NBA Draft 2011: Predicting the Lottery

On May 17th, the NBA will hold its annual draft lottery awarding the non-playoff teams their draft selections based on the drop of a ping pong ball.

For those of you who do not know, each team is awarded a number of balls based on their record, with the worst teams receiving the most balls. So the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had the worst record in the league, receive 250 balls (25 percent chance), while the Houston Rockets will receive five (.5 percent chance).

Unlike in years past, the NBA only draws for the top three picks now, instead of the entire lottery, and the rest of the lottery is then set up according to record. This means the worst position the Timberwolves can end up in is fourth, the Cleveland Cavaliers (who had the second worst record) can fall no lower than fifth, and so on.

For the purposes of this slideshow I will assume everything falls as it should, and project according to record.

Here are the lottery picks if everything falls as it should.