Non-lottery NBA Draft Selection for 2013 Finalized

When the NBA regular season ended earlier this week, there were four situations where teams finished with identical records.

In the postseason, the NBA uses these to determine seeding:

Two-Team Tiebreaker:

1. Division winner (this criterion is applied regardless of whether the tied teams are in the same division)

This applies to the Clippers and the Grizzlies, both of which finished with a 56-26 record.  The Clippers secured the fourth seed, thanks to their Pacific division title, which guarantees a top-four seeding. Had the Clippers owned a worse record, they will maintain the top seed, but lose home court advantage.

1. Better record in head-to-head games
2. Higher winning percentage within division (if teams are in the same division)
3. Higher winning percentage in conference games

This applies to the Lakers and Rockets, both of which finished with a 45-37 record, but Los Angeles earned a 28-24 conference record, compared to Houston's 24-28 record. The Lakers and Rockets had split their season series, 2-2. Chicago also owns a 45-37 record, but they are in a different conference, so this does not apply to them at all.

1. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in own conference (including tied teams)
2. Higher winning percentage against playoff teams in opposite conference (including tied teams)

However, when it comes to the NBA Draft (to be held on June 27), it is a little different, as ties are broken via random drawing. On Friday, NBA Executive VP, Strategy and CFO Jason Cahilly and NBA Senior VP and Deputy General Counsel Dan Rube handled the drawing, Denise Pelli from the accounting firm Ernst & Young overseeing the process.

Winning a tie-breaker when it comes to the draft means you have a better drafting position. For a lottery team, that equates to getting more lottery balls for a chance to snag the top overall selection, which will be determined on May 21.

The random drawings took place four times and the results are as follows:

1. For the right to have the 7th-best chance at a top-3 overall pick (36 balls compared to 35 for the 8th-best), Detroit bested out Washington.

2. For the right to have the 11th-best chance at a top-3 overall pick (8 balls compared to 7 for the 12th-best), Philadelphia bested out Toronto.

3. For the right to pick 18th, Houston bested out the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago, with the Lakers earning the right to pick 19th over the Bulls, who will pick 20th.

4. For the right to pick 25th, the Los Angeles Clippers bested Memphis, who will pick 26th.

The complete order of selection now goes like this:

2013 FIRST ROUND DRAFT CHOICE ORDER

The teams entered in the lottery, to be held on May 21, 2013, are as follows (note: the first three picks in the Draft will be determined by the lottery and the remainder of the “lottery teams” will select in positions 4 through 14 in inverse order of their consolidated standings at the end of the regular season):

TEAM                                                                  RECORD         PCT.    LOTTERY CHANCES

                                                                                                                            (out of 1,000)

Orlando                                                                       20-62          0.244                    250

Charlotte                                                                      21-61         0.256                     199

Cleveland                                                                    24-58         0.293                     156

Phoenix                                                                       25-57         0.305                     119

New Orleans                                                                27-55         0.329                     88

Sacramento                                                                  28-54         0.341                     63

Detroit                                                                         29-53         0.354                     36

Washington                                                                  29-53         0.354                     35

Minnesota                                                                    31-51         0.378                     17

Portland[1]                                                                      33-49         0.402                     11

Philadelphia                                                                 34-48         0.415                     8

Toronto[2]                                                                       34-48         0.415                     7

Dallas                                                                          41-41         0.500                     6

Utah                                                                             43-39         0.524                     5

The order for the remainder of the first round picks is as follows:

15.  Milwaukee                                                            38-44         0.463

16.  Boston                                                                  41-40         0.506

17.  Atlanta                                                                  44-38         0.537

18.  Houston (To Atlanta via Brooklyn)                      45-37         0.549

19.  LA Lakers (To Cleveland)                                    45-37         0.549

20.  Chicago                                                                45-37         0.549

21.  Golden State (To Utah via Brooklyn)                   47-35         0.573

22.  Brooklyn                                                              49-33         0.598

23.  Indiana                                                                 49-32         0.605

24.  New York                                                             54-28         0.659

25.  LA Clippers                                                          56-26         0.683

26.  Memphis (To Minnesota via Houston)                  56-26         0.683

27.  Denver                                                                  57-25         0.695

28.  San Antonio                                                          58-24         0.707

29.  Oklahoma City                                                     60-22         0.732

30.  Miami (To Phoenix via LA Lakers & Cleveland)  66-16         0.805

2013 SECOND ROUND DRAFT CHOICE ORDER

31.             Orlando (To Cleveland)

32.             Charlotte (To Oklahoma City)

33.             Cleveland

34.             Phoenix (To Houston)

35.             New Orleans (To Philadelphia)

36.             Sacramento

37/38.        Washington

37/38.        Detroit

39.             Minnesota (To Portland via Boston and Cleveland)

40.             Portland

41/42.        Toronto (To Memphis)

41/42.        Philadelphia

43.             Milwaukee

44.             Dallas[3]

45.             Boston (To Portland)

46.             Utah

47.             Atlanta

48.             LA Lakers[4]

49.             Chicago

50.             Houston (To Atlanta)

51.             Golden State (To Orlando via Denver and New York)

52.             Brooklyn (To Minnesota)

53.             Indiana

54.             New York (To Washington)

55.             Memphis

56.             LA Clippers (To Detroit)

57.             Denver (To Phoenix via LA Lakers)

58.             San Antonio

59.             Oklahoma City (To Minnesota)

60.             Miami (To Memphis)

*Please note that teams that finished the regular season with identical records will select in the second round in the reverse of the order in which they select in the first round, provided, that if more than two teams are tied, then, as among the tied teams, each tied team will select one position earlier than it selected in the first round, except that the tied team that selected earliest in the first round shall, among the tied teams, select latest in the second round.  With respect to the ties between Detroit and Washington (29 and 53; 0.354 pct.); and Philadelphia and Toronto (34 and 48; 0.415 pct.):  since the order of selection in the first round for this set of teams may change based on the results of the Draft Lottery, the order of selection in the second round cannot be determined until after the Draft Lottery is conducted (on May 21, 2013).

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[1] This pick may be conveyed to Charlotte.

[2] This pick may be conveyed to Oklahoma City via Houston.

[3] This pick may be conveyed to LA Lakers.

[4] This pick may be conveyed to Dallas.