Striking It Rich: John Wall, D-Rose and The 5 Greatest NBA Draft Lottery Draws
The NBA Draft Lottery is always an interesting time of year and has been a very successful, yet controversial marketing ploy for the league.
It gives all of the year's worst teams, at the very least, a glimmer of hope to land the league's most promising young talents. However, on the same token it can also screw over the worst teams in the league.
Regardless of how you feel about it, if you are an NBA fan every year you have to be at least a little interested in seeing how the ping pong balls drop and how the draft begins to take it's shape.
The NBA Draft Lottery has evolved several times over the last 25 years and is now a weighted probability situation, meaning that the teams with the worst records have a decreasing chance of winning the first pick the better their records are.
In the 20 years that the NBA has used a weighted system, their have been several instances where the best of the worst have been able to luck into the top pick.
These are the five greatest NBA draft lottery draws in league history based on probability and how the pick panned out for the team.
No. 5: Andrew Bogut, 2005 Milwaukee Bucks
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In 2005 the Milwaukee Bucks were coming off a disappointing 30-52 record, but it was far from the worst record in the league.
As a matter of fact it was the sixth worst record in the league and the Bucks were only awarded 63 combinations in the 2005 NBA Draft Lottery out of a possible 1,000. That means the Bucks had only a 6.3 percent at the top spot in the draft.
The Bucks wound up striking gold and were awarded the No. 1 pick, which they then used on Australian center Andrew Bogut.
Looking back on the class of 2005, there may have been a couple of better picks out there, but Bogut has certainly been no slouch for Milwaukee and has developed into one of the Eastern Conference's better centers.
No. 4: John Wall, 2010 Washington Wizards
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The 2009-10 season was an absolute disaster for the Washington Wizards. They won a measly 26 games and the team was absolutely crushed by the gun incident between star guard Gilbert Arenas and role player Javaris Crittenton.
However, they still were only the fifth-worst team in basketball, but Gilbert Arenas had been plagued by controversy and injury and the Wizards had a glaring need to add some help in the backcourt.
So when the ping pong ball bounced their way and their 10.3 percent probability of landing the league's top pick came to fruition, it was fairly obvious what direction Washington was going.
They took John Wall with that pick and so far Wall has been a dynamic talent when he has been on the floor.
Wall has a lot of time to prove to Washington that he was deserving of all the hype, and I'm sure the Wizards are happy to have a young guard to build their franchise around.
No. 3: Yao Ming, 2002 Houston Rockets
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The 2002 NBA Draft was all about the influx of international talent into the National Basketball Association, and the prize prospect of the class was 7'6" Chinese center Yao Ming.
The Bulls and the Clippers, who tied for the worst record, had equal 22.5 percent chances at landing the talented young international big man, but it was the Houston Rockets who wound up winning the No. 1 pick despite having just an 8.9 percent chance of landing him.
Yao hasn't exactly been the dominant center that he was billed to be, due in large part to injuries, but he has turned in a very solid career and made All-Star appearances in each of his first seven seasons.
No. 2: Chris Webber, 1993 Orlando Magic
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In 1992, the Orlando Magic won the NBA Draft Lottery and selected Shaquille O'Neal, who would go on to become one of the most dominant players in the history of the NBA.
In 1993, the Magic finished 41-41 and had the 11th-worst record in the NBA.
They had one shot out of 66 (current weighted system was not introduced until 1994) to win the No. 1 pick again, but apparently one was all it took. The Magic hit the lottery once again and used the pick to draft Michigan star Chris Webber.
However, the Magic didn't seem to think that there was enough room in the paint for both Webber and O'Neal, so they dealt Webber to the Warriors in exchange for G/F Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway.
Hardaway and O'Neal became one of the more dynamic duos in the league, and even though they were only together for three seasons, they had great success in Orlando.
No. 1: Derrick Rose, 2008 Chicago Bulls
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During the 2007-2008 season, the Chicago Bulls drastically underachieved.
They were coming off a three-year stretch where they had been a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs despite being on of the younger teams in the league.
In '07-08, for whatever reason, the Bulls took a major step back and finished 33-49, costing head coach Scott Skiles his job and putting Chicago into the lottery.
Being the ninth-worst team in the league, the Bulls only had a 1.7 percent chance of securing the No. 1 pick, but the basketball Gods were smiling down that day and the Bulls snagged the No. 1 pick, paving the way to select hometown star Derrick Rose.
Rose was the Rookie of the Year in 2009, he was an All-Star in 2010 and this year he is putting together a pretty nice case for MVP of the league. The Bulls undoubtedly hit the jackpot with Rose.
