CHICAGO - In today’s NBA, analytics-driven thinking rules many of the machinations of the league much the way the dynastic Golden State Warriors have for four seasons. Rarely is a decision made – be it offensive shot selections or defensive schemes, lineup combinations or offseason additions – without them being precisely planned, dissected and/or analyzed from every imaginable angle.
Then, there’s the NBA Draft Lottery, this whimsical, fickle and downright zany process that can dictate the fate of a basketball franchise for generations. In a sport that is becoming increasingly controlled by analytics and process-driven thinking, the lottery flies in the face of all conventional wisdom with its odd randomness, using ping-pong balls instead of basketballs to shape the future of franchises.