The Cavaliers last night won the NBA Draft Lottery for the first time since '03. The team selected LeBron James with the No. 1 pick eight years ago, and SPORTING NEWS’ David Steele writes after winning the lottery, James’ departure for the Heat last summer “wasn’t totally fanned away like a bad smell, but landing the top pick definitely freshened up an entire city” (SPORTING NEWS TODAY, 5/17). The Cavaliers also landed the No. 4 overall pick in the NBA Draft, and Owner Dan Gilbert said, “This is a lot of hope for one night” (CLEVELAND.com, 5/17).
Gilbert’s 14-year-old son Nick, who suffers from a rare nerve disorder, served as the team’s representative at the Lottery. The T’Wolves had the highest percentage chance of landing the No. 1 pick going into the lottery, but T’Wolves GM David Kahn jokingly said after the event, “As soon as the 14-year-old kid joined us, we were toast. There was no way the 14-year-old was about to be denied in a league that has a habit of compelling story lines” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/18).
