NBA Draft Lottery 2012: 1997 Celtics and Most Unlucky Teams in Lottery History

The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery is Wednesday night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and there's likely to be at least one incredibly unlucky team that receives a worse draft pick than they deserve.

In fact, the team with the worst record in basketball has only won the lottery four times since the process began in 1985. The last team fortunate enough to win the lottery after being finishing last was the Orlando Magic in 2004, who selected Dwight Howard with the top pick.

This year's worst record belonged to the Charlotte Bobcats, who were arguably the worst NBA team of all-time, and badly need the top overall pick to rebuild their franchise. History is not on their side, however.

Let's look at the most unlucky lottery teams of all-time.

1997 Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have had awful luck in draft lotteries. In 1997, they won a franchise-low 15 games and had the second-worst record in basketball. Boston had a 27 percent chance of winning the top pick that year and drafting Wake Forest star Tim Duncan.

A prior trade with the Dallas Mavericks in which Boston acquired their first-round pick in 1997 gave the Celtics two lottery picks because the Mavericks also missed the playoffs.

Instead of getting the top pick, they got the third and sixth overall picks in the draft. The Celtics decided to draft Chauncey Billups (third) and Ron Mercer (sixth).

Mercer had a terrible NBA career, and Billups' success came long after the Celtics gave up on him way too early in his career. Boston traded Billups during his rookie season in one of the many poor decisions by Rick Pitino.

2008 Miami Heat

The Miami Heat had the worst record in the 2007-08 season, but wound up with the second overall pick in the NBA draft.

That doesn't seem all that unlucky, but when you consider that the team that won the lottery was the Chicago Bulls, who had the ninth-worst record, it does seem a bit unfair.

Only the 1993 Orlando Magic (1.52 percent) have won the lottery with worse odds than the Bulls in 2008 (1.7 percent).

The Bulls selected point guard and 2011 league MVP Derrick Rose, while the Heat chose Michael Beasley, who now plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Miami is still looking for a star point guard to this day.

1993 Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks were absolutely awful in 1993, finishing with the worst record in basketball at 11-71.

However, luck was not on their side as they lost the draft lottery and ended up with the fourth overall pick. The Magic, as mentioned above, won the lottery with just a 1.52 percent chance of earning the top pick.

Dallas chose Jamal Mashburn No. 4 overall, who was a pretty good player for many years, but was never a real star.

Dallas missed out on being able to select players who had good NBA careers such as Penny Hardaway and Chris Webber.

This lottery loss was one reason why the Mavericks were a bottom feeder in the Western Conference for most of the 1990s.

2007 Boston Celtics

After another brutal year for the Celtics highlighted by an embarrassing 17-game losing streak, there was still optimism after the season because fans of the green were excited at the idea of being able to draft either Ohio State star Greg Oden or Texas star Kevin Durant.

Boston had the second-worst record in the league, but ended up with the fifth overall selection. The Portland Trail Blazers, who had the sixth-worst record in the league, won the lottery.

The result didn't turn out bad for the Celtics since they used the No. 5 pick to acquire Ray Allen from the Seattle Supersonics, then traded for Kevin Garnett later that summer and won the title in 2008.

It did however prove how unlucky the Celtics have been at the draft lottery.

2002 Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors had the worst record in the 2002 NBA season, but won the third pick in the draft.

The Houston Rockets won the top pick even though they had the fifth-best chance to win it. They selected center Yao Ming from China, who was a great player until injuries forced him to retire.

The Warriors chose Mike Dunleavy Jr. out of Duke, who has been an average player at best during his NBA career. He now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Golden State wasn't able to choose the franchise center they badly needed in 2002, and are still without one to this day.

1992 Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves had the best chance to win the top pick in the 1992 NBA draft, but were unlucky when they won the third overall pick.

Orlando chose LSU center Shaquille O'Neal with the top pick, who of course went on to become one of the best NBA players ever.

With the second pick, the Charlotte Hornets selected another future NBA star in center Alonzo Mourning from Georgetown.

The Timberwolves chose Christian Laettner from Duke, who had a disappointing NBA career. Minnesota didn't get a franchise center in 1992 and still haven't found one.

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