Chris Mannix: Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck will represent the Celtics on stage at the draft lottery on Tuesday night, league source tells @The Vertical.
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Sean Cunningham: Kings head coach Dave Joerger will represent the team at next week's NBA Draft Lottery. Tasked with bringing the team a little luck.
Mike Fisher: LOTTO ALERT: @Mark Cuban tells Dallasbasketball.com #Mavs rep at next Tuesday #NBA Draft Lottery will be @Michael Finley pic.twitter.com/CeFRzR8lXo
Baxter Holmes: Magic Johnson will be representing the Lakers on stage at the May 16 draft lottery. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka will rep team in the drawing room.
Marc Berman: As seventh seed, Knicks have an 80 percent of being either 7 or 8. They had already lost ping pong balls by winning finale.
Still, behind closed doors in the Celtics training facility in Waltham, there was disappointment. But there was no cursing Isaiah Thomas for being in the lottery room in New York and not bringing home the big prize. “There were some groans. I think the buildup, once we weren’t sixth and we weren’t five and we weren’t four, there was a lot of hope that we could get a good pick,” Ainge said. “But we’ll take it. We’ll give Isaiah a passing grade. We’ll keep him.”
The Lakers entered the drawing with the second-best odds – 19.9 percent, second only to Philadelphia’s 25 percent – and Black’s worst nightmare was seeing the Lakers moving down instead of up in the draft’s pecking order. Especially when most NBA officials firmly believe there are two players – Louisiana State’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram – who are head-and-shoulders above their draft classmates. So, just how nervous was Black? “Very,’’ he said in a serious tone. “I’ve been in a lot of pressure-packed situations during my career like the Finals. I was here for this last year, too, and I have to say this is even worse.’’
Even when the 76ers hit the lottery with the winning ping-pong combination of 1-10-5-9, neither Rubin nor Wrubel went bonkers. They both simply smiled before giving each other a hug. Asked why he didn’t show more emotion after winning the lottery, Wrubel said matter-of-factly, “When you get to the end zone, you’re supposed to quietly lay the football down.’’
Even though he is an avid college basketball fan – “I follow it pretty closely. I know a couple of names,’’ Wrubel joked – he wasn’t about to tip his hand. Cracked Wrubel: “We’re looking for the best kid out of the Ivy League.’’
Sixers executives celebrated inside the New York Hilton Midtown with hugs and cheers. “We deserved this,” they repeated to each other. The 76ers had the third overall pick each of the past two drafts. “The city has endured a lot over the past three seasons,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “Our fans deserve this. ... You just get a flood of memories when you hear you have the first pick. It just ties it all (together). I’m very thrilled for our organization. “I never felt jinxed. I never felt jinxed. I truly believe in what we’re doing. I feel like in many ways we’re being rewarded for our patience and perseverance — especially the city’s patience and perseverance.”
Before the drawing, Bryan Colangelo, the Sixers new GM, told ESPN.com he would contact Hinkie if the Sixers won the No. 1 pick. "It's unfortunate that Sam isn't here to be a part of this," Colangelo said. "But it was his choice."
It was a tweet that had been suggested in an email, which Mutombo forwarded to For The Win, sent from a team staffer in the event that the team did win the lottery. “As you know tonight is the NBA Draft Lottery and we are all excited and hopeful we walk away with the #1 overall pick,” the email read. “To help create excitement for the team, would it be possible for you (or whoever controls your account) to post a congratulatory tweet in the event we do get the #1 Overall Pick? I know you have ties to many teams, but none of which would be in the running for the #1 pick this year.”
There were sample tweets provided, along with a suggestion to just retweet the 76ers account. Mutombo said he was busy and didn’t read the email carefully, but wanted to be supportive so he posted the tweet. When he realized his mistake minutes later, he immediately took it down. “Sorry, guys,” he tweeted. “Got excited about the @sixers odds and got ahead of myself.Still keeping my fingers crossed for tonight.”
So when fans argue the tweet is proof the draft is rigged? “People will say whatever they want to say,” he said on Tuesday night. “… You cannot stop them.”
"I was in favor of changing the lottery," Adam Silver, the league's commissioner, told reporters after the drawing. "But we've parked the issue. We've said, 'Once we get through this summer of free agency, let's return to it and see if a modification is necessary.'"
Some of the more nefarious team executives sequestered in the drawing room wondered before the lottery if the league were aware of smart watches, and if they might be able to sneak in an Apple Watch and communicate the results in real time. Nope. The league specifically warned that all smart watches had to stay outside the room, along with phones and laptops.
