ESPN Debuted Mock Lottery. Celtics Win!!!

[KG Living Legend]

  Too Funny.

 ESPN debuted its 2014 NBA Lottery Mock Draft machine on Thursday. It's exactly the spot that can make any Boston Celtics fan feel better about a six-game losing streak (even if this took more clicks than I expected to generate):

Celtics at No. 1


You'll notice there's not a lot of options to generate for Boston. Most clicks will end with Boston grabbing Kentucky center Willie Cauley-Stein in the mid-lottery. But with enough clicks we did get a few different scenarios like landing Kansas freshman center Joel Embiid at No.3 (not a bad consolation prize). But maybe the most unique instance we saw: Boston not landing in the lottery, which means they landed in the playoffs in that simulation.

Over at Insider, ESPN's Chad Ford explains why he believes the Celtics would take Parker at No. 1: "If the Celtics somehow manage to land the No. 1 pick, I think it will be hard for Danny Ainge to pass on Parker. Ainge is a fan, and while he loves to draft upside, Parker is a great long-term fit for them. Ainge can pretty easily trade Jeff Green and get more assets back, which is a bonus. The dark horse is Embiid."

[KG Living Legend]

 Now that we know that we are going to build around Parker, this should make the rebuild easier to see Haha.

[lon3lytoaster]

Easily trade Jeff Green for assets, you say?

[Timdawgg]

I did it about 20 times yesterday and got the C's with Parker 2 times out of twenty at #1.

I did it 3 times today and on the second try I got the C's at # 2 picking Embid...

[EvilEmpire]

Here is the link for those that want to try it out:

http://espn.go.com/nba/lottery2014/mockdraft


Tried it three times and I got 5th, 6th, and 1st. We are currently slotted with the 5th pick based on record, which only gives the Celtics a 8.8% chance at the number 1 pick.

[PhoSita]

I did it enough times for the Celtics to end up with the #3 pick (Embiid) and then stopped because that seemed like enough of a blessing.

[KGs Knee]

So, I figured I'd try this lottery machine, just out of curiosity.

C's ended up with the 6th pick on my 1st try.  Picked Aaron Gordon.

That would be a mistake, in my opinion.  The two players I would stay away from at the top of the draft are Randle and Gordon.  I don't ever think it's a great idea to take an undersized PF in the top 10, particularly in what appears to be a strong draft.

Personally, at the 6th spot I would be more interested in taking either Smart or Vonleh.  I suspect Vonleh will have a better career as a NBA PF than either Randle or Gordon.  I'd probably take Hood before either Randle or Gordon , also.

[Smokeeye123]

I did it ten times at the celtics picked Aaron Gordon like 50% of the time. I'd be fine with that

[Smokeeye123]

i think what this really shows that one change in draft spot makes a world of a difference to increase your chances at getting a top 3 pick.

[BringToughnessBack]

2nd time, Jabari at 1..my work for the day is complete now.

[hwangjini_1]

first try......celtics will draft at the number 2 spot, choosing embiid.

now all i need to do is wait for the celtics to fly me out to the lottery site for good luck. 

[Boris Badenov]

i think what this really shows that one change in draft spot makes a world of a difference to increase your chances at getting a top 3 pick.

The swing between 8 and 4-5 is huge.

At 8, we have a roughly 10% chance at a top 3 pick, but will NEVER get 4-5. So, we also have a 10% chance at a top 5 pick.

At 4, we have a 35% chance at a top 3 pick, and an 83% chance at a top 5 pick.

Even at 5 we have a 29% chance at top 3 and a 55% chance at top 5 (though we never get a 4th pick, only top 3 or 5).

You can see the full matrix of probabilities here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_draft_lottery

[TheTruthFot18]

I found this very interesting over a normal mock draft. Problem is I landed on 8 and WCS about 95% and one time I got the top pick and parker. Still fun

[LilRip]

Well, with how terrible majority of the teams are this year, the C's are only 2 games behind getting the 2nd best chance at winning the lottery. It's pretty crazy. I mean, finishing with a record of 24-58 vs. 25-57 will likely spell the difference (in terms of lottery odds).

Sidenote: I clicked the link and on my first try, C's land the #2 pick and draft Jabari Parker  2nd try, got Joel Embiid at #3; 3rd try, got Dante Exum at #5; 4th try, got Jabari Parker again at #1 overall.

[Sketch5]

Well, with how terrible majority of the teams are this year, the C's are only 2 games behind getting the 2nd best chance at winning the lottery. It's pretty crazy. I mean, finishing with a record of 24-58 vs. 25-57 will likely spell the difference (in terms of lottery odds).

Sidenote: I clicked the link and on my first try, C's land the #2 pick and draft Jabari Parker  2nd try, got Joel Embiid at #3; 3rd try, got Dante Exum at #5; 4th try, got Jabari Parker again at #1 overall.

You should take Tommy's spot when they pick the ping pong balls this spring!