The Seattle SuperSonics did not come out of Wednesday night’s NBA lottery with the top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. That prize went to the Orlando Magic.
Seattle, which had less than a 1 percent chance of getting the top overall selection and a 3.3 percent chance of moving into the top three, will instead select No. 12. It will be the third time in the past four years the Sonics have drafted 12th.
In addition the Sonics will have two second-round choices. They will have either the 34th or 35th pick, which was acquired in last year’s trade with the Los Angeles Clippers involving Peja Drobnjak, and their own pick, either the 41st or 42nd overall.
The Sonics were represented at the event, which was televised nationally from New York, by general manager Rick Sund. He was unavailable for comment afterward.
Despite any disappointment they may have had about staying at No. 12, history suggests the Sonics should get a good player there. In 2001, that pick produced Serbian forward Vlade Radmanovic, who has been a part-time starter in his three Sonics seasons. A year ago, the team used the No. 12 pick to draft Kansas forward Nick Collison, who suffered a shoulder injury in training camp and underwent subsequent surgeries on both shoulders, causing him to miss the entire season.
Orlando, meanwhile, was Wednesday’s big winner, snagging the top pick after an NBA-worst 21-61 record, which gave it a 25.0 percent chance of getting the first selection. It was the third time in franchise history the Magic has claimed the No. 1 selection, and those earlier picks produced Shaquille O’Neal in 1992 and Chris Webber (who was subsequently traded for Penny Hardaway and draft picks) in 1993.
“You never get tired of winning the No. 1 pick,” said Orlando senior vice president Pat Williams in an NBA conference call after the lottery. “More than anything, to a franchise it gives you hope.”
A year ago, the NBA lottery was a huge event with the opportunity to draft teen-age wunderkind LeBron James as the top prize. This year, there seems to be no clear-cut favorite among the many prospects, although University of Connecticut’s Emeka Okafor, a 6-foot-10 center/forward, may be the early favorite, followed perhaps by 6-11 high school sensation Dwight Howard from Atlanta.
Okafor, Williams said, “is certainly at the top of the list, it appears. Howard and Okafor seem to be the consensus first two picks, but we’ve got a month to study and really dig into both of them and try to make the right decision.”
Either way, he added, “you’re going to come away with a good player. It’s a question of who has the best chance (to succeed).”
Because the league has weighted the lottery significantly in recent years to favor those teams with the worst records, it has become much less common for teams to move up in the draft order. The only team to move up Wednesday was the Los Angeles Clippers, who went from fifth to second.
The Sonics, meanwhile, like most NBA teams, are still busily scouting players around the globe and have yet to give any indication of which way they might be leaning come draft day. Obviously, the team’s biggest need continues to be a physical presence around the basket. There will be several big men in this year’s draft, including a good many from overseas, but most will probably need a few years to adapt to the NBA game.
Earlier this week, Seattle president Wally Walker said “it’s not too early to generalize what the draft looks like, which is talented and a lot of bigs, but also very young. Even early in the draft, unless it’s Okafor, you’re probably taking a pretty young guy. And if you’re taking a big, it’s probably going to take him a few years before he becomes a contributor.”
Next up for Seattle is the June 22 expansion draft to supply players to the new Charlotte Bobcats franchise, in which the Sonics may or may not lose one player. The NBA Draft follows two days later.
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