Chris Dempsey: Michael Malone: "There will be a good player for us at (No. 7). I really believe that." #Nuggets
Jessica Camerato: Bryan Colangelo: "It is a highly unlikely scenario that anything comes forward that would lead us to move the pick." #NBADraftLottery #Sixers
Isaiah Thomas: "Man, I had jitters like I was getting drafted, like a playoff game or something. So I'm happy we got a pretty good pick. I guess it worked out a little bit."
Keith Pompey: #Sixers get the first pick.
Marc J. Spears: The Sixers get top pick and likely Ben Simmons. Lakers second. Celtics third.
Jake Fischer: For what it's worth, I heard in March from someone with knowledge of Sam Hinkie's thinking he preferred Brandon Ingram over Ben Simmons.
Tom Moore: #sixers Josh Harris: 'We were due some luck.'
Serena Winters: 2nd pick: LAKERS
Gary Washburn: 3rd pick: #Celtics
CBS NBA: So, Dikembe sent this out and then deleted the tweet. What does he know...or not know? https://t.co/G6DbL9XDyF
Alex Kennedy: My guess is that @officialmutombo confused the 76ers having the BEST ODDS for #1 pick with winning it. I just reached out to him to clarify. Dikembe Mutombo deleted his tweet that congratulated the Sixers.
Dikembe Mutombo: Sorry, guys.Got excited about the @sixers odds and got ahead of myself.Still keeping my fingers crossed for tonight.
Adam Zagoria: Thon Maker has been invited to tonight's Draft Lottery and won't work out tomorrow for Pacers b/c of scheduling. Still has Pacers & Bulls.
Karl-Anthony Towns: It will be an honor to wear one of Coach Saunders' wedding rings tonight at the lottery. Thank you, Ryan & Debbie. https://t.co/RrwD441JDV
Projected top pick Ben Simmons and his agent, Rich Paul, are now changing course and plan to wait until after the NBA's draft lottery on Tuesday to decide with which shoe brand to sign, sources told The Vertical. The thinking from Simmons' camp is straightforward and simple: It’s the Los Angeles Lakers or bust.
Nike is offering $7.5 million over five years with fewer performance incentives than the adidas contract structure. Nike, which presented second to Simmons last week, has shown an unwillingness to budge, sources said. Both offers are considered fair for a top pick.
Jake Fischer: Conferred with the league office: The Sixers have already submitted their pick swap with the Kings should Sacramento leapfrog Philadelphia. So if the Kings leapfrog the Sixers, the Kings' beautiful new logo will appear out of envelope first with "from Sixers" underneath. NBA league spokesman said each logo that's removed from envelopes will be of the team that has been awarded that pick post-trade conditions.
NBA Draft: The #DraftLottery Stage Participants & Lottery Room Reps announced for Tuesday's Lottery in NYC! https://t.co/T4Hj7Dx1BY
Below is an edited Q&A with Kiki Vandeweghe, the NBA’s senior vice president of basketball operations, on the league’s current NBA draft lottery system and why does not sense any “imminent” changes. This interview was part of a larger story capturing the various sentiments around the league on the NBA’s draft lottery system. What do you think of the current NBA lottery system? Vandeweghe: “The first thing is, the lottery is not supposed to incentivize losing. In theory, it’s supposed to help the teams with the worst record. That’s the whole purpose behind it. It’s been constructed in different ways and changed a variety of times over the course and adjusted as needed. But those are the two tenets to keep in mind.”
Have there been any recent league proposals to change it? Vandeweghe:: “Nothing recently. I don’t think see anything imminent. A year and a half ago, there was a lot of momentum for change. We brought some thoughts to the Board of Governors. The majority of the owners were in favor of change. But a change really takes a super majority. So we barely missed that. I don’t know what has happened in between that. We’ve focused on different areas. I would assume it hasn’t really changed that much.” What would be a super majority? Vandeweghe:: “3/4.” Would that be 23? Vandeweghe: “I’m pretty sure that’s right. That’s the number that’s written.”
I was told that one of the ideas the league thought of was to change the odds differently. The system would still be what it would, but you would adjust the percentages. Do you know if that’s accurate? Vandeweghe: “That’s certainly one of the concepts we looked at, but we’ve looked at a lot of things. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to look at and digest what is the right thing to do. Again, going back to the first thing I said, which is not to incentivize teams to lose, you want to make sure that you help the teams that you’re supposed to help and make sure it works in the right way. The spirit of the rule is the important thing to keep in mind in whatever we’re doing.
"I will be wearing my championship ring," said Grousbeck. "That is the one lucky charm I have in my life." Grousbeck is quick to downplay the influence of the person representing the team behind the scenes. Said Grousbeck, "I actually don’t believe that who is sitting there has any influence. ... I actually believe it’s just pretty random and it doesn’t matter who is sitting there." But Grousbeck is excited about having All-Star point guard Isaiah Thomas on stage for the television reveal.
