The lottery was held tonight and the Chicago Bulls with only the 9th worst record will pick first in this year's draft. they had only a 1.7% chance of winning.

The rest of the order:

2. Heat
3. Timberwolves
4. Sonics
5. Grizzlies
6. Knicks
7. Clippers
8. Bucks
9. Bobcats
10. Nets
11. Pacers
12. Kings
13. Trailblaers
14. Warriors

I wonder if Mike D'Antoni regrets taking the Knicks job now?

I swear the Grizzlies are snake-bit.

Chicago will take Beasley with the #1 pick.
Miami will take Rose with the #2 pick.

And FedEx Forum will continue to be almost empty on game nights!

Nope, the Bulls will take Rose (who is from the Chicago area) with the 1st pick. The Heat wanted Rose, but they will have to settle for Beasley.

Yeah I've been reading that the Bulls are leaning towards Rose and will look into trading Hinrich.

VERY happy about that turn of events!!
Altho I think Derek Rose is an amazing athlete, and is a Chicago son, I think the Bulls have decent enough point guards, and could really use the height and scoring ability of Beasly....
Either way, the Heat will also be picking up a superstar to play along with Wade finally....

It's funny how impressionable GMs are. Because of Chris Paul, it's now an accepted truth that a great point guard is more important than a great big man. As a result, Derrick Rose would be the #1 pick almost regardless of what the team's needs were. Chicago desperately needs a big man who can score inside far, far more than anything, but I suspect they will take Rose and trade Hinrich for whatever they can get.

Smokey, the NBA should have gift wrapped and delivered Beasley to your team! It would have been interesting if Memphis had lucked into the #1 pick. With all their point guards, they obviously wouldn't need another one, but Rose was their local boy.

The team that really got screwed by the lottery was Seattle. They had the 2nd worst record, but get bumped out.

The Grizzlies would have taken Rose, if we had gotten the #1 pick. Only because the Grizzlies need to find a way to put butts in the seats, and Rose would have done that. Most of us were hoping for the #2 pick, so we could get Beasley without any flack- but that dream has faded!

Chicago doesn't need to put butts in the seats, so they are crazy if they don't take Beasley with the first pick.

As for the Grizzlies (believe it or not), Wallace is focused on getting Pau's little brother Marc to come over and play. Marc has improved greatly and went to high school in Memphis and knows the area well. As for the fifth pick, it's too early to tell what to do with it. The only two stars in the draft appear to be Rose and Beasley.

As the Oklahoma City (I mean Seattle), I don't feel sorry for them, we were the worst team in 2007. We got the 4th pick, and they got Durant. If they feel cheated though, I'm willing to give them our 4th pick last year and our 5th pick this year for Durant. I'm generous like that, but not as generous as that sorry Chris Wallace, who gave Pau away for cap space.

Not closely following the NBA, I may be off-base. But is there really much interest in the Grizzlies in Memphis? I'm sort of thinking that after the Sonics will move to Oklahoma City (which I think would be a disgrace), Seattle will finally build a new arena and some other team will move in, and Memphis might be that team.

There are reports here in Toronto that the Raptors may be active based on the results of the draft lottery. These possible scenarios were layed out in today's Toronto Star.

The scenario the Raptors envision is:
The Bulls, who have soured completely on Kirk Hinrich as their point guard, take Memphis' Derrick Rose, a Chicago product represented by an agent with close ties to the Bulls organization, with the No.1 pick. That leaves the Heat to decide whether they want Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley and, if they do, Miami will still be in the market for an accomplished point guard, something Toronto has in T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon.

No one from the Raptors was talking in specifics yesterday, but the chance to move either Ford or Calderon could net someone like power forward Udonis Haslem in some kind of package deal. And with the way general manager Bryan Colangelo likes to think, there's even a likelihood he'll ask about the availability of the No.2 pick in some kind of blockbuster trade.

There is no doubt teams covet Calderon, a restricted free agent, in some kind of sign-and-trade transaction and there's also no doubt the Raptors have fielded several calls about him. And Ford, according to league sources, has plenty of marketability around the league as teams see him as a starter with a manageable contract that pays him slightly more than $8 million a season for the next three.

Pat, if Miami gets "stuck" with Beasley instead of Rose, they'd trade Haslem for Calderon in a heart beat! That would be a heist. T.J. will be a much harder sell. Not only is Calderon better, but everyone will be concerned about Ford's back. And the only way you'd get the #2 pick would be to give Chris Bosh to Miami. I don't think you'd do that. But I like the wheeling and dealing mentality.

Joe, there was a lot of talk about the Hornets soon filling the void in Seattle. Although with their stunning success, the Hornets are finally filling up seats. But New Orleans is a tough market, economically.