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This is the day the Nets ask themselves, “What the heck were we thinking, playing that swell .333 ball last season?”
Suddenly, the Bobcats winning all of seven games looks brilliant. The long range plans of the Wizards, Cavaliers, Hornets and Kings seem impeccable. Yeah, it’s the NBA Draft Lottery.
So the 14 teams that collected their belongings the day after their regular seasons ended all have renewed hope through Wednesday night’s festivities in Manhattan. Rarely has there been such consensus on the No. 1 pick — Kentucky’s 6-foot-10 power forward Anthony Davis.
Quality can be found elsewhere, like in Davis’ 6-foot-6 teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Florida’s 6-foot-5 guard Bradley Beal, 6-foot-9 Kansas forward Thomas Robinson or UConn 6-foot-11 center Andre Drummond. But none of those is Davis.
“He is a game-changer,” said Kentucky teammate Doron Lamb, a possible first- and definite second-round selection. “A game-changer in every way.”
As one NBA exec said, “it’s not even close” finding another candidate who could challenge Davis for the draft’s top spot.
Charlotte, by virtue of a 7-59 horror season, has a 25 percent chance to earn Davis with the top pick. General manager Rich Cho will be on stage with Curtis Polk, vice chairman, backstage.
The Nets, who after losing a tie-breaker with the Kings would slot in sixth if form holds — and immediately surrender the pick — have a 7.5 percent chance to land Davis. They will keep their own pick only if the gods of fate decide to place them at one, two (8.33 percent chance) or three (9.36 percent chance). Anywhere else, and the pick goes to Portland through the Gerald Wallace trade.
So the Nets roughly have a 25 percent chance to get a top-three pick, which would be the sixth in their history. Their only pick at present is No. 57 in the second round.
The Nets will be represented up front on stage by Irina Pavlova, the president of owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Sports and Entertainment USA. Milton Lee, the Nets GM for Minor League Operations, will be in the back room. GM Billy King should be sitting in the audience, ready to cuss out the whole process if the Nets land out of the top three.
Last year’s out-of-the-blue winners, the Cavs, again will be represented by Nick Gilbert, 15, son of owner Dan Gilbert. They hold the third pick if form holds. The Cavs won the rights to Kyrie Irving last year via the Clippers pick, which should have been No. 8.
Another owner’s son, Zach Leonsis, 23, Washington’s manager of business development, will represent the Wizards, who should have the second pick with everything falling into place.
But back in 2010, Washington moved from fifth to first, crushing the Nets’ spirits after their biblically awful 12-70 season. So there is hope for the Nets now.
The Nets twice before finished with the top prize, drafting Derrick Coleman in 1990 after finishing at a league-worst 17-65. Ten years later, in 2000, they also got the top pick, Kenyon Martin, when they moved up from seven.
“It’s a big day,” King said. “What the lottery does, more than anything, is gives you certainty in what the draft order is. Then you can start making calls on who has what picks … We’ll find out who has multiple picks.
“I always look at it as the day that starts the races of the true offseason of player movement and trades being made.”