What happened to the wildest lottery of the NBA ever seen

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Seven years later, while Davis revolved around the lottery in a very different way, Alvin Gentry, representative of the coaches and designers of the Pelicans, threw all the decorum out the window when the fourth pingpong shot fired ( numbered 13) has completed a four-digit combination. which belonged to New Orleans.

Gentry rose from his chair. "F —, yeah!" he's excited. He raised his arms in celebration and even turned to the five representatives of the rival team, back and around him. They returned the favor. "Sorry, sorry," Gentry said in the room as he sat down again and the draw went on for the second, third and fourth picks.

He did not need to apologize. Almost everyone in the room smiled with him. Gentry has always been popular, but the Davis debacle has turned him into a more likeable figure. Most people in this room were happy for him.

• Once the lottery was over, Gentry approached the dozen journalists in the room and presented them with a new eye-catching excuse. "Sorry, guys," he said. "Not really."

• Gentry wore a black tie with silver-gray stripes. It was his lucky charm. David Griffin, the new executive vice president of basketball operations in New Orleans, has entrusted him to Gentry. Griffin was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers' front office during a period in which the Cavs won three lotteries in four years, from 2011 to 2014. Each time, a man named Jeff Cohen – former vice president of the Cavs and Dan's confidant Gilbert, owner, represented the team in the living room.

I started talking about Cohen as a warlock. Gilbert and Cohen have had some sort of scramble, and the Cavs have not had it in the room in any of the last two lotteries. (Cleveland had the choice of Brooklyn a year ago.) I half jokingly said that the Cavs were cursed.

And then, Gentry revealed the ultimate scenario: Gentry's tie on Tuesday was identical to what Cohen wore in each of those three lottery wins. Griffin phoned Cohen and asked him for a lucky charm for the lottery, he told ESPN.com on Tuesday. Cohen is derided by this idea that any trinket could win the favor of the lottery gods. Griffin asked if he could send the tie. Cohen did it. Griffin passed it to Gentry.

Put Jeff Cohen and his damn tie in the Hall of Fame. Gentry said he was going to frame the tie and lottery balls, and hang him at the Pelicans practice center.

• At the top of the ballroom, Griffin saw the Celtics general manager's assistant, Mike Zarren, hug him and shout, "What did I say?" ? " At the league general meeting earlier in the day, Griffin reportedly announced to everyone that New Orleans would win the lottery. "I've seen it before," Griffin recalled, announcing to the room. "We win this thing."

C & # 39; exactly The kind of spiritual language limits that Griffin used when his Cavaliers trailed behind the Warriors 3 to 1 in the 2016 NBA Finals. He insisted that the Cavaliers would come together and win. If you watched him with amusement, Griffin stared at you, very seriously.

Between Griffin, Cohen and Cohen's tie, I'm starting to believe in some real mystical stuff. I'm a little scared. I'm also afraid that by excising all three, the Cavaliers will suffer years of self-inflicted bad luck.

• Speaking of Tuesday's General Managers' meeting: many sources say the most lively topic of discussion focused on the possibility of setting up the challenge of a coach at one point. Some in the room were in favor of a more limited, black-and-white rules-based protest system: out-of-bounds games, goalkeepers, etc., but do not fouls. Others have argued that coaches should be able to challenge criminal appeals.

The league would probably favor the narrower concept, if at all. Allowing coaches to challenge fouls is a bit of Pandora's box. Should they be able to challenge non-appeals too? It was also questioned whether a challenge should cost a team timeout, whether or not the coach "won" or "lost". Some in the room were wary of coaches using the challenge to create extra time. Also: What happens if a team runs out of timeouts?

There is a lot to be determined, but the reports of the depth of the discussion suggest that this concept has a new impetus.

• Also discussed, by source: place a "replay official" at the scorer's table who could make some determinations (was the shot fired at 2 or 3?) Without stopping the game, and immediately signaling the others games so that referees would not have to huddle and decide whether to start an exam. Thumbs up!

• Back to the Lottery: How crazy is it that we have spent the past two months wondering how much the lottery would have on Davis' draw draw, only for the current Davis team wins the lottery? You can not invent that.

"We're going to have a great player," Gentry told ESPN.com after the draw. "We have something to sell."

I asked: do you mean selling to Davis? "For Anthony and our fans," said Gentry. "Everyone forgets that it's still on our list."

• Griffin echoed this in a brief conversation with ESPN.com after the TV revelation. "We can be Oklahoma City with Paul George," he said. "We can hang on [Davis] and let him see what we really are. [Winning the lottery] change the speed with which he can buy. It brings us closer. Every day, he believes maybe a little more. Even though elite talents like to play with elite talent, I can not imagine an elite player in his state of mind who examines our situation and says to himself: "There is a better group to play for. "

We will see. Several reports Tuesday night suggest that Davis had not changed position after the draw. Griffin must create the perception of leverage. But it's not crazy to think that Pelicans could build something very interesting – and durable – around Davis, Jrue Holiday, Zion Williamson and a few other young pieces. If they exchange Davis for another choice among the top four in this draft – for more information on this later – it's pretty cool to press two top-five picks in the same project.

• The first three balls drawn on the winning combination were numbers 7, 4 and 12. The worst teams – New York, Phoenix and Cleveland – had 420 of the 1,000 four-digit combinations, and most of the combinations included 1., 2 and 3 There is real suspense in the air when the first three numbers drawn are 4 or more. For 10 delicious seconds – and exactly 10 per league ruler – many teams are up for grabs.

Gentry knew that pelicans had a chance. "Oh, s —", he thought after the 12th arrived, he told ESPN.com. Tommy Sheppard, the Wizards' most senior leader since Ernie Grunfeld dismissed the team, also felt butterflies, he told ESPN.com. The Wizards possessed some combinations of 4, 7, and 12. For a moment, Sheppard let herself be imagined that Washington would wipe out a year of rotten feelings. "Of course you do that," Sheppard said. "But then you remember it's like BINGO, you can not control anything."

Then Kiki Van De Weghe, executive vice president of the NBA for basketball operations, announced the number on the last balloon: 13. Gentry flipped through the eight-page printed text listing all the combinations to see if the New Orleans had 4-7-12- 13 It took too much time. He gave up and waited. An NBA lawyer proclaimed that New Orleans had won first choice.

• Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the show is watching the TV show knowing the results. When ESPN goes to the New York Fans 'Bar to celebrate the Knicks' top-four finish, everyone laughs or grimaces. If only they knew the disappointment that was coming.

Get ready for Zion, Morant and more.