Draft Rumors: Cavs, Nuggets tiebreaker decided tonight
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Draft junkies alert. League operations chief Stu Jackson will draw the tiebreakers for the 2003 NBA draft tonight live on NBA TV at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Jackson will have a basketball, cut in half, with two pingpong balls inside. Jackson will dip his hand into the basketball and pull out one pingpong ball. If your team's logo is on the ball, you win the tiebreaker.
If that isn't exciting enough for you, the NBA's asked me to be there, via teleconference, to break down the draft and the tie-break ramifications after Jackson pulls the balls from the basketball.
Of course, the big tiebreaker to watch will be the Nuggets and Cavs. Both teams ended the season with a 17-65 record, meaning the Cavs and Nuggets will have a 22.5 percent chance (or 225 pingpong balls) of winning the top pick. In case both teams fall out of the lottery, the drawing will decide who picks fourth and who picks fifth.
The Wizards and Knicks tied for ninth place in the draft. The winner of the drawing will have a 1.5 percent chance at the top pick and will likely pick ninth if they don't get into the top three. The loser will have a 1.4 percent chance at the top pick and will likely pick 10th.
The rest of the tiebreakers affect teams out of the lottery. The Suns and Celtics are tied for 16th place. The Jazz and Hornets are tied for 18th place. The Hawks and Sixers are tied for 20th place. The Pistons, Blazers and Lakers are tied for 23rd. And the Mavs and Spurs are tied for the 28th pick in the draft.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim feels that Carmelo Anthony made the right decision when he declared for the NBA draft on Thursday. However, he doesn't believe that sop re Hakim Warrick should follow Anthony out the door just yet.
Boeheim told reporters at Anthony's press conference that the sop re had no intention of declaring for the 2003 NBA Draft.
"Well, if he wants to get drafted, by the Army?" Boeheim quipped.
He later added: "I think you should learn not to read the Internet."
Warrick's mother, Queen, also claimed her son is staying in school.
Many NBA scouts feel that Warrick would be a late-lottery to mid-first-round pick if he declared for the draft.
Notre Dame point guard Chris Thomas is waiting for a recommendation from the NBA draft board before deciding whether to enter his name into the draft.
Coach Mike Brey is also tapping his contacts inside the NBA to get an idea where Thomas would be drafted if he declared.
"You've got to sit back and evaluate the whole thing," Brey told the South Bend Tribune. "That takes some time. You have some time to play around with some things and keep your eligibility."
Insider's report on Thursday that Xavier guard Romain Sato was mulling a jump to the NBA drew an angry reaction from his father, Tom Thompson.
"Romain is not interviewing any agents and his plans are to go back to school," Thompson told the Cinncinnati Post. "There is really not much of story. He is not doing anything but coming back to Xavier. He's not going to a Chicago draft camp, that's not happening. There is no question Romain is going to be an NBA player in the future. And there is no question that anybody else in Romain's position wants to go to the NBA one day."
However, the Post did report that sources close to Sato also told them that Sato was considering putting his name in the draft. According to the report, Sato has been discussing his decision with his parents and the Xavier coaching staff.