Draft Lotto Re-Cap- Lucky 13?

So the draft lottery went down last night and nothing good happened for the Raptors. In fact it couldn't have gone much worse. All 3 of the top picks in the draft in June will call the Eastern Conference home. Two of them will be in the Atlantic Division. The Wizards did win the top pick however, and that likely means John Wall will be a Wizard. What that means for Gilbert Arenas is anyone's guess. But the Sixers moved up to 2nd spot and likely will select Turner from Ohio State. While the Nets with their new billionaire owner from Russia had to settle for the 3rd pick. The Nets along with the T-Wolves and Kings were the big losers on the night all moving down 2 spots. So the Raptors remain selecting at the 13th spot in the draft. This is assuming Bryan Colangelo hangs on to his current pick.

I did some research on the 13th pick yesterday. I had forgot about one famous number 13 pick. Who is it? Well it isn't Marcus Banks who was a 13th pick out of UNLV. No this was a pick made by the Charlotte Hornets and they would move the player for Vlade Divac from L.A Lakers. He just scored 40 points and has 4 rings, and yes it is Kobe Bryant. That is some serious value at number 13. That being said Kobe came straight out of high school and this was long before a Kwame Brown or a Lebron James would be picked number 1. But in general the only other name that stood out in researching the 13th pick was Richard Jefferson in terms of good players.

I mentioned Banks but there were a number of other former Raps selected in the 13 spot including Corrliss Williamson and Keon Clark. But the Raptors have never personally selected someone from the 13th spot in the draft. In the history of the Raptors they have averaged selecting 10th spot over their history. They have also been in the lottery 12 out of 15 years. The lottery has been around since 1985. The team that has been there the most is the L.A Clippers with 22 trips to the Lottery. The team with the least appearances is in the same city with the L.A Lakers who have been there just twice. The latest appearance they drafted Andrew Bynum.

While the draft experts all seem to agree that John Wall will be selected number 1 and Evan Turner will be selected number 2 after that not a lot of agreement exists. Some names the Raptors can likely forget about though would include DeMarcus Cousins and Greg Monroe who both would have been nice options especially if CB4 indeed goes bye bye. The draft gurus suggest this is a deep talent pool in this draft class. Deep does not mean great thought. I am not sold on anyone in this draft personally to be a superstar. Even John Wall. Many might disagree with that but that is cool. Evan Turner also does not blow me away like many. Not every draft year is guaranteed to have superstars. But only time will tell in the end. That being said we now know where the Raptors will pick and will start to examine what might be available for them at 13.

If you are superstitious and worried about selecting 13, aside from the Kobe pick, here are a couple good things about 13. Steve Nash wears 13 and he is Canada's greatest baller. Also for people who are Italian like Andrea Bargnani and Marco Bellinelli the number 13 is lucky. The Raptors could sure use some luck these days. Demar DeRozan was representing the Raptors at the lottery and he looked good but saw little camera time given the results.