Mock Lottery

The Worldwide Leader has put up their annual NBA Lottery Mock Draft Generator, which of course means that work has stopped for the day. The NBA Lottery Mock Draft Generator is a machine on the ESPN website, and through the magic of science and basketball (also, I assume, some sort of calculator) predicts the order of the NBA Draft this year, and who each team will draft depending on where they land.

The Knicks, of course, are godawful this year, so bad that even though the last playoff team in the Eastern Conference (the Nets) has a 26-34 record, they are 8 games behind in the playoff race. Make no mistake, this is the worst time I've ever had as a sports fan, even worse than the Giants' Dave Brown/Danny Kanell era. It's so bad that LeBron James got "MVP" chants from the Garden crowd last night. I love LeBron, and he put on one hell of a performance (50 points, 10 rebounds, assists), but would Michael Jordan get "MVP" chants in the early 90s during the heyday of the Bulls-Knicks rivalry? Hell no. This is how far the Knicks have fallen, their fans are kissing the ring of a 23 year old superstar in hopes that he'll remember that when he becomes a free agent in 2 years.

However, going through the tough times now means that it'll be a lot sweeter to watch the Knicks eventually win the championship, which at this rate looks like it'll be when I'm old and can't see. So despite the fact that Isiah Thomas and Jimmy Dolan have killed the franchise for the next few seasons, past experience has taught me to stick with my team through it all, because the good times will eventually come. And part of the road to success is through the Draft Lottery.

The Knicks, of course, are famous for winning the first draft lottery that landed Patrick Ewing. There is no Patrick Ewing type talent in this year's draft, but there are a lot of good players like Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley who could make an impact on the NBA. And because the Knicks are way over the salary cap for the next few years, the only chance they have of being any good for the rest of the decade is if they land a great player in the Draft. They have an 8.8% chance of winning the #1 pick, and I can't stress how much Knicks fans need a win to have some sort of hope for the future. I'm not exaggerating when I say this, Isiah Thomas and Jimmy Dolan have presided over the 2nd biggest disaster in New York this decade. We need help, and we need hope, and since Barack Obama can't play basketball full time, Beasley and Rose are our last chance of salvaging this wreckage.

So I'm going to play NBA Trade Machine right now until the Knicks win the lottery. I'll post the results for each game below. Hopefully, it won't get too long.

Game 1:
Miami wins the lottery and picks Michael Beasley.

The Knicks end up #5 and pick Jerryd Bayless. Bayless is a good player, but he's more of a scoring point guard and the Knicks have more than enough scoring point guards. In fact, I don't ever want to hear the words "Knicks" and "scoring point guards" in the same sentence unless it reads "The Knicks dropped scoring point guard Stephon Marbury off the Empire State Building earlier today."


Game 2:
Knicks win the #1 pick and draft Derrick Rose! NBADraft.net compares Rose to Dwayne Wade and Jason Kidd, and he lead Memphis to a 28-1 record to date, including starting the season off 26-0. This kid is a leader, and we need a leader! I'm starting to get excited, and then I remembered that this is just a trade machine and not real, and the Knicks are still absolutely terrible and have only an 8.8% chance of winning the lottery.

I think I'll go to the bathroom and cry now.