Blazers get No. 1 pick; Celtics, Grizzlies slip down
Blazers get No. 1 pick; Celtics, Grizzlies slip down
Associated Press
Updated: May 22, 2007, 9:32 PM ET
SECAUCUS, N.J. -- The Portland Trail Blazers beat the odds and won the right
to settle the Greg Oden-Kevin Durant debate.
With just a 5.3 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, the Blazers won the
NBA's draft lottery Tuesday night, earning the right to draft a potential
franchise player from what's considered to be a deep class.
Represented by Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy, the Blazers got a head start
on landing next year's top rookie. They will almost certainly choose between
Oden, the Ohio State center, or Durant, Texas' high-scoring forward.
"They're going to help us right away," Roy said. "They can come into the NBA
right away and play. I'm just excited about sitting back and knowing our
general manager has the choice of drafting either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden.
Either one, you can't go wrong. So I'm excited we have the opportunity to
choose between the two."
The 7-foot Oden is the likely top pick, because dominant centers are harder
to find.
Regardless of who goes No. 1, both players are likely headed to the
Northwest, as Seattle also moved up into second. Atlanta got the third pick
-- and needed it. Falling out of the top three would have meant sending the
pick to Phoenix.
The lottery determined the top three spots, with the rest of the teams going
in reverse order of a team's finish.
Memphis and Boston, which had the worst records in the league and the best
chance of landing in the top two, slipped to fourth and fifth, respectively.
Milwaukee will go sixth, followed by Minnesota, Charlotte and Chicago, which
had the rights to New York's pick through the Eddy Curry trade.
Sacramento goes 10th, followed by the Hawks, Philadelphia, New Orleans and
the Los Angeles Clippers.
With Oden and Durant highlighting a draft that includes the core of Florida's
consecutive NCAA championship teams, the June 28 draft in New York is
expected to be one of the NBA's best in years.
"Tonight we're looking at what's probably going to be the deepest draft in a
couple of decades," commissioner David Stern said earlier Tuesday.
Portland had a great draft night in 2006, landing Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge
through trades. They won't need a deal this time thanks to some lottery luck.
The SuperSonics will get a player that in many other years would have gone
No. 1, and maybe whichever player it is can help save the NBA in Seattle. The
Sonics haven't been able to get a new arena and aren't guaranteed to be in
Seattle past next season.
The Hawks were the other big winner Tuesday. Moving up one spot saved them
from having to send their pick to the Suns as a result of the Joe Johnson
trade. And Atlanta also picked up Indiana's pick, No. 11, from the Al
Harrington deal since the Pacers stayed put.
The presence of the two freshmen superstars added more hype than usual to
this year's lottery. There were nearly 100 media credential requests, far
more than usual.
It also led to speculation that some teams didn't try their best to win
games, hoping to improve their chances of landing a top-two pick. Because of
all the tanking talk, Stern said he wants NBA owners to look at the lottery
this summer to see if a new system is needed.
But the losing didn't pay off. The Grizzlies had a 25 percent chance of
winning No. 1 after finishing with the league's worst record, but they will
pick fourth in Jerry West's last draft with the team. Ten years after missing
out on Tim Duncan, Boston had more lottery heartbreak, falling from the No. 2
spot. Milwaukee will go sixth.
Oden averaged 15.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 rebounds while leading Ohio
State to the national championship game, even though he was limited for much
of the season while recovering from right wrist surgery.
Durant was even better in his only season at Texas, becoming the first
freshman in NCAA history to win player of the year honors. The 6-foot-9
forward led the Big 12 with 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game, and was
the AP national player of the year.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/news/story?id=2879568
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