottery. Between ‘68 and ‘83, we picked first once, selecting John Lucas #1 in 1976, but we had traded for the pick with Atlanta. Aside from that, the only other #1 pick this franchise has had was Yao Ming in the 2002 draft lottery. Luck again, if of a different kind.

The point is that it’s incredibly rare to get lucky with the draft. Sure, we might get the chance, since we seem hell bent on having a god awful record, but to end up with one of those top 4 picks will take an amazing amount of luck. Looking back over the years, we haven’t had much. Who knows? Perhaps we’re due. Probably not, but I’ll be crossing my fingers for luck.

 

with a 52% probability i wouldnt call it an 'amazing amount of luck'... just about a coin's flip worth - which we seemed pretty adept at in the past... lol

 

Spoiler

 

... if only they actually would use a coin this time.

 

OMFG this is as bad as the guy who called the NBA players Karens for not wanting the NBAPA to have committed to the all star game.