The Los Angeles Clippers win the lottery! Has their luck finally turned?
Sacramento and Washington fans have to feel a bit ripped off, as they dropped from having the best possible chances of getting the top pick (and the worst records in 2008-09) to fourth and fifth places in the draft lottery. The Blake Griffin sweepstakes have fallen the Clippers’ way.
The question now is, will the Clippers make a successful Danny Manning-type pick, as they did in 1988 or will their number one pick become a bust like 1998 top overall pick, Michael Olawokandi?
The lottery spat out the following draft order, which comes courtesy of NBADraft.net, along with their projected picks and where the players come from.
| 1 | LA Clippers | Blake Griffin | So. | |
| 2 | Memphis | Ricky Rubio | Intl. | |
| 3 | Oklahoma Cty | Hasheem Thabeet | Jr. | |
| 4 | Sacramento | Jordan Hill | Jr. | |
| 5 | Washington | James Harden | So. | |
| 6 | Minnesota | DeMar DeRozan | Fr. | |
| 7 | Golden St. | Brandon Jennings | Intl. | |
| 8 | New York | Stephen Curry | Jr. | |
| 9 | Toronto | Earl Clark | Jr. | |
| 10 | Milwaukee | Gerald Henderson | Jr. | |
| 11 | New Jersey | Wayne Ellington | Jr. | |
| 12 | Charlotte | Chase Budinger | Jr. | |
| 13 | Indiana | Eric Maynor | Sr. | |
| 14 | Phoenix | Jonny Flynn | So. |
Most pundits say that power forward Griffin is a sure thing as the number one pick, after the sophomore averaged 22.7ppg and 14.4rpg, amassing 30 double-doubles along the way. That pick would presumably lead to other moves in Clipperville, as they currently have centres Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman, and power forward Zach Randolph on board. Randolph would likely be the most popular candidate to be moved, as he was in Portland after the Blazers drafted 2007 top overall pick, Greg Oden.
Meanwhile, most experts are tabbing Spanish point guard sensation, Ricky Rubio as the likely second pick. Should Memphis take the teenage dynamo, they would have a similar conundrum as they had when they brought Mike Conley Jr to the team in 2007 — an over-abundance of point guards. Conley Jr could be a piece worth shifting to Portland, in exchange for small forward Travis Outlaw — a scorer that the Grizzlies have previously reportedly coveted. Conley Jr is a longtime friend and former teammate of Oden and is commonly rumoured in Portland fan trade talk.
Hasheem Thabeet is a 7’3″ centre from UConn, who is predicted to go third — a pick that makes sense for an Oklahoma City Thunder team that needs to fill the four and five spots. He is a raw offensive product who has a strong shot-blocking ability, but is unpredictable as to how he will turn out at the NBA level.
