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Reminder: Draft Lottery Tonight!

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Reminder: the 2008 NBA Draft Lottery will be televised tonight at 8:00 on ESPN before Game 1 of the Boston/Detroit series. The actual lottery is done sometime before 8:00, and results are kept confidential until the televised unveiling.

Bobcats.com is reporting that GM Rod Higgins will be representing the team at the Lottery tonight. Hmmm, the Nets have us beat on that front, as they’re sending Jay-Z. No word on whether or not Higgins is bringing a lock of Rufus Lynx’s mangy hair as a good luck charm, as I suspect.

Chad Ford is steady killing the draft coverage on ESPN.com, with a lottery preview that touches on the recent history of the lottery, as well as his contribution to the Joe Alexander buzz.

DraftExpress.com has been visiting different workouts as well, highlighted by “exclusive access” to a “private” workout session featuring “The Big Secret” JaVale McGee. Nice gimmick for McGee — I might be intrigued if I weren’t so cynical…

And of course, we’ve been on our grind here at Bobcats Baseline as well, with a multi-part draft preview:

Part One: Team Needs

Part Two: The Lottery

Part Three: Picks #1-3

Part Four: Pick #8 or #9

Cross your fingers, folks!

-E

Bobcats Baseline 2008 Draft Preview Part Four: Pick #8 or #9

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Welcome to Part Four of a five-part look at the 2008 NBA Draft from the perspective of the Charlotte Bobcats. Part One was a basic look at the Bobcats’ needs this offseason. Part Two took a detailed look at the draft lottery process which determines where the team will pick. Part Three examined the Bobcats’ options if they should luck out in the lottery and move up into one of the top three picks, while Part Four is a look at the team’s potential choices if they stay in their spot with the eighth (or ninth) pick. Part Five will consider the Bobcats’ second round pick.

Now that it’s the eve of the lottery and we’ve fantasized about moving up into one of the top three picks in the upcoming draft, let’s take a look at the more likely scenario: the Bobcats picking at #8 or #9. As I established in Part Two, there is a 72.5% chance the Bobcats will end up picking at #8 and a 16.8% chance for #9 — combined that’s almost a 90% chance we will be picking at #8 or #9. Continue reading

Bobcats Baseline 2008 Draft Preview Part Three: Picks 1-3

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Welcome to Part Three of a five-part look at the 2008 NBA Draft from the perspective of the Charlotte Bobcats. Part One was a basic look at the Bobcats’ needs this offseason. Part Two took a detailed look at the draft lottery process which determines where the team will pick. In Part Three we will examine the Bobcats’ options if they should luck out in the lottery and move up into one of the top three picks. Part Four will be a look at the team’s possible choices if they stay in their spot with the eighth (or ninth) pick, while Part Five will consider the Bobcats’ second round pick.

We’ve established that the chances of moving up into one of the top three picks in this year’s draft are slim (2.8% chance for the #1 pick; 3.3% chance for #2; 3.9% chance for #3) but we’re an optimistic sort here at Bobcats Baseline. Let’s consider the choices the Bobcats would have in each of these situations. Continue reading