The NBA is set to hold the 2008 NBA draft lottery this Tuesday, May 20th. The draft lottery is the process in which the order of the first 14 draft picks are assigned to NBA teams. The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs are in the lottery and have a chance at winning the #1 pick.
Although each non-playoff team has a chance at getting the first pick, the team with the worst record has the highest chance. The initial list of teams is sorted by worst win-loss record. The worst team, the Miami Heat, is at the top of the list and has a 25% chance of winning the first pick in the draft. The non-playoff team with the best record, the Golden State Warriors, have the lowest chance of winning the first pick, at 0.5%.
With the dismissal odds at winning a top pick, the Warriors will be keeping their #14 pick in the draft. They say it every year, but this year's draft looks to be really deep. There should still be a nice selection of 7' players at #14, if the Warriors are looking to go big. But the Warriors already have some young players at or near 7 feet on the roster, including Andris Biedrins, Patrick O'Bryant, and Kosta Perovic.
The Warriors should draft a ball-handler with the 14th pick. The player, most likely a guard, would help back-up Baron Davis and be a scorer off the bench. Knowing Don Nelson, he wouldn't put his trust in a rookie, so the player will need to be impressive and consistent.
One player that looks good at the #14 slot is Russell Westbrook out of UCLA. He is a quick combo guard with high athleticism. He averaged 12.7 points, 4.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game at UCLA while playing 33.8 minutes per game. Those are very solid numbers that would fit in nicely with the Warriors.
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