Orlando wins the Draft lottery, Banchero vying for call number 1

Orlando Magic win the Lottery. They will be the first to choose the next Draft, scheduled for June 23 in New York. Holmgren, Smith or Banchero, the long one from Duke with an Italian passport? Soon to tell. Meanwhile, Coach Mosley, who represented the franchise in Chicago at the event, enjoys it: “Exciting, it will be special.”

Heir to Howard and Shaq

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The Magic had a 14% chance of winning the first overall pick, like Houston, Detroit and Oklahoma City which could count on the sum of two choices, their own and that inherited from the Los Angeles Clippers. Luck has rewarded Orlando. Which he had last picked with number 1 in 2004, calling Dwight Howard. First, we must go back to 1993 (Chris Webber mistaken for Penny Hardaway) and 1992, when the chosen one was Shaquille O’Neal.

How does it work

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The ping pong balls decide the first 4 choices, the others are determined with a domino effect in order inversely proportional to the record of the last regular season. There were 13 franchises, usually excluded from the playoffs, to dream of the coup. This time, however, the two teams from Los Angeles were not there, although they remained out of the post season. It was known about the Clippers, the Lakers lost the choice, which ended in New Orleans for the waste of the trade for Anthony Davis: in the event of a top 10 call it would be moved to the Pelicans, who in fact will choose with the 8.

The order of calling

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Therefore Orlando chooses in front of everyone. Then Oklahoma City with the number 2 call, Houston with the 3, Sacramento with the 4. The Kings, who started in seventh place in probability, can rejoice at a rare stroke of luck: they desperately needed it. At 5 Detroit, unlucky, then Indiana, then Portland, which had Lillard representing: “Operation that I had postponed for a long time, problem that I had been dragging on for some time, now I’m fine”. His presence for the Blazers drives away rumors of a possible future away from Oregon. With the 8 he will call New Orleans, in fact, with the nine San Antonio which also has the 20 and 25 on the first lap and has not chosen so high since the time of Duncan’s call. With the 10 it will then be Washington’s turn, at the 11 it will be the turn of the New York Knicks, with the 12 again the Thunder (via Clippers) who will have the third call of the first round then at the 30, with the 13 in Charlotte. Cleveland will have selection number 14, the one that will close the Lottery.

The talents

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Holmgren, Smith and Banchero, the prime suspects for the summit calls, were interviewed for the occasion. Chet Holmgren, the long white, very thin, by Gonzaga: “My main trait? The versatility “. The son of art Jabari Smith, winger from Auburn with great potential: “My father told me to enjoy this process, without stress, taking things as they come, one day at a time”. Banchero, long Italian from Duke, fresh from the Final Four Ncaa: “I think I am the best player available, I have won wherever he has played”. In addition to theirs, the names to write down are those of Jaden Ivey, guard at Purdue, and Shaedon Sharpe, a mystery man who did not play a minute at university level for Kentucky.