If the favorites, the Vancouver Grizzlies won the 1997 lottery.....

[irishock]

What'd happen?

[Trainwreck2100]

The Orlando Magic would have an assload of eastern conference titles

[Clipper Nation]

The Grizz literally weren't allowed to win the lottery by NBA rules because owners were all butthurt over Orlando getting back-to-back #1 picks as a young franchise....

[baseline bum]

The Orlando Magic would have an assload of eastern conference titles

This. Vancouver management was horrible, doing stupid shit like handing huge money to Big Country Reeves and drafting Antonio Daniels #4 and then a Steve Francis who wanted nothing to do with them #2. And this in the year after they drafted Mike Bibby. :lol

Then there was Stromile Swift at #2. :rollin

[Latarian Milton]

duncan would probably stay there w/o no significant success until 08, when he got traded to LA and won a few rings together with kobe. duncan is an excellente talent but part of his success is owed to pop imho. if duncan was drafted by another team in 97, it would be unlikely for him to ever join the spurs and work together with pop because san antonio is such a small market that never attracts no big-name free agents, nor would they have enough resources to trade for him

[irishock]

:lol Latarian taking a page out of DMC's book

[Pelicans78]

British Columbia would have been the 51st state.

[JoeTait75]

The Grizz literally weren't allowed to win the lottery by NBA rules because owners were all butthurt over Orlando getting back-to-back #1 picks as a young franchise....

This. Boston was actually the team with the most lottery balls that year, IIRC.

[FromWayDowntown]

This. Boston was actually the team with the most lottery balls that year, IIRC.

Yep.

http://www.nba.com/history/lottery_probabilities.html

[Clipper Nation]

The Grizz might actually have the worst draft history of any team, tbh.....

- Screwed out of a chance at getting Tim Duncan because of NBA rules
- Didn't get to draft a superstar in the stacked '03 draft because they traded away their 2003 first-rounder to the Pistons for Otis Thorpe in 1997 and only protected it for the #1 spot (which they obviously didn't get)
- Wasted countless high first-round picks on the likes of Bryant Reeves, Stromile Swift, and Hasheem Thabeet

Tough to top that, tbh.....

[whitemamba]

The Grizz might actually have the worst draft history of any team, tbh.....

- Screwed out of a chance at getting Tim Duncan because of NBA rules
- Didn't get to draft a superstar in the stacked '03 draft because they traded away their 2003 first-rounder to the Pistons for Otis Thorpe in 1997 and only protected it for the #1 spot (which they obviously didn't get)
- Wasted countless high first-round picks on the likes of Bryant Reeves, Stromile Swift, and Hasheem Thabeet

Tough to top that, tbh.....
them or the blazers tbh...

[kidd_91]

The Grizz might actually have the worst draft history of any team, tbh.....

- Screwed out of a chance at getting Tim Duncan because of NBA rules
- Didn't get to draft a superstar in the stacked '03 draft because they traded away their 2003 first-rounder to the Pistons for Otis Thorpe in 1997 and only protected it for the #1 spot (which they obviously didn't get)
- Wasted countless high first-round picks on the likes of Bryant Reeves, Stromile Swift, and Hasheem Thabeet

Tough to top that, tbh.....

Portland says hello.

[Clipper Nation]

Portland says hello.
True, Portland has fucked up too.... but Memphis' 2003 debacle is like if Portland missed out on drafting ANYONE - Jordan, Barkley, Stockton - in 1984 by trading their pick years earlier in a shortsighted move....

[Mal]

The Grizz might actually have the worst draft history of any team, tbh.....

- Screwed out of a chance at getting Tim Duncan because of NBA rules
- Didn't get to draft a superstar in the stacked '03 draft because they traded away their 2003 first-rounder to the Pistons for Otis Thorpe in 1997 and only protected it for the #1 spot (which they obviously didn't get)
- Wasted countless high first-round picks on the likes of Bryant Reeves, Stromile Swift, and Hasheem Thabeet

Tough to top that, tbh.....

And they are where they are know, because suddenly Z-Bo started caring about winning and Marc Gasol, who was a filler in the trade, dropped like 25kg of fat.

[irishock]

tbh if the lottery was fixed, Boston wins in 1997 no question.