Lottery Running Blog

(all times PST...go sonics!!)
5.12 - Dan Patrick's interview with Greg Oden, including roughly 25 3-second pauses. And not the good Jim Rome pauses. Oden uses roughly 3 words per answer. Like every senior citizen, Oden knows to save his breath. DP seems thrown off, which is an accomplishment by Oden.
5.14 - And your Kia Shootaround lineup: Patrick, the illustrious Jon Barry, Mike Wilbon, and the flashy, ageless David Robinson. Seriously, I have DRob's 89-90 rookie card, and he looks exactly the same.
5.15 - Whoa Whoa Whoa, we now switch to the Seacacus crowd of Jay Bilas, Fred Hickman and GAnthony. Do we need 2 crews for this, really? Just throw Kevin Harlan and Gus Robinson out there solo and they'd handle shit.
5.15 - Good to see J-Noah #9 in Bilas' list. Genius to stay in school that extra year. That 8-spot drop and an extra championship must have cost Billy D. his very soul. And he's ugly.
5.21 - Stephen A. looking horrendous in a periwinkle suede jacket. Funny, his mic isn't on, and you can hear him loud and clear. Rick Carlisle looks especially plastic tonight. Sweet Jesus, i think ESPN is going to be trotting Trev Alberts + Harold Reynolds out here for the parking lot-tailgate coverage. How much talent are they going to show in one night?
5.27 - Soo with all the described talent above, Fred Hickman's the best they could get to sit in Secaucus? Kornheiser, maybe...Mel Kiper? I know he's in hibernation, but we could hear upside, motor and every generic cliche that applies to bball as well as football.
5.29 - Mark Jones going over the process. Apparently they hide the GM's away in some bunker, wherein the "real" ping-pong balls (don't worry, there is a practice set), are locked away in a briefcase. Instead of doing something simple, each team has a set percentage of 4 number combinations, matching the 4 balls that are drawn out per pick. Why not just give the worst team 14 balls, and the best team 1 ball? I know that's too simple, maybe too hard for Stern to rig like the famous Ewing conspiracy.
5.31 - Bilas says that Durant and Oden have "excellent resumes" with "tremendous upside." So playing against bums in high school, and spending 1 year in college = an excellent resume? Don't get me wrong, these guys are amazing, as close to can't-miss picks since I started giving a hell about the NBA. But don't resumes include experience? Maybe that's just me.
5.32 - The best part of all the talk about the "fateful day" that the Knicks got the #1 and picked Ewing in 1985...he never won a title. Do people not remember this? Sure, the Knicks got an amazing player, and Ewing did work in the Association. And yeah, the Knicks were a consistent contender. But no title. Why is there no talk about Chicago pulling the #2 pick in 1982? That seems to be a bit more important than Ewing never taking care of bidness.
5.36 - Dominique Wilkins sighting! He was the man, I remember watching the dunk contest highlight videos, and always wondering why I hardly ever heard of him compared to Jordan. The Hawks were decent, but never really did anything.
5.37 - And we go to San Antonio with Mike Breen (Maybe? I don't remember who that guy is), Mark Jackson, and the newly single Jeff Van Gundy. Jeff's a little hard to recognize when he's vertical...
5.39 - Fred goes deep to Stern and asks about the Amare suspension...Stern avoids eye contact annnnd, takes no responsibility, saying his job is to enforce the rules. His sideburns are weird...thicker than they are long. That shouldn't happen, should it?
5.41 - FHick takes it easy on Stern the rest of the way. No surprise. Hickman's not #1 on my list of hard-hitting journalists.
5.43 - I'm a cashew. Let's do this.
5.45 - Run-down of team reps. Good to see Billy King of the 76'ers. I wonder if he's excited to ruin his team further as a result of tonight. The Bulls choose the VP of BBall Operations...couldn't get much more anonymous than this. And he has terrible posture.
5.47 - Interesting, the TWolves send send Randy Foye, and the Blazers send BRoy. Are there any two guys who will show less excitement? I'm excite to see Tommy Heinsohn blow an aorta if they pull the #1, that's way more fun.
5.48 - Here we go...I can feel the heart palpitatoins, especially thanks to Adam Silver. Announcer
5.49 - #14 - Clips
#13 - Hornets - no emotion from either rep
#12 - 76ers - Billy can't to much to wreck that
#11 - Pacers - Larry looks pissed
#10 - Kings - Maloof looks impeccably groomed
#9 - Bulls - Pretty much straight up so far
#8 - Bobcats - does anybody in Charlotte care?
#7 - TWolves - KG gets no help
#6 - Bucks - ummmm....whatever.
#5 - Celtics....the Sports Guy is going to die
#4 - Memphis - Big drop...somebody's gonna get lucky

Finally a break! that was rapid fire...and maybe the least amount of emotion ever from this Silver guy. I don't know who he is, apparently he does something for the NBA that matters.
Apparently for one of the most exciting lotteries in NBA history, they decided to get the most deathly man possible to announce. Pretty ironic...maybe the NBA is trying to go the PoMo route, you know, just for kicks. Shaq will lead the philosophical charge.
So the Grizz had a 46% chance at 1 or 2, and they blew it.
Boston fans look incredulous...i think the Masshole on the shot might have tears in his eyes.
#3 - Hawks
#2 - SONICS!!!! KEEP THEM IN SEATTLE
#1 - Trailblazers
PacNW what what!!!! Brandon Roy and his incredibly casual look pull it out. He needs a little more pocket corner showing. Good thing, too, the Blazers needed to get a little bit younger. I think Martell Webster just turned 20, so they need to go youth movement.
I'm not sure what I'm more exited for, the renewed excitement coming out of the Seattle NBA fanbase, and hope that the franchise might actually stay up here, or Simmons' article bitching about how the Celtics got screwed. Maybe if they didn't have Danny Ainge and the Doc running their squad, they'd have a little more luck. Hopefully there will be some trade craziness happening to spice things up a little bit.

Jon Barry is saying that Portland might trade the #1...he also guaranteed that the Celtics would win the lottery. He's bald and rocks the goatee, therefore, he holds no sway over me. Dipshit.

Whew, what a whirlwind of activity. Talk about the complete antithesis of the NFL draft. I'm spent. Good luck and good night.