Dunleavy Eats Right, Has Robinson in Sight : Pro basketball: Trip to deli is lucky for Milwaukee coach, who wins lottery for No. 1 NBA draft pick.

By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER

May 23, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SECAUCUS, N.J. —

Eleven team representatives came from around the country Sunday for the NBA’s 10th annual draft lottery, good luck charms in tow.

All they got for lugging those bags of mementos were increased odds for a hernia, because the answer was here all along, a few minutes away in New York City and too big to carry, anyway.

Milwaukee Coach Mike Dunleavy knew. That’s why he went to the Stage Deli in Manhattan for brunch, because he heard General Manager Pat Williams went there the previous two years and the Orlando Magic got the No. 1 selection both times.

Today, there are two good bets. Dunleavy and the Milwaukee Bucks will take Glenn Robinson of Purdue with the top pick in the June 29 draft after winning the lottery held at NBA Entertainment headquarters. And, the Stage Deli will be packed on a Sunday morning next May.

The new heavily weighted lottery system, brought on after Orlando was No. 1 in 1993 despite barely missing the playoffs, worked. Every bad team stayed where it finished in the standings, meaning the Clippers landed No. 7 and the Lakers No. 10, and the dreadful teams will get the top four picks.

It worked best for the Bucks, who were 20-62 last season and are desperate to get bigger. Dunleavy ordered a pastrami-and-cheese and Robinson, then got it all to go.

“It’s kind of a helpless feeling being up there (on stage),” said Dunleavy, who raised his fists to punctuate the moment.

Drafting Robinson would probably mean keeping Vin Baker out of position at center, but Dunleavy was quick to remind that the versatility of both means they could fit together and Baker said Robinson gets his vote, too.

“We can definitely play together,” said Baker, who represented the Bucks at the actual lottery before the envelopes were opened on stage on live television.

The Bucks were the only team to move up from their finish in the standings, and that was from fourth to first. They had a 16.3% chance of getting the top pick, which the standings would have given to Dallas.

The Mavericks will pick second.

After No. 1 and Robinson, it becomes a guessing game.

“When it comes time for our pick, we’ll take the best available player, but we believe that we’ll be able to get a quality player picking at No. 7,” Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor said. “After the first two or three players are selected, I think the pool of talent available is wide open.”

Said Laker General Manager Jerry West, who watched the proceedings from the Forum: “There was some excitement (in previous years) when a team late in the draft could win and move up. . . . Now, there’s none. Maybe they can just take the four worst teams and let everyone else save the time and effort of going to New York and taking all that extra luggage with all their lucky charms.”

They can leave it behind anyway. Everything they need will be waiting in Manhattan.

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this story.

NBA Draft

The order in which teams will select in the first round of the NBA draft on June 29.

1. Milwaukee

2. Dallas

3. Detroit

4. Minnesota

5. Washington

6. Philadelphia

7. Clippers

8. Sacramento