Chicago has been the place where the long-awaited Lottery Draft 2019 NBA took place this Tuesday, May 14. From 20:30 p.m. (21:30 p.m. in Argentina, 2:30 a.m. in Spain) the Windy City has hosted the event for the second consecutive time. It is also the second time in history that the event is organized away from New York or New Jersey, the only venues until 2017.
The Draft Lottery is the starting signal and the countdown to the Draft ceremony itself, which will take place in just over a month, specifically on June 20 at the Barclays Center, New York.
It has been an evening that will mark the future for a good number of NBA franchises, pending which one would be awarded with number 1 and with the highest rounds of the Draft. Thus, all eyes were on the results that the ping pong balls produced.
How does the Lottery work?
The results of the Draft Lottery were announced in a televised representation ceremony at 2:30 a.m. (Spanish time), but the draw itself was previously held in another room and what was done in front of the cameras has been to narrate the aforementioned results. The explanation of how the Lottery works is here, but the summary is:
- All computers that do not access playoffs They enter the lottery unless they have transferred their rights to other teams.
- The three teams with the worst balance in the regular 2018-19 season they have more options to get number 1 than the rest. Exactly a 14 percent chance. (This has changed compared to last year).
- Only the top four spots in the draft are determined by the lottery system based on 14 numbered balls. (Another change from 2018, when only the Top was drawn3).
- The rest of the draft spots, 5 through 14, are assigned based on each team's record in the finished season from worst to best. Ties between teams with the same record were already discarded by draw in April
The teams classified for playoffs They do not enter the Lottery. And they have also seen their positions defined starting at number 15 in the reverse order of how they finished the Regular Season, from worst to best. So Detroit, the worst record of the squads that entered the playoffs, has number 15 and Milwaukee, the team that had the best balance in the entire NBA in 2018-19, chooses with the last place in the first round (30). Likewise, ties between teams with the same record were broken here in April.
2019 NBA Draft Lottery Results
| Choice | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 º | New Orleans Pelicans |
| 2 º | Memphis Grizzlies |
| 3 º | New York Knicks |
| 4 º | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 5 º | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 6 º | Phoenix Suns |
| 7 º | Chicago Bulls |
| 8 º | Atlanta Hawks |
| 9 º | Washington Wizards |
| 10 º | Atlanta Hawks (via Dallas) |
| 11 º | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| 12 º | Charlotte Hornets |
| 13 º | Miami Heat |
| 14 º | Boston Celtics (via Sacramento) |
Number 1 went to the Pelicans
Not the Knicks, not the Cavaliers or the Suns. None of the three teams with the worst balance of the 2018-19 season and therefore with the best chance of taking number 1 (14 percent) were lucky. They have been the biggest victims of a night in which the winning franchise was New Orleans, blessed with the pick 1 when they only had a 6 percent chance of achieving that number 1. The Grizzlies, with number 2, have been the other big beneficiaries of the evening. Like the Pelicans, Memphis had only a 6 percent chance of taking No. 1 and a 26,3 percent chance of falling into the Top-4.
Is New York left without Williamson?
The potential number 1 in the Draft will be Zion Williamson, the object of desire of the Knicks who have seen how all their possibilities to select him have fallen. New York has released the pick 3, when the worst case scenario was pick 5, but it cannot be considered a great result for the Knicks. There is a curious fact that in the hours before the Lottery it was rumored, then denied by Woj, about the possibility of the Knicks trading Williamson if they got the number 1 pick in the draft. And that transfer had the seal of New Orleans, in exchange for Anthony Davis. The things of fate have wanted Williamson to be linked to NOLA, yes, but because the Pelicans are with their newly won number 1 on the starting grid to select the Duke product
Cleveland and Phoenix, the other disappointments
They did not even enter the Top-4, so the Cavaliers and the Suns obtain the worst possible result, the worst scenario drawn before the Lottery. Cleveland took number 5 in the Draft and Phoenix took number 6 when both, along with the Knicks themselves, appeared in Chicago with a 14 percent chance, more than any other franchise, of winning the first place. At least New York has embraced a Top-4 (number 3) route for which it had a 52,1 percent chance. The Cavs and the Suns, with the same percentage, not even that.
The Lakers they also succeed
take out a pick 4 when you only had a 9,4 percent chance of entering the Top-4, it is one of the great successes of the Lottery. And that award has gone to the Lakers, graced with a good position for the June 20 event, in contrast to what has happened to the aforementioned Knicks, Cavaliers or Suns. List joined by the Bulls, who after this trio were the fourth team with the most options for number 1 (12,5 percent) and Top-4 (48 percent) and who nevertheless fall to seventh place ( as in 2018). They are not lucky to be hosts of the Lottery. Atlanta, number 8, didn't have a great love affair with ping pong balls either. The rest of picks, with the nuance of the Wizards, has more or less fulfilled what was expected according to the percentages
Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and RJ Barrett would be the first selected in the ceremony at the end of June according to specialized portals. We already have the starting order for the Draft. But in a month from now there will be negotiations, rumors about possible changes of rounds, transfers. Nothing is decided. The Lottery is only the first step. Very helpful for some. Ask in New Orleans.