2011 NBA Draft: 5 Teams That Can't Afford to Miss on Lottery Picks
The NBA Draft Lottery will be presented prior to tonight's Game 1 between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.
At 17-65, the Minnesota Timberwolves had the league's worst record, so they have the greatest odds of winning the No. 1 pick, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors.
Let's be clear about one thing: no team can afford to miss on a lottery pick. Each of the 14 teams in the draft lottery are there because they missed the playoffs and were far better at losing than winning. The Houston Rockets were the only team to miss the playoffs with a winning record.
Of this year's group, only the Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz were playoff teams in 2010, meaning there are 10 teams that continue to find themselves in this position year after year.
Here's a list of five teams that can least afford to draft a bust.
5. Detroit Pistons
1 of 5
2010-11 record: 30-52 (11th in Eastern Conference).
Odds of winning lottery: 4.3 percent chance (likely to receive 7th pick).
The Pistons' run of success from 2003-2008 was pretty incredible. Six consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, two NBA Finals appearances and a title in 2004.
It's hard to believe that run ended just three years ago because it feels like 10. The tide began to turn when the organization traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson in November '08.
In the three seasons since that curious swap, Detroit has missed the playoffs twice, and the one season it did qualify, it did so with a losing record and got swept out of the first round. As one of the NBA's flagship franchises, the Pistons desperately need to get themselves back on the map.
The team has no identity, no face of the franchise moving forward, and fans are losing interest as a result. Detroit's attendance numbers maxed out at 905,116 in 2007-08, but bottomed out at 683,080 this year.
A solid pick in June can go a long way in changing that, but another bust will put the organization in a deeper hole.
4. Sacramento Kings
2 of 5
2010-11 record: 24-58 (14th in Western Conference).
Odds of winning lottery: 8.8 percent chance (likely to receive 5th pick).
The days of Mike Bibby and Chris Webber are long gone. Heck, the days of Ron Artest and Kevin Martin are long gone.
After a brief run of success through the middle part of this decade, the Kings are closer to becoming the unquestioned laughing stock of the NBA then a playoff team. This marked the fifth consecutive season that they missed the playoffs, and there is no end in sight to that run.
Sacramento has used its recent lottery picks well, netting Tyreke Evans, DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson. Evans and Cousins provide a solid inside-out combination for the future, but there are questions as to whether or not the two can play together.
Unfortunately, that's the least of the organization's problems. There is talk of relocating the franchise to Anaheim, which Commissioner David Stern announced wouldn't happen for at least another year.
Sacramento fans are some of the best in the NBA, and the city deserves a much better product than what the Maloof brothers have produced over the last five years.
We should all pull for the Kings to win tonight's lottery. They need a break.
3. Charlotte Bobcats
3 of 5
2010-11 record: 34-48 (10th in Eastern Conference).
Odds of winning lottery: 1.7 percent chance (likely to receive 9th pick).
Bringing a franchise back to Charlotte was a waste of time. The team is terrible, the arena is usually empty and Michael Jordan is running the show.
Yikes.
In seven years back, the Bobcats have missed the playoffs six times. Their best showing was 2009-10, when Larry Brown guided them to a 44-win season and a playoff appearance, which was ended quickly by the Orlando Magic.
Back to MJ. Has he ever made a good pick in the draft? Kwame Brown. Adam Morrison. Brandon Wright. Alex Ajinca. Gerald Henderson (maybe). D.J. Augustin.
By my count, that's four outright busts and two backups. All but Ajinca were lottery picks.
Ouch.
The Bobcats are in dire need of an impact player, and Jordan could really use one to boost his awful resume.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
4 of 5
2010-11 record: 19-63 (Last in Eastern Conference).
Odds of winning lottery: 19.9 percent chance (likely to receive 2nd pick).
I'm sorry Cavs fans, I just couldn't resist.
Understand that I selected this picture because there is no other reason why Cleveland can ill afford to botch their lottery pick than the person who shall not be named, but appears on your screen.
We all knew the Cavs were headed for a disastrous 2010-11 campaign the minute you-know-who ditched Cleveland for South Beach, but no one saw 19 wins and an NBA record long losing streak in the forecast.
Look, we should root just as hard for Cleveland to steal the No. 1 pick as we should Sacramento. Maybe more so, all things considered.
This draft yields two, maybe three, players that can change the fortunes of your franchise. The Cavs should get a crack at one of them. They'd be wise to select Duke point guard Kyrie Irving if he's available.
Owner Dan Gilbert promised fans hours after "The Decision" that Cleveland would win a title before Beelzebub. He'll need a lot of help from the Chicago Bulls and the Heavens above to keep that promise, but he can help himself by drafting a future superstar in June.
1. Minnesota Timberwolves
5 of 5
2010-11 record: 17-65 (Worst in NBA).
Odds of winning lottery: 25 percent chance (best odds).
I apologize to T'Wolves faithful for the same reason I apologized to Cleveland fans. I simply couldn't resist.
But Minnesota fans actually have it worse than Cavs fans because they were LeBron'd by their own organization. They wasted most of Kevin Garnett's prime years, traded him to Boston for a deck of cards and a pack of smokes, then watched him lead the Celtics to an NBA title the following spring.
The stink of that chain of events has yet to leave Minneapolis. No wonder Minnesota is always one of the first teams mentioned when the NBA threatens contraction.
Cleveland fans think they have it bad? With Garnett, the Timberwolves peaked with a loss to the Lakers in the 2004 Western Conference Finals. They haven't qualified for the playoffs since, and that included three more years of KG.
In the last four seasons, they've lost 60, 58, 67 and 65 games. Without looking I can name one player on the team- Kevin Love.
Sadly, the Garnett Era didn't bring much glory to Minnesota, but fans would probably give their left arm for another player to embrace the way they did Garnett.
