Sixers' draft fate rests with lottery

THE BASICS

When: Tonight, 7:30

Where: NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus, N.J.

TV: ESPN

At stake: The order of selection will be set for the first 14 picks in the NBA draft, June 24, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

HOW IT WORKS

Fourteen pingpong balls numbered 1 through 14 will be placed in a drum. There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to order of selection. Before the lottery, 1,000 combinations will be assigned to the 14 teams by a computer.

Four balls will be drawn to determine a four-digit combination. The team that has been assigned that combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The four balls are placed back in the drum and the process is repeated to determine the second and third picks. (Note: If the one unassigned combination is drawn, the balls are drawn again.)

The order of selection for the teams that do not win one of the top three picks will be determined by inverse order of their regular-season record.

The actual lottery procedure will take place in a separate room before the broadcast with NBA officials and representatives of the teams and the accounting firm of Ernst & Young in attendance.

Following the drawing, team logo cards will be inserted into envelopes marked 1 through 14 by an Ernst & Young representative. The envelopes are sealed and brought on-stage for the announcement. A second representative from each team will be seated on-stage. Neither deputy commissioner Adam Silver, who will open the envelopes, nor the team representatives will be informed of the results before the opening of the envelopes. The envelopes will be opened in inverse order, beginning with No. 14.

THE SIXERS' CHANCES

The Sixers will have 53 chances out of the 1,001 possible combinations in tonight's draft lottery. They enter with the sixth-worst record in the league at 27-55, and have the highest probability of getting the sixth selection. They can move up to one of the top three slots, remain sixth or slip as low as ninth, but no lower. (Detroit also finished at 27-55, but the Sixers won a random drawing for placement in the draft.)

1 5.30 percent

2 6.03 percent

3 6.97 percent

4 0.00 percent

5 0.00 percent

6 43.99 percent

7 33.05 percent

8 4.54 percent

9 0.12 percent

10 and lower 0.00%

*

PROBABILITY OF GETTING NO. 1

The Nets had the worst record in the NBA so they will have the best chance of getting the top pick, with 250 of the 1,001 combinations. Houston had the 14th-worst record, so they have five combinations, fewest of the lottery teams.

1. New Jersey 25.0 percent

2. Minnesota 19.9 percent

3. Sacramento 15.6 percent

4. Golden State 10.4 percent

5. Washington 10.3 percent

6. SIXERS 5.3 percent

7. Detroit 5.3 percent

8. LA Clippers 2.3 percent

9. Utah (from New York) 2.2 percent

10. Indiana 1.1 percent

11. New Orleans 0.8 percent

12. Memphis 0.7 percent

13. Toronto 0.6 percent

14. Houston 0.5 percent

*

THE POWER OF SIX

The Sixers are sitting in the sixth spot entering the lottery. Here is how teams that entered the lottery at that spot have fared in recent years:

Year Team Drafted

2009 Memphis 2nd

2008 LA Clippers 7th

2007 Portland 1st

2006 Minnesota 6th

2005 Milwaukee 1st

2004 Phoenix 7th

2003 Memphis 2nd*

2002 Cleveland 6th

2001 New Jersey 7th

2000 Washington 7th**

* pick traded to Detroit

** pick traded to New Jersey

**

SEE YOU AGAIN

The Sixers are tied for fifth in the NBA with 13 lottery appearances entering tonight, although this is their first time in the lottery since 2007. (Note: The lottery began in 1985 with seven teams, expanded to nine in 1989, 11 in 1990, 13 in 1995 and 14 in 2004).

1. LA Clippers 22

2. Golden State 18

3. Sacramento 15

- Minnesota 15

5. Sixers 13

- Milwaukee 13

- Memphis 13

***

SIXERS' LOTTERY HISTORY

Year Finish Lottery Player

1988 6 3 Charles Smith, Pittsburgh

1992 9 9 Clarence Weatherspoon, So. Mississippi

1993 5 2 Shawn Bradley, BYU

1994 6 6 Sharone Wright, Clemson

1995 4 3 Jerry Stackhouse, North Carolina

1996 2 1 Allen Iverson, Georgetown

1997 5 2 Keith Van Horn, Utah

1998 8 8 Larry Hughes, Saint Louis

2004 8 9 Andre Igoudala, Arizona

2006 13 13 Thabo Sefolosha, Switzerland

2007 12 12 Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech

* In 1986, the Sixers would have entered the lottery sixth with a selection acquired from the Clippers. They traded that pick, which was No. 1 overall, to Cleveland in the Brad Daugherty deal.