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Fourteen teams have the opportunity to win the NBA 2019 provisional lottery and the right to recruit Duke Zion Williamson's rookie. This is how lottery teams have come to this position. Here is an overview of how the NBA draft lottery worked on the night of May 14th.
1. New York Knicks, 17-65 years old, 14.0%: That was the plan all along. Kristaps Porzingis being excluded after an LCA operation, the Knicks were no longer playing anything in 2019. Do not forget that they already had in mind the category of free agencies (Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving). next summer. There has been no real movement to improve in the short term. They started season 4-8 and had a three-game winning streak in November. But from that moment, the situation got worse. The Knicks beat the Bucks on December 1 to go to 8-16. From that moment on, the five consecutive defeats, one win, eight losses, one win and 18 losses. Yes, in a period from December 3rd to February 13th, the Knicks went 2-31. It's a long rhythm of five wins. Oh, and after this 2-31 stretch, they would later add eight and six-game losing streaks. They were awful.
2. Cleveland Cavaliers, 19-63, 14.0%: Life after LeBron James is tough, what the Cavaliers have discovered in 2010 and again this season. A bunch of bad deals and an alignment built around a player who had not been a recipe for disaster for a long time since the beginning. What got worse was that the Cavaliers lost 303 games due to one injury per game. Lost man games, the most in the NBA. Kevin Love appeared in just 22 games and the three-man combination of rookie Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson and Cedi Osman – all of whom look like pretty pieces in the future – could not fill every evening a talent gap as big.
The Cavaliers had 27 players in uniform in 2019. This represented 1.42 players for each of their victories. They actually did a 8-8 run from early February to mid-March, with Sexton coming to life and looking like a franchise leader. But it was only an early 11-44 and a 0-0. This allowed them to "catch up" with the Suns – who went 4-11 to finish the season – in the lottery standings. Cleveland then won a tiebreaker with Phoenix.
3. Phoenix Suns, 19-63, 14.0%: The Suns have a decent young nucleus in Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Warren T. and Josh Jackson. But they are purely potential at the moment – with the exception of Booker, who continues to record numbers of monsters – and the absence of playmaker and depth at any position reduce Phoenix's chances of competing this season. You blinked and they were 4 to 24 with the worst defense in the league and played in a ruthless conference of the West. They actually set up a run of four consecutive wins in December, but they followed with a ridiculous run of 17 consecutive defeats from January to February. A promising march included victories over the Lakers, Bucks and Warriors, but this team still has a long way to go. Their victory over the Cavs on April 1 could be fraught with consequences, depending on the size of the lottery balls; Phoenix lost the decisive game against Cleveland and will be placed under the Cavs if neither team is selected from the top four.
4. Chicago Bulls, 22-60, 12.5%: The Bulls have entered this season with modest expectations. A campaign of 27 victories in year 1 of their post-Jimmy Butler reconstruction was supposed to be the bottom. Armed with two top-seven picks in Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr., as well as a $ 78 million investment in Zach LaVine, the Bulls were on the brink of at least breaking the 30-win mark and to get closer to the fight for the playoffs.
They did not count seven serious injuries among the major contributors. They included Denzel Valentine (82 games), Bobby Portis, Lauri Markkanen, Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison. At the end of the season, the Bulls already have seven former players in the G-League. They finished the regular season 10-18, with part of that difficult period after the acquisition of Otto Porter. That kept them from joining the club by 14%, but losing eight of nine goals to close the season gave them fourth place.
5. Atlanta Hawks, 29-53, 10.5%: The Hawks will not be in this position next season. Their supportive cast still needs a huge makeover, but they have a young and remarkable core in Trae Young, John Collins, Kevin Heurter and Taurean Prince. Unfortunately – or luckily, for lottery purposes – they started playing well only in the mid-season. They started 6 to 23, while Young determined his style in the NBA and that Collins was recovering from an injury to the shoulder. They have the potential to be among the top five offensives next season. That they start to win will go back to the defense. But two choices among the top 10 likely should see the reconstruction in the right direction. Buy stock in the Atlanta Hawks. They are about to be for real.
6. Washington Wizards, 32-50, 9.0%: It was difficult to tie the Wizards in 2019. They brought John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter and signed Dwight Howard, who was really good in Charlotte the previous season. But something happened almost immediately, with the Wizards starting season 1-7. They managed to return to 11-14 before losing seven out of nine, including Cleveland, Atlanta and Chicago. Wall was ruled out for the season at the end of December – six weeks later he learned that he was tearing his Achilles and missing 12 months – and Howard appeared at just nine games in November, before his back ill does not prevent him from staying away from the rest of the season. For what it's worth, Beal played as an All-Pro. But the Wizards never straightened the boat and ended up with the sixth-highest lottery odds, their season of 32 wins being the worst of all since a campaign of 29 wins in 2013.
