2012 NBA Lottery Order: 5 Teams Positioned to Impact the Draft

The NBA Draft Lottery truly is a unknown entity. It may be the only sporting event in history in which fans exit the night with more questions than they come in with. The only answers that teams get on lottery night come riddled with scores of more questions and the tough ones start now for these five teams.

The future may have just gotten a lot brighter for them; however, the work is not even close to finished. They are now in a great position to impact the upcoming draft. The ping-pong balls fell in their favor, and now it is up to the organization to make the right moves next month. 

Twenty-nine days now stand between these five teams and their lottery picks. Call it fate, call it destiny, call it whatever you want. The image of June 28 just became a lot clearer.

No. 5 Pick: Sacramento Kings

The Kings landed right around where we expected them to, and that is a good thing. Sacramento finished the 2011-12 season 22-44. They have a monstrous front line in Jason Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins and found a bit of a steal with point guard Isaiah Thomas. 

Projected Pick: Harrison Barnes, North Carolina

Will the No. 5 overall pick drastically change Sacramento's fate? No, probably not.

However, Harrison Barnes is going to be a good NBA player. He has tremendous upside and has a contrasting style to the current big men on the Kings roster. His scoring ability will be a great asset to the team next season. His value will be doubled should Tyreke Evans or Cousins' stay in Sacramento be short-lived. 

No 4. Pick: Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cleveland Cavaliers, recipients of last season's No. 1 overall pick, dropped to the fourth spot in 2012. Their pick last year, Kyrie Irving, wound up winning Rookie of the Year. This year the chances of a repeat should be slim; however, Cleveland can be smart here and build around the core that Irving is providing. 

Projected Pick: Bradley Beal, Florida

The Cavaliers wing players just are not cutting it at this point. With Irving running the show and Anderson Varejao doing great work on the interior, Cleveland needs to use this pick on a scoring wing man.

Bradley Beal, the freshman out of Florida, had a fantastic year and could have carried his team on a deep run in March if it weren't for Rick Pitino's Louisville team. Beal can run with the younger Cavaliers and help them greatly with both his offensive (15 PPG) and defensive (1.5 SPG, 1 BPG) skills. 

No. 3 Pick: Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards only won 20 games last season, the second fewest in the NBA. The third pick in the draft is somewhat of a disappointment for them. Being bounced out of the top two will make their job harder.

Like Cleveland, the Wizards have a talented young point guard running the show in John Wall. However, his running mates are not up to snuff. They may have found something in Kevin Seraphin as a young big, but Wall needs someone to take the pressure off on offense.

Projected Pick: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kentucky

With Nick Young gone, Jordan Crawford shot God-awful percentages from the field and was worse from distance. There are holes on this team all around, as Wall led the Wizards in both scoring and assists.

A player of Kidd-Gilchrist's caliber can take some of that scoring load off of Wall and allow him to distribute and control the game better. He scored 12 points per game for the national champion Wildcats while shooting 50 percent from the floor. His size will allow him to play some power forward as well where the Wizards are very weak. 

No. 2 Pick: Charlotte Bobcats

Stomach-punch time for the Charlotte Bobcats. The team with the best chance to get that No. 1 pick will not receive it in 2012. Unfortunately for Michael Jordan's team, they are now without an coach and without a superstar for another year.

Anthony Davis would have made this team respectable with a few free agent pickups. A team that won seven games this past season won't be turning any NBA heads this coming year either.   

Projected Pick: Thomas Robinson, Kansas

Not a hard choice here, as the Bobcats have needs at every position. A strength, if you can call it that, is their backcourt, which has solid NBA players in Gerald Henderson, D.J. Augustin and Kemba Walker.

Adding Robinson to their frontcourt could be intriguing. If Bismack Biyombo matures a little bit, the Bobcats may at least be exciting to watch as a young, super-athletic team. Robinson is a mature 21-year-old with a freakish wingspan, and he can score the basketball on the interior, something Charlotte struggled with last season. 

No. 1 Pick: New Orleans Hornets

There was a 83.6-percent chance that the New Orleans would not get the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Those in the city where the Hornets play basketball are no strangers to overcoming odds and struggles, that is for sure. Amidst the turmoil of their football team and the ever-recovering city they live in, the No. 1 pick is sure to turn some frowns into grins.

The Hornets finished with just 21 wins last season and were involved in a major trade that sent their superstar away. 

Projected Pick: Anthony Davis, Kentucky

The people of New Orleans get a superstar back after their player fled for Los Angeles, and he will be a game changers. With a healthy Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis, the Hornets have a chance to once again be relevant in the Western Conference. They are still a few pieces away from being legitimate, but tonight is when they started their path to that legitimacy.