The Warriors will find out their position in the upcoming NBA draft during tonight’s lottery selection. The Warriors, who finished the 2009-10 season with a record of 26-56, could draft anywhere from first to seventh. Today’s result will shape the rest of the offseason.
The draft lottery will air tonight before Game 2 of the Celtics-Magic series on ESPN. Tune in at 5 p.m.
The Warriors have a 10.4 percent chance of moving up from the fourth spot to the top pick in the draft. Their odds of landing a pick in the top three is better — nearly 34 percent.
What you’ll want to watch for is teams ranked lower than the Warriors missing their turn. The NBA executive who runs the lottery today will draw out placards with team logos from individual envelopes, counting down from 14 to 1. If the card for the team picking in the ninth slot, for example, isn’t displayed, that means that team has moved up to one of the top three spots in the draft. If the Warriors don’t get one of the top three spots, any teams other than the Nets, Wolves and Kings (the three worst teams in the NBA by record) that move up into the top three slots will push the Warriors down. The Warriors could fall as far as No. 7.
Obviously, you’re hoping for one of the top two picks. John Wall and Evan Turner appear to be the stars of this draft and if the Warriors could land one of those two players, it would be a huge boost, not only to the Warriors’ chance of future success, but also to ticket sales and national attention (including national TV broadcasts).
The Warriors could also choose to trade the draft pick. If they end up with one of the top two picks, it would be a huge trade chip. The Warriors could use it to pursue an elite talent at a position of need (power forward, perhaps). If the Warriors slip below the top two or three, the draft pick loses a significant amount of value in trade. There have been some who say this draft is very weak below the first few picks.
In other Warriors news, the first bids for the sale of the franchise came in Monday. There’s not a lot to report yet. To summarize, it appears that Larry Ellison hasn’t submitted a bid yet (and this isn’t a big deal), and there are reportedly 13 bidders. Of those, the Warriors will probably select the four most serious candidates and move forward.
The best source I’ve read on this process is Tim Kawakami. Go read his article, Ellison’s still the No. 1 player, even if he sits out the first stage. It will give you all the pertinent information you need.
