2007 Draft Lottery Ping Pong Balls Have Spoken

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

With a straight face....the league announced today that this is the results of its draft lottery.

1. Phoenix Mercury
2. San Antonio Silver Stars
3. Chicago Sky
4. Minnesota Lynx
5. Charlotte Sting
6. New York Liberty

Draft order for remainder of 1st round

7) Washington
8) Seattle
9) Houston
10) Indiana
11) Sacramento
12) Detroit
13) Los Angeles
14) Connecticut

Those like me not as math inclined...Phoenix had a 2.5% chance of getting said #1 pick. Maybe when Phoenix makes the playoffs the league will stop giving (eh..I mean the ping pong balls) the Mercury a top 3 pick.

 

[StevenHW]

IIRC, the S.A. Silver Stars had the big chances to take the #1 pick in the 2005 and 2006 Drafts through the WNBA's lottery system. But they were denied both times!

In 2005, the Silver Stars (who had the worst record in '04 by going 9-25) was the odds-on favorite to get the #1 pick. But the Charlotte Hornets suprisingly got the #1 pick (which they used to select Janel McCarville), while the Silver Stars ended up with #4 and selected Kendra Wecker, who later got injured in her first game and was out for the rest of the season.

In 2006, the Hornets and Silver Stars were ranked #1 and #2 respecitvely, for getting the top slots. But the ping-pong balls bounced toward Minnesota's way, and the Lynx selected Seimone Augustus for their #1 pick. The Hornets got #3 (Monique Currie) and the Silver Stars took Sophia Young at #4.

http://www.wnba.com/features/lottery_index_05.html

http://www.wnba.com/features/lottery_06newsandnotes.html

http://www.wnba.com/features/lottery_index_07.html

Seems that the poor Silver Stars are jinxed when it comes to the WNBA Lottery. And the Mercury seems to get more breaks from the lottery than they deserve. This might be the first time that a team with a over-.500 record to get the #1 draft pick slot.

I am beginning to wonder if the new PHX Mercury G.M. Ann Meyers had anything to do with the right ping-pong balls selected, or this could be a league conspiracy to get Taurasi the attention that the league wants.

Maybe the Silver Stars should never have left Salt Lake City!

BTW, was this lottery televised anywhere? Maybe NBA-TV?

 

[cometsluv4play]

With a straight face....

that pretty much says it all doesn't it?!?

 

[StevenHW]

The league officials must have been struggling to contain their laughter!

 

[Sirius]

Oh well, what can you do?

If Phoenix was smart they'd trade the pick for a post player, since this is supposed to be a guard-heavy draft and they have enough of those.
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[Luv13fan]

The League has been chomping at the bits to see Diana on the Play-off stage.

Do I think it is a conspiracy theory? I think they are tickled pink that PHO has the moves to get better. Then again, Hell they have Diana and Cappie. Penny Taylor for that matter. What else could they need? They got rid of a post player in Plenette Pierson, who really hurt us in the finals. So they have had the Post talent in Pho.
Seems to me, they have lacked the ability to adequately develop a post game that works with the all talented DT.

As a former post player, one of the things that really miffed me was Ball Hogging Shooting guards. This is no commentary on DT or Cappie for that matter. But DT and Cappie are gonna want to shoot the Rock. The League is gonna want them to shoot the rock.

So what self respecting Dominant post Player is gonna want to go to PHO, Bust their Butts Rebounding and Defending, and see the Ball Once a Month? Perhaps on an occasional miss.

There in lies the problem for Phoenix. Will there be enough basketball to go around. I know if I had to match up with the likes of Demya, Bekkah, Yo, Lauren, Janelle, Lisa, Nicole Ohlde, Vanessa, Chantelle, and Michelle Snow, I would want to see the basketball. And I would definately be frustrated If I didn't.

So I am not declaring them Play-off Contenders just yet.

But as a fan of the league I think the current lottery system sucks.

SASS was miserable, in 2004 and they get beat by Charlotte for the Lottery.
Charlotte was horrible and Minny beats them out.
Poor New York and Charlotte could really use good draft picks, And Who comes out ahead, Phoenix and SASS.
SASS Btw is the real winner in this.
I know they ended up with a bad record, but up until Chantelle busted her Knee Cap they were the in the Drivers seat for that fourth and Final Play-off Spot. They Seem to have all the pieces and Getting another young back court player can only help their effort.

With only 14 teams the lottery pool is too small. I don't see why they can't give the worse team the #1 pick. It would be really obvious if teams were purposely tanking to get a better draft pick. And it would do more for the parity of the sport to have bad teams get the talent to get better rather than Stacking the Deck for Phoenix in the name of randomness.

But I don't believe in Conspiracy Theory.

 

[Monty'sBiggestFan]

I'd like not to believe in conspiracy theories but this REALLY REALLY REALLY makes it hard. I had contended, along with one of early Monarchs broadcasters that the league got SO jazzed about the prospect of Chamique Holdsclaw ending up in her hometown city of New York that they invented the lottery as a way to help her get there. Just didn't juice the balls enough back then I guess.

But with the "luck" the Mercury have had, (or "karma" as GM Meyers put it) I'm having a hard time seeing that sorta luck in the probability tables. If that franchise was truly that lucky, they would have had a championship or two or three by now instead of getting these top 3 picks every year.

I don't think they'll use it tho, I think they'll trade it. The most notable post player in the draft is Davenport and she fits uptempo basketball style, not. They don't need any more guards and the small forwards aren't really lottery pick material either. So they won't need a self respecting post player to decide to go there, they should be able to land one in a trade if they so choose. If they can pry Stepanova back, I think I would declare them a playoff team in 2007. They just need a couple of serviceable post players who don't need shots but can play defense and clean up offensive messes the aerial assault team puts up when they jack up 60-70 shots per night.
That's all they need. As a role playing PF back in the day when I played, I think there are folks like that out there, whether they've been on the Merc roster is an entirely different story.

San Antonio should be formidable and NASTY in 2007. I was afraid of them in 06 AND 05. I submit to you a line up that includes Latta, Ferdinand in the back court (yeah, wrap your head around the speed and athleticism there for a minute) then Young and Biba on the wing (yeah, wrap your head around that for a minute) and if they keep Thomas, stick her at the 4 (yeah, said this was nasty)....and Anderson and maybe a reconnected Feenstra in the middle. Oh yeah, then drop Zolman and Wecker out there for giggles too.

I ain't really crying for anybody in the first five slots because I think they'll all get what they need or someone they at least can use. I'm just harping on the ridiculousness of this lottery result and just how shady it looks.

And yes, I could see the entire freaking league tanking to get Parker. So keep the lottery even though it smacks of set up and rigging. The alternative of having nothing is worse.