if the nba follows some variation of the article, the celtics will have a pretty poor draft position. but that would have happened anyway given that the celtics would have finished near to the top record once again. so i would not be overly disappointed should this occur.
now if they factor in the past FIVE years, then the celtics would benefit and certainly would move up a few slots.
given the nba's willingness to create an elaborate and nearly byzantine lottery system so far, i would expect a complex system that takes into account a wide range of factors and weights them according to a formula.
some factors might be...
- past 3 to 5 year win/loss records for each team
- weight the last 3/5 years with the most recent year being favored/weighted more
- weight the win loss record by opponents' win loss records
- bring in playoff records as one factor, the deeper a team went in the playoffs the less preference they receive
- distinguish between past drafting positions, perhaps weight whether a team was "lucky" and moved up in the draft as opposed to simply being bad enough to "earn" their draft position
- make a distinction between lottery/non lottery teams in weighting
- take into account personal changes during the lock out, i.e. retirements, free agents, departures to europe, etc.
- small market versus big market teams so as to balance free agent movement
i am sure other factors will come into play, but those are probably some of the major ones.
but then again, what if team rosters are dramatically affected? say by all/many setting players free from previous contracts to maximize free agency? that is, reset the league by setting players free, then run the lottery strictly 100% based upon luck.
the last scenario is unlikely, but some form of it may occur.
thus, once again no one, not even stern, really knows what will happen over the next year or so.