- 1. All teams missing the playoffs are in the Lottery
- 2. Teams with worse records get more chances at winning a top three pick (more ping pong ball combos)
- 3. The 1st overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls
- 4. The 2nd overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls
- 5. The 3rd overall pick is awarded by a drawing of ping pong balls
- 6. Remaining lottery teams, sorted by record, fill out picks 4-14
- 7. Playoff teams, sorted by record, are assigned picks 15-30 – playoff seeds and outcomes have no impact
- 8. Coin flip decides who picks first between teams with same record
- 9. Tied lottery teams split their ping pong balls evenly, and any odd remainder and the better draft order position are given to the coin flip winner
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How could this benefit the Pistons?
The Pistons right now sit in the 12th position out of 14 lottery teams, which means they have the third worst odds (0.7%) of actually winning the lottery. The lottery is nothing new for the Pistons, but landing a top three pick would be.
The Pistons haven’t picked higher than seventh overall since they infamously took Darko Milicic with the No. 2 overall pick back in 2003.
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The Pistons could also actually take a step back in the lottery and drop to 13th if either Denver or Miami landed a top three pick, which would be more in line with the Pistons recent draft luck.
The obvious question to ask though, is if the Pistons were to get blessed by the ping pong balls and land the first pick in the draft, who would YOU draft?
