No. 1 Pick Not in Cards for Clippers

The Clippers have to be wondering why they can’t seem to catch a break.

After finishing the regular season with the NBA’s worst record at 17-65, the Clippers had the best chance to end up with the No. 1 pick in Sunday’s draft lottery.

Call it bad luck or just call it owner Donald Sterling’s fate, but the Clippers ended up with the No. 3 selection as New Jersey, which finished with the seventh worst record, moved into the top spot with Vancouver landing the No. 2 pick for this year’s draft to be held June 28 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Elgin Baylor, vice president of basketball operations, represented the Clippers at the lottery and he took the results in stride.

“The way it turned out, we’re at No. 3 but we’re not disappointed because we’ll still get a good player,” Baylor said of the Clippers, who have been a participant 11 times since the league switched to a lottery draft system in 1985.

“We’d be very disappointed if there had been one dominant player like Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal] or a player of that stature who could turn your franchise around immediately.”

The Nets, who fired coach Don Casey after missing the playoffs with a 31-51 record, gained the right to make the No. 1 overall pick despite having had only a 4.4% chance of winning the pingpong ball lottery compared to the Clippers’ 25%.

Principle owner Lewis Katz did not hide his excitement when New Jersey was announced as the lottery winner at the NBA Entertainment Center during halftime of the New York Knick-Miami Heat playoff game.

“It’s so unbelievable, that it’s hard for me to stand here and tell you how I feel,” said Katz about the Nets’ second-ever No. 1 pick. New Jersey had the top choice in 1990 and took forward Derrick Coleman. “My insides are shaking right now. This is it. This is the beginning of something good for the Nets. I really believe that.”

Over the years, the Clippers have had both good and bad experiences with the lottery. Two years ago, they finished with the third-worst record in the league but ended up with the No. 1 pick and later selected center Michael Olowokandi.

Last year, the Clippers had the second-worst record and received the No. 4 pick, which ended up being Lamar Odom.

Baylor said the league’s current lottery system does have some flaws.

“Everyone is trying to figure out a better way,” he said. “But until they come up with a better solution, this is the best one so far.”

The Clippers, who still have to decide on a coach for next season, plan to work out as many players as possible before the draft. Baylor said that the team will probably not draft a center with its first pick but any other position is a possibility.

With power forward Maurice Taylor, the team’s leading scorer the last two seasons, being an unrestricted free agent, the Clippers may want to go with a forward in the draft.

The top big men projected to be lottery picks are Kenyon Martin, a 6-foot-8 forward from Cincinnati, and Marcus Fizer, a 6-8 forward from Iowa State. Both may be taken by the time the Clippers pick.

Which doesn’t bother Baylor because of the number of talented underclassmen and high school players who have already declared for the draft.

“There are quite a few players that rank pretty high,” Baylor said. “We’re going to go with the best player and a player who can make an immediate contribution to the team.”