Zion to NOLA further aggravates the bad luck of the Hawks' lottery

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I admit it. At 20 hours. Tuesday, I thought, "It's the night Atlanta's luck changes." Fifty minutes later, my mood was a little darker. "New Orleans? You're joking I hope they got the last great No. 1 pick and he wants to go out! They deserve Sion?

It is now 8:57. I calmed down a little. And now, I'm ready to do like Will Munny in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" and I concede: "Merit has nothing to do with that. It was the lottery. The lottery is a coincidence.

Especially now. This was the first NBA anti-tank lottery, and we saw the difference. The Lakers, who had a 9.4% chance of placing in the top four, were fourth. Memphis, who had a 26.3% chance of placing in the top four, grabbed the No. 2 pick, which will surely be RJ Barrett or Ja Morant. The Pelicans, who had a 6% chance of making the first choice, were lucky to reach Sion Williamson.

And the Hawks, still unlucky in the fields of love and lotteries? They had a 10.5% chance of snatching Zion, nearly double the odds in New Orleans. Never mind They had a 42.1% chance of being in the top four; they were skunked, too.

The Hawks ended up with choices # 8 and # 10, which was not as bad as it could have been. If Dallas had broken the top five, the Mavericks would have kept the choice they were willing to sacrifice for Luka Doncic's rights last June. But the Mavs were unlucky, which means the Hawks were not totally unlucky Tuesday night.

Yet numbers 8 and 10 were not what the Hawks had in mind. But the flattening of chances – after the NBA changes, the team with the third worst record had the same numerical odds of choosing the No. 1 team that had the worst record – had the desired effect . Will anyone come back so strong next year after none of the teams having finished second, third or fourth will have got a pick in the top four?

We all knew that Sion would change the landscape wherever it came from, but his move to NOLA could change the second NBA summer story. Anthony Davis has allowed his agent to make the best Pelican of all time – it's a short list, I know – persona non grata in New Orleans. Does the forehead see Zion and say, "You know, I would not mind playing with him"? If so, would pelicans be willing to forgive Davis' demand for destroyed trade last season? If not, how much could the team get in the trade to build around Zion?

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As it was Zion, 2019 was one of the biggest lotteries of all time. A lively reminder of the first lottery was present on the scene, representing the team that finished with the worst record in the league. It has been widely (if not credible) asserted that the NBA had somehow rigged the ping-pong balls of 1985 so that the big city Knicks could land at Patrick Ewing. If the Knicks had won Sion's rights with Ewing on stage, the conspiracy theories would have shattered Reddit. It would have been the same if Zion had fallen into the hands of the Lakers and LeBron. But he did not do it.

He travels to New Orleans, which is as far off the beaten track of the NBA as if we do not count Sacramento, and part of me thinks it's a deferred payment to Gayle Benson, who owns both the Saints and the Pelicans, for the unnamed pass interference in January.

But where, oh, where do I ask, is the karma for Cliff Levingston's left-handed hook, for the rat Jim Leyritz, for 28-3? When does Atlanta get his break? When did Atlanta have a break?

I am sorry. I usually try to keep my sluts for me. But I allowed myself to excite a little more with Zion, who is an exciting guy. Should have known better. We are Atlanta. Our luck never changes.