The Blake Griffin Sweepstakes is Here!

I suppose I could write about the enormous Celtics/Magic game tonight and the potential repercussions it will have on playoff seeding and home court advantage in the East. I could look at current playoff match-ups too. But where's the fun in that? See, it's about that time in the NBA season when certain teams not only know that they have absolutely no shot of making the playoffs but they might not even win another game. And some are okay with that, fans be damned. This particular draft class isn't the strongest, so the worse your record is after 82 games, the better chance you'll have in drafting the six foot ten powerhouse from Oklahoma. It has been more prevalent over the past two or three seasons, but teams like Washington, Memphis and Minnesota have entered full, complete and utter TANK mode.

First, let's take a look at the current "lottery" standings. Highlighted almost exclusively from the Western Conference we have:

Sacramento -
Washington -
LA Clippers 1.5
Memphis 2
Minnesota 4.5
OKC 4.5

The Warriors and Raptors are right there as well as the only other teams mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Out of all those teams, the only one that I feel bad for is Minnesota. Big Al was playing fantastic basketball before he blew out his knee and the team went into a tailspin. Maybe you could drum up some pity for the Wizards with Haywood and Arenas being out the whole year, but then again, they shouldn't have signed Agent Zero(Games Played) to that insane $111 million contract. Memphis and the Thunder have some great young players who might start exhibiting some "nagging injuries" over these last 12 or so games. Honestly, who the hell is going to the OKC/Toronto game this Friday night. Even if everyone is going to play? Attendance is in the crapper as it is because of the economy, so are these teams really going to lose that much more money by trotting out a D-League squad for a few more weeks? If it means a shot at Griffin? As for the Clip, well, I think they've been in the sweepstakes since November.


So Sacramento might have the upper hand here. They still have to play Phoenix twice, New Orleans, San Antonio, the Lakers, Rockets and Nuggets. That's seven more losses right there. (Did they seriously only win one game against the entire Eastern Conference this year? That's fantastic or depressing depending on how you look at it.) Then again, the Wiz play three teams still battling for playoff spots in the East, Cleveland twice and Boston. But let's not rule out those pesky Clippers. They have a stretch of San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Denver and the Lakers coming up. Any one of these teams could get that 25% chance when the lottery rolls around.

HOWEVER!

Look what happened to the Heat last year. They were far and away the worst team in the league but somehow didn't end up with the first pick. Chicago did. A team that had the ninth best chance. NINTH! (1.7% for those keeping track at home) Which team holds that coveted spot as of today? The friggin' Knicks. A team that has shown signs of tankage lately themselves losing five in a row. Could that mean the eventual departure of David Lee? Thing is, Griffin is a stud. He averaged 30 and 15 this year and unlike my man B-Easy, he's a legit 6-10 with some bulk. Whereas last year, there was some debate as to who would be picked first, there isn't the slightest sliver of doubt this year. So who else is out there? Question marks, that's who. Guys like Ricky Rubio, Brandon Jennings, Hasheem Thabeet and Steph Curry to name a few. All guys with great potential or a certain valuable skill, but nowhere near a complete package or even a sure thing. As usual, there are no college seniors projected to go in the lottery.

How obvious and thorough will these teams be in their quest to suck the most? Will David Stern ever step in or does he think no one notices this stuff because of how good the top teams are? Will a team with a less than 2% chance get a crack at Griffin? The regular season ends April 15th and the draft lottery occurs on May 19th. Between now and then, we are in store for some possibly epic failure all in front of a televised audience. (The Kings do have a TV deal, right?)