How Sweet It Is...

As a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers, I was less than thrilled with their inability to move up in the NBA Draft Lottery this past season. I had held out hope, though our team refused to tank the way some others did (Boston, Milwaukee, etc.), that maybe Lady Luck would come our way and reward my beloved 76ers for staying true to the purity of the game. Alas, it was not to be.

As I awoke the following morning though, I was strangely happy. My team hadn’t moved up at all, but I felt this sense of satisfaction I simply couldn’t explain…until I looked over the lottery again. Every basketball fan knows this is a deep draft, but every fan also knows that if you don’t get one of the top two picks, you are missing out on something special. Greg Oden and Kevin Durant are both “can’t miss” NBA prospects.

So has anyone figured out why I was still happy even though my team had missed out? I'll end the suspense - it’s because the Celtics didn’t get a top 2 pick! I am also glad to see the Bucks didn’t get one either, because the way they tanked at the end of the year really just proves why the draft lottery needs to be changed. I have always been a purist, no matter which sport I am following, and tanking like that just makes me sick (though I did make some easy cash betting against those teams that were obviously tanking).

Anyhow, back to the Celtics horrible loss. As bad as it was knowing that my team was giving up the chance to get one of the top prospects by winning games at the end of the season, it was rewarding to know that the Celtics had tanked and still won’t get one of those players either (and I don’t want to hear Celtic fans out there whining that this should have made up for losing Tim Duncan ten years ago...get over it!).

All 76ers fans know to hate the Celtics. All those big games from the 1980s (you know, back when both teams were actually good at the same time) live on inside the hearts of both teams' fans. Losing out on the chance to move up in the lottery to take Oden or Durant was bad enough, but if the Celtics had won the lottery, that would have been 10 times worse. To see one of these top talents going to a hated rival with the chance to turn around the Celtics, while we stayed true to the game and will probably continue to suck for at least another year, would have been just too much.

So rejoice fans of Portland and Seattle. Your team has earned the chance to turn itself into an instant playoff contender with a top 2 selection in next month’s draft. Portland should be very happy to get Greg Oden (likely the top pick) to team with Brandon Roy (last season’s Rookie of the Year, shown above after the Blazers won the lottery) and LaMarcus Aldridge (the # 2 overall pick last year) for the next 8-10 years. Seattle fans know that the pick of Kevin Durant could likely save their beloved Sonics from a move to Oklahoma City or Las Vegas. The pick of Durant also might be enough to keep free-agent-to-be Lewis from leaving town. Combine those two players with Ray Allen and a decent point guard, and you could be looking at a team who will rival Phoenix for most points scored.

Philadelphia fans should rejoice as well. Sure, we lost the lottery...but so did the Celtics. It certainly sucks that we will not be getting one of those top players, but at least they will be playing out West where they can’t hurt us too much. Perhaps even more assuring is the fact that the Celtics still suck more than we do! Ah, the joy of small comforts.