On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2011 NBA Draft lottery and will select No. 1 overall on June 23, 2011. This is the first time the Cavaliers will select No. 1 overall since they drafted LeBron James in 2003.
While there are 14 draft picks in the lottery, only 12 teams have picks as the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Utah Jazz each acquired an extra draft pick (Cleveland from the Clippers and Utah from the Nets). And as it turned out, both of those acquired picks turned into top-three selections. This became apparent when the Detroit Pistons were announced as the No. 8 team in the lottery.
Here is the lottery in descending order:
14. Houston Rockets
13. Phoenix Suns
12. Utah Jazz
11. Golden State Warriors
10. Milwaukee Bucks
9. Charlotte Bobcats
8. Detroit Pistons
7. Sacramento Kings
6. Washington Wizards
5. Toronto Raptors
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Utah Jazz (from Nets)
2. Minnesota Timberwolves
1. Cleveland Cavaliers (from Clippers)
Now the speculation over who will go No. 1 overall will only increase. Will it be Duke point guard Kyrie Irving or will it be Arizona forward Derrick Williams? Or how about a wild card?