NBA Basketball Draft

The NBA draft is probably the most exciting draft of all the professional sports. Mostly that's because of the unique lottery system in which every team that missed the playoffs potentially could end up with the top pick. So, there's lots of drama.

The 2011 NBA Draft will be held on June 23, 2011 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft will start at 7:00 pm, and will be broadcast on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams will take turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2011 lottery and will have the first pick.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and its players union expires at the end of the 2010 – 11 season, which could potentially affect the draft if there was lockout. But, it currently appears that the draft will occur as planned because the collective bargaining agreement ends on July 1, over a week after the draft.

NBA Draft Lottery

As stated above, the first 14 picks in the draft belong to teams that missed the playoffs; the order was determined through a lottery which picked the three teams that got the first 3 picks. The remaining first-round picks and the second-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win-loss record in the previous season.

The NBA Draft Lottery is held separately, before, the actual draft. The lottery winner would get the first selection in the draft. The term "lottery pick" denotes a draft pick whose position is determined through the lottery, while the non-playoff teams involved in the process are often called "lottery teams".

The lottery is weighted so that the team with the worst record, or the team that holds the draft rights of the team with the worst record, has the best chance to obtain a higher draft pick. The lottery does not determine the draft order in the subsequent rounds of the draft.