No. 1 Pick No Guarantee To NBA’s Promised Land
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David Robinson and Tim Duncan
By DERON SNYDER
One of my most unforgettable “Where were you?” sports memories doesn’t involve an actual game or players, although seven teams took part. It was the NBA’s first draft lottery, held Mother’s Day 1985, the day after my Howard University graduation ceremony.
I was a nervous wreck that Sunday in my dorm room at Carver Hall, anxiously watching the lottery broadcast on CBS. When commissioner David Stern announced that the second pick belonged to the Indiana Pacers, I leapt for joy and ran hollering into the hallway: Patrick Ewing was headed to my beloved New York Knicks.
The Knicks never brought me to the next level of celebration (although they came close as I drove Vanessa to the hospital for our second child’s birth and heard Larry Johnson’s four-point play on the radio). But in that regard I’m like most NBA fans, or at least fans of teams that nab the top pick.
Unfortunately, the result of Wednesday’s lottery proceedings is likely to be as good as it gets for the winner.
