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Tim BontempsESPN
CHICAGO – Before the draw of this year's lottery, the New Orleans pelicans held a contest for season ticket holders to present a lucky charm to wish their team good luck.
The winner, Connie Hanphel, presented David Griffin, senior vice president of basketball operations for the Pélicans, a 56-year-old wooden angel.
It turned out to be exactly what the pelicans needed.
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New Orleans moved from seventh place to this year's repechage summit on Tuesday night, winning the right to take Zion Williamson to the NBA draft next month. Pelicans only had a six percent chance of winning the lottery.
"Connie had a lucky charm and he was an angel," Griffin said. "It was good."
New Orleans won a crazy night in which three teams – the pelicans, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers – leapt forward, creating chaos in one of their most anticipated projects. years.
The first shock came when the Lakers were revealed to have moved up from eleventh place – a moment that caused the crowd to burst into the Hilton Chicago Ballroom. A similar reaction occurred when wizards were revealed to have the ninth choice – which meant that Grizzlies and pelicans had jumped.
"In math, I was not good enough to understand that the Washington Wizards finished ninth," Griffin said with a smile. "It's an incredible blessing for our organization."
#PELICANS OFFICE, THIS IS WILDIN !! & # 39; ??? #BirdStrikes pic.twitter.com/meihqCrWdd
– New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) May 15, 2019
The next tragedy happened when the fifth selection was waiting to be unveiled. After a while, NBA Assistant Commissioner Mark Tatum revealed that the Cleveland Cavaliers would have the fifth choice, which means the New York Knicks, who had the worst record of the season, have risen to the top of the list. first four.
"I sat down and hoped it would be number one," said Patrick Ewing, the team's last number one choice 34 years ago and who represented the Knicks on stage here.
This should not be, however, as the Lakers would get the fourth pick, and the Knicks the third. The winning injury then fell to the Grizzlies or Pelicans, two teams tied with the Dallas Mavericks for the seventh best odds.
The pelicans took advantage of the fact that the ping-pong balls bounced back last month to seventh place in the lotto. They then got them again today by winning the chance to get Williamson.
Get ready for Zion, Morant and more. 
"I do not want to focus on individual players," said Griffin with a smile, shortly after being assaulted by coach Alvin Gentry, "but I think it's really good at the top . "
Williamson told Maria Taylor of ESPN that he had never been to New Orleans, but said that he would bring his "will to win" to any team that would end by the fishing.
"I do not know why, I'm always nervous," said Williamson. "Maybe because … all eyes were on me, and I think that's a lot to take, because I do not know where I'll be."
This year was the first time since 2005 that the lottery system of the NBA was changed. In the previous system, having the worst result in the NBA meant having a 25% chance of winning the first choice, with each subsequent choice reaching the last place in the lotto – the 14th selection – having a lesser chance of winning. The league would draw for each of the first three places in the lottery.
However, starting this year, teams with the three worst records had exactly the same chance – 14% – of winning the lottery, followed by a much more gradual change in the percentages of jumps. In addition, the NBA has increased from three to four the number of places available for the draw.
The changes came as the league saw a problem with teams competing for the best selections in the repechage – and after the worst-scoring team won the lottery each of the last four seasons.
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