The lottery, as announced last night:
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Utah Jazz
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Toronto Raptors
- Washington Wizards
- Sacramento Kings
- Detroit Pistons
- Charlotte Bobcats
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Golden State Warriors
- Utah Jazz
- Phoenix Suns
- Houston Rockets
Teams That Won Big
Cleveland Cavaliers: Lose LeBron James one year; get the first and fourth picks the next year. Even though no one in this year’s class is LeBron, two top-4 picks have the power to turn things around quickly. Kyrie Irving will likely be Cleveland’s first choice, and he will be a good—if not great—point guard in this league. Plus, he had the advantage of learning under Mike Krzyzewski for a year. With the fourth pick, the Cavs have a shot to get another elite talent. Cleveland is a bad team right now, but JJ Hickson is a promising forward, Antawn Jamison can still score, Anthony Parker is a solid role player, and Baron Davis is talented but aging. Anderson Varejao is another guy who, if surrounded by talent, is very adept at crashing the boards and defending well. The draft is a crapshoot, but the Cavs have the opportunity to add two All Star-level talents to their team, the year after a certain someone took his talents to South Beach.
Minnesota Timberwolves: If they didn’t have a moron running their front office, this team would have some real opportunities to make their team better. They could get Derrick Williams with the second pick, maybe the best all-around player in the draft and the guy most ready to come in and impact games immediately. Pair him with Kevin Love, and you have a stud young forward combination plus last year’s top pick Wesley Johnson, who appears will be a good NBA player as well. On top of that, the Wolves have Ricky Rubio as a trade asset, and Michael Beasley had his best year as a pro last year. Package those two guys in a trade for another established player, and the Wolves could finally move from the cellar to at least the middle of the pack.
Utah Jazz: The Jazz have two lottery picks this year, picking at third (via New Jersey and the Deron Williams trade) and twelfth. That alone is enough to make lottery night a success, but when you consider what the Jazz ending up getting in exchange for Deron Williams, this night was a slam dunk. The Jazz dealt Williams for Devin Harris (near-All Star player), Derrick Favors (third overall pick last year), this upcoming draft’s third overall pick, and the Nets’ first round pick next year (likely to be another lottery selection). And because the Jazz didn’t make the playoffs this year, they also get their own pick, coming in at #12. There isn’t a team in the league with more young talent, future picks, and established talent—Harris, Al Jefferson, and Paul Millsap—than Utah.
--from Adam
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