7. New Orleans Pelicans, 33-49 years, 6.0%: The Pelicans seemed to be on the winning streak after winning 48 games and swept the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of last season. It seemed that this momentum continued when the Pellies started last season 4-0 then 10-7. After that, he quickly collapsed with four consecutive defeats, including two consecutive wins in New York and Washington. At the end of the year holidays, they were 15-20. A month later, Anthony Davis publicly asked for an exchange with New Orleans sitting at 22-28. The Pelicans finished the season 11-22 after this request, while Davis played sporadically and spent nights at random with a "phantom" back injury. Assuming that they treat Davis at one point, this choice could be very important in regards to their reconstruction.
8. Memphis Grizzlies, 33-49, 6.0%: The Grizzlies finally entered a rebuild in 2019 when it became apparent that the actors around Marc Gasol and Mike Conley just could not compete in the West. But this rebuilding only began in December, as the Grizzlies took a 12-5 start and were 15-9 in mid-December. But Memphis lost 24 of 29 games in seven weeks, which led to the trade deadline. They ended up exchanging Marc Gasol, then leader of the franchise in points and having played his whole career in Memphis, to create a youth movement. They were surprisingly competitive in the home stretch, finishing 10-12 after the break from the stars. Of course, it cost them some lottery combinations.
9. Dallas Mavericks, 33-49, 6.0% (Choose to go to Atlanta if outside the top 5): The Mavericks are certainly building something thanks to the success of Luka Doncic last season. But playing in the West can win in 82 games, and that's what happened in Dallas. A surprise start of 15-11 in which Doncic looked like an All-Star was wiped out by a series of six defeats. In the space of five weeks, the Mavericks scored 5-15, putting an end to any hope of participating in the playoffs. Seeing that their selection selection this season will be reflected on Atlanta if it is not in the top 5, Dallas went into selling mode by engaging DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr. and Wesley Matthews to the Knicks for the injured Kristaps Porzingis. After this trade, the Mavericks lost 16 of 21 games. They would probably have been better off, but they have won four of their last seven games against New Orleans and Memphis.
10. Minnesota Timberwolves, 36-46, 3.0%: The Timberwolves ended a drought that lasted 13 years in the playoffs a season ago, but that apparently was not enough to satisfy Jimmy Butler. The new diva of the NBA asked for an exchange with the Timberwolves and finally granted her wish. As a result, Karl-Anthony Towns alone had to keep Minnesota competitive every night. Andrew Wiggins has released another terribly inefficient season, while the story of Derrick Rose's return has only lasted January. Robert Covington, acquired in the Butler trade, had a bruised knee in January and was lost for the season. The Timberwolves have a lot of work to do to return to the playoffs, starting with Wiggins and ending with a solution to the leader position.
11. Los Angeles Lakers, 37-45, 2.0%: The elbow of LeBron James. That's how the Lakers came here. When James fell to the ground at Oracle Arena on Christmas Day, suffering from an injury to the groin that would have finally let out five weeks, that ended the Lakers season. The Lakers went 6-11 without James, and even when King James came back, it was clear that he was not his normal self. At the same time, the Clippers were fleeing with seed number 8, so the Lakers reduced James' minutes in order to preserve their four-year investment and improve their position at the Lottery. Curiously, the Lakers have won six of the ten games of the season and have cost a few lottery balls. They will not be here next season.
12. Charlotte Hornets, 39-43, 1.0%: The Hornets had one last chance to show Kemba Walker that they could form a playoff contender. Now the imminent free agency enters the summer after the third consecutive season of playoffs. The story is pretty simple for the Hornets: it's a middle-class team supported by heroic exploits and Walker's absurd scores. Walker was third in a row with career-high points (25.6), rebounds (4.4), assists (5.9) and 3 markers (3.2). And even that was not enough for a Hornets team that flirted close to .500 for most of the season before a February / March series, when they scored 5-13 to get out of a race weak in the playoffs of the Eastern Conference. They made things interesting by winning 8 to 12 to end the year, but alas they are back in the lottery for a third season in a row. If Walker flies, they will take a lot higher in a year.
13. Miami Heat, 39-43, 1.0%: $ 152 million does not buy more than what it was. No team has spent more money on her lineup this season than the Miami Heat and she still can not buy a playoff spot. Missing a real superstar, the Heat was simply a group of above average players who never really seemed to fit in well. They flew over both sides from .500 to January before losing nine of their 12 games in February. This opened the door for Orlando Magic, who set to work, to climb to the top of the dismal Southeast Division. And when Orlando began sliding and Charlotte suffered heavy losses in April, Miami responded by losing five of their last six games and missing two playoff games. Their ceiling was not so high, but the season was incredibly disappointing for a team that spent so much money on marginal talent.
14. Kings of Sacramento, 39-43, 1.0% (choose to go to Boston or Philadelphia): On the other hand, Sacramento 's place later in the lottery (their choice will most likely go to Boston, he will go to Philadelphia if, one way or another, they get the choice. ° 1) is well deserved. Their basketball team was no more surprising during the first half of the season. Dave Joerger's group took a 6-3 start and then proved that it was not a fluke, he recorded a 9-6 record in January and four wins over .500 near the break of the match of the stars. Eventually, they ran out of breath – and the Clippers gained super power over the last two months – and pulled out of the playoff race, but their core of De-Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley and Bogdan Bogdanovic is legitimate.
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