Clippers Come From Behind To Earn No. 1 Pick In NBA Draft Lottery

Clippers President Andy Roeser Celebrates Team Winning NBA Draft Lottery

CONSPIRACY THEORIES: In Seattle, Gerry Spratt wrote as ESPN "went to commercial Tuesday evening before announcing the top 3 picks in the upcoming NBA draft, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who started to worry the whole thing was a sham." If NBA Commissioner David Stern "really wants the NBA to be viable in the long term in Oklahoma City, what better way than to give the former Seattle franchise the chance to draft a hometown hero" in Univ. of Oklahoma F Blake Griffin. But the Clippers drew the No. 1 pick, which "proves, at least for now, that the lottery isn't fixed" (SEATTLEPI.com, 5/19). TRUEHOOP's Abbott was granted access to the room where the drawing takes place. He wrote while NBA fans "love talking about the fact that the draft lottery may be rigged, the people in this room, who have careers and fortunes that hinge on this moment, and some of whom may be fired do not express the slightest suspicion that this may not be on the up and up. Honestly, I talked to half the team representatives, and to a man they find it amusing that people think this is not legit" (ESPN.com, 5/19).

AIR BALL: In N.Y., Mitch Lawrence notes the Kings, who gained the No. 4 pick in the draft despite posting a league-worst 17-65 record this season, were "banking on Griffin to be their first franchise talent" since F Chris Webber was traded in '05. The team is "still trying to get a state-of-the-art arena built and looking to get back on the NBA map." Webber repped the team at the lottery and said, "I think it's fair. The worst team shouldn't always get the best player. That's not the way it should always be. You don't want to reward losing" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/20). ESPN's Lisa Salters noted "only twice has the team with the best statistical chances of getting the No. 1 pick ... actually gotten the best pick" under the current format. Salters: "What does that say about the process?” NBA Commissioner David Stern: “It says it's a lottery and that's what happens in a lottery. Those balls go around and we don't know. There are statistical probabilities, but the only certainty is the ultimate outcome and you never know” (“NBA Shootaround,” ESPN, 5/19).

PRODUCTION VALUE: In L.A., Lisa Dillman writes the NBA and ESPN "put on quite a production" of the draft lottery at the NBA Entertainment Studio, which "had the look of a sports event morphed with a quiz show." Clippers President Andy Roeser represented the team at the event, and he "looked jubilant on the ESPN broadcast, having gutted it out through a long commercial break before the drama of the final three" (L.A. TIMES, 5/20). But THE BIG LEAD writes the NBA "needs to get that cheesy, reality-TV-elimination music outta there." THE BIG LEAD: "Awful. Just go with the opening of the envelope. Crisp sound" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 5/20). ASSOCIATED CONTENT’s Steven Lourie writes, “I like to laugh at all of the people sitting there wishing they were somewhere else, but instead having to sit there talking about their good luck charms. ... I like to laugh at how ESPN drags it out for 30 minutes when it should really last about 3 by asking stupid questions. I like to laugh at how ESPN plays the dramatic music and takes dramatically placed commercial breaks in order to make it seem like this is something worth watching” (ASSOCIATEDCONTENT.com, 5/20).

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