8 Most Awkward Moments in NBA Draft Lottery History

The 2012 NBA draft lottery is drawn tonight, and with that comes a long history of shady goings-on, weird guys doing weird things on television and just awkward moments in general—it's kind of a tradition.

When the league isn't busy trying to fend off conspiracy theories, it's dealing with strange and sometimes downright creepy general managers and team presidents reacting either poorly or positively to their team getting whatever pick they may get during the lottery.

Ever since its inception in its most elementary form back in 1985, strange things have happened, and strange things will continue to happen so long as they televise the event, and thank goodness that they do.

So, without further ado, I give you some of the most awkward moments in the history of the NBA draft lottery.

8. The Numbers Throughout History

We all know about the possible fix that happened back in 1985, but the NBA draft lottery has always seemed to produce strange results, and it's been happening ever since the beginning.

It started with the weighted lottery back in 1990 and since then the team with the worst record in the league the previous year has won just three times, while teams with seemingly long shots to win the lottery seem to prevail more often than not.

Nine times since 1990 the team to win the lottery has had less than 10 percent chance at nabbing that top pick. That's nine times in 23 years. And a team with less than a 3 percent chance has won it three times.

That seems just a bit more than strange.

7. Jerry Krause Is Weird

This is one of the creepiest moments in live television history, which is probably why you don't see much of Jerry Krause on television anymore. David Stern probably banned him from any sort of live event dealing with the league as a whole.

So what exactly does Jerry Krause do? Well, not much actually—just reacts in a completely genuine way.

The only problem is that Krause is one of the most naturally creepy people in this world that it's almost impossible for him to not seem creepy.

Krause's moment comes at the 3:50 mark of this video when Krause realizes that the Bulls have won the lottery, at which point his face contorts, his body convulses and he just does creepy things in all.

6. Pat Williams' Fourth Lottery Win

I've got some advice for all of the struggling teams out there: If you want to end up winning the draft lottery, your best bet is to hire Pat Williams.

Williams, who has been a part of the Philadelphia 76ers and the Orlando Magic, has been at the draft lottery as his team's representative quite often, and he's won the thing three times.

Fast-forward to 34 seconds in to see his most recent victory with the Magic in 2004, but he was also responsible for Orlando's win in 1992 and 1993 and Philadelphia's win in 1986.

Strange.

5. Chicago Wins in 2008

I'm not calling for another investigation into the draft lottery, but it couldn't hurt on this one.

Back in 2008 the Chicago Bulls had the ninth-worst record in the NBA at 33-49. That's not a good record, but it's not bad either. It gave them just over 1 percent chance at landing the top pick.

Now, who was the top pick looking to be that year? None other than Chicago-born Derrick Rose.

You can imagine that it seemed more than a bit strange when Chicago got such a swing of luck with a hometown boy coming up to be the first pick in the draft.

4. The Magic Get Back-to-Back Picks

This was either a stroke of luck only explainable by Pat Williams' presence or the fact that David Stern wanted to get one of his newer franchises in the southern corner of the country a few good players.

After just their third season, the Orlando Magic won their first draft lottery in 1992, and in that case they had a great chance at winning it as the second-worst team the previous season.

However, after a year of Shaquille O'Neal and a 41-41 record, the Magic nearly made the playoffs.

What happens next? Well, they go out and win the lottery again with just one ping pong ball out of 66 in the hopper. 

They went and drafted Chris Webber, whom they traded to the Warriors for Penny Hardaway and a bunch more picks.

3. Elgin Baylor Is Stoked for Danny Manning

This bit comes at the beginning of this clip, and it's not really awkward until you observe the clip with all the knowledge of today.

Elgin Baylor takes way too long to realize that he's won the lottery, which probably explains why he was never a very good GM, and when he does he's still not sure what to do.

What happens next? Well, he pulls out a Clippers jersey with "Manning" scrawled across the back.

Manning was pretty much a unanimous top pick back then, but looking back at Baylor being so excited about one of the biggest draft flops in sports history is a bit awkward and, well, kind of sad.

2. David Kahn Calls out Stern's Lottery

Fast-forward to about two minutes into this clip if you want to get to the meaty bits of this interview.

What started out as a seemingly meaningless and boring interview with David Kahn at last year's lottery turned weird quick when he was asked about the winners of the previous two drafts.

Abe Pollin's widow represented the Wizards in 2010 and Dan Gilbert's son, who has neurofibromatosis, represented the Cavs in 2011, both winning the lottery.

Kahn insinuated the league was bending the numbers to get the best storyline out of the lottery, which is just a bit more than awkward.

1. The 1985 Draft Lottery

Everything about this clip is more awkward than it ever should have been.

The guy tossing the envelopes into the hopper blatantly slams one against the side—possibly to dent the envelope, if conspiracy theories are to be believed.

David Stern then "randomly" picking out the winning envelope in one of his earlier television appearances, when he looks like the guy who awkwardly introduces the president before his speeches, and seems to search for the right one.

Finally, when Dave DeBusschere finally sees the Knicks have the top pick there's a moment of excitement and then relief, like he wasn't sure it was going to come through.

Everyone ends up felling slimy and awkward in the end.

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