Cavs Win Draft Lottery For Third Time In Four Years

Despite having a 1.7 percent chance, the Cleveland Cavaliers — this year without good luck charm Nick Gilbert — have landed the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. All that talk about not returning to the lottery and they still land the No. 1 pick. Unreal.

The Cavs were supposed to compete for a playoff spot this season, but finished 33-49 on the season and missed postseason play for the fourth consecutive year following LeBron James’ departure. It’s almost as if the Gods were paying them back. They’ve landed the No. 1 pick for the second consecutive year and the third time in four seasons after James’ public announcement he was going, pause, south [full stop].

Then they kept dropping in tonight’s Draft Lottery — they came in at No. 9 — and it didn’t seem real. It finally came down to the final three before a commercial break: The tanking Sixers with Dr. J looking regal as their rep. Milwaukee had 18-year-old Mallory Edens standing in as the rep for the cameras; she’s the daughter of new co-owner Wesley Edens, who chortled from the audience every time the camera panned over (owning an NBA team is fun, even for the Bucks).

Then there was new Cavs GM David Griffin, with little Nick’s bow tie in his pocket (awww) and nervous elation wafting off him. Finally they called No. 3 Philadelphia and we think Julius almost bit his tongue clenching his jaw so hard. Next they called Milwaukee No. 2, despite having the best odds coming in (25 percent), and the air rushed out of the room. The Cavs will get to pick No. 1 pick in this loaded, though not that loaded, 2014 NBA Draft.

https://vine.co/v/MHj0XMYOzUq/embed/simple?audio=1

Here’s the final order after the lottery selection:

1. Cleveland
2. Milwaukee
3. Philadelphia
4. Orlando
5. Utah
6. Boston
7. Los Angeles (Lakers)
8. Sacramento
9. Charlotte (Hornets!)
10. Philadelphia
11. Denver
12. Orlando
13. Minnesota
14. Phoenix

Luck of the Ping pong balls…Very exciting!!!

— Kyrie Irving (@KyrieIrving) May 21, 2014