Winners and Losers of the 2010 NBA Draft Lottery

The city that already hosts The White House, The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial now gets to add "The Great Wall" to the list of D.C. landmarks. The Washington Wizards, after a season that saw their overpriced point guard get suspended and their two other cornerstone sent away for below market price, won the top overall pick in tonight's NBA Draft lottery. They highlight tonight's winners and losers.

WINNERS

1. Washington Wizards: It was probably a bittersweet moment for Wizards fans when the announcement came that their team will be picking first in next month's Draft. After all, this was a team that was thought to be a playoff contender before the season started. It was a team that featured a Big Three of Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. It was a team of promise. Now, it's a disaster zone. Jamison and Butler were sent away in one-sided give-away deals and you have to figure Arenas, suspended for foolishly bringing guns into an NBA locker room, is going to be the next one to go. Still, the Wizards get a new franchise face in likely #1 pick John Wall, the heralded point guard out of Kentucky. Also, with all the money jettisoned in the Butler/Jamison deals, the Wiz may be players(not exactly in the LeBron sweepstakes, but still) in one of the most star-studded free agent classes in years. The presence of Wall may entice somebody to take Washington's money. While it's a long shot to expect Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh or LeBron James to come to the nation's capital, maybe the Wiz get lucky and talk a Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire into pairing with Wall. It may be improbable, but the odds are a little better than they were 24 hours ago.

2. Philadelphia 76ers: All the hype surrounding Wall has dwarfed the fact that Philly, sitting at #2, could end up with the better prospect in National Player of the Year Evan Turner. The distance between Turner and Wall is so minuscule, it's not even worth mentioning. In fact, there are many who believe Turner is the best prospect in this Draft. With the Sixers picking 2nd, they'll let Washington make their decision for him. The hope is that Wall goes first, and the versatile, rangy 6'7 Turner slips to 2. With the Sixers taking Jrue Holiday last year to be their point guard of the future, there might not be as much of a need for Wall as there is for Turner. If Washington somehow takes Turner, the Sixers could always auction off the pick and try to nab a king's ransom(although I'd call that unlikely). Adding Turner to a team that already has athletic forwards Andre Iguodala, Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and Elton Brand as well as young guards Holiday and Lou Williams transforms the Sixers from bottom of the barrel in the East to playoff contender.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves: Sure, they dropped further than they were slotted to go but they saved themselves the embarrassment of taking home the top pick. Could you imagine the fiasco if Minnesota had to pass on John Wall because they foolishly drafted point guards Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio last year? The way the draft is shaping up, the T'Wolves could nab Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson at #4. Johnson's an athletic forward in the Shawn Marion mold with a huge wingspan. He's the type of athletic wing player that would fit in nicely with Flynn(or Rubio, if he ever comes to Minnesota). The Timberwolves are talking about moving up to nab Wall or Turner and you wonder if they'll finally decide to dangle Rubio as trade bait, but I can't see Washington passing up a chance at Wall to roll the dice on a guy who may not even come to the States this year(Then again, these are the Wizards).


LOSERS

1. New Jersey Nets: I've always been a fan of the lottery because it keeps teams honest from tanking for elite college prospects. However, you have to feel bad for the Nets. There was no question this was the worst team in basketball last year, even with rising stars Devin Harris, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Brook Lopez. With the Nets under new ownership and eventually moving to the bright lights of Brooklyn, the team needed a fresh face to be its poster child. Instead, the team with the best shot at the top pick gets to pick third in a draft that has two franchise players. Georgia Tech freshman power forward Derrick Favors may be a solid prospect and the type of banger that will complement Lopez for years to come, but he isn't putting butts in seats and he isn't grabbing the interest of the man Nets fans were waiting years to come to the Meadowlands: LeBron James. Assuming Favors is the pick at 3, the Nets now have to hope that the potential move to New York and the presence of partial owner Jay-Z can lure a guy like King James or someone of elite status to come to the Nets. Wall might have gotten James' attention. Favors? Probably not. You had to expect the Nets weren't getting the top pick once they finished with the NBA's worst record. After all, the worst team hasn't gotten the top pick since the Magic took Dwight Howard in 2004. Still, a team that got no breaks their way all last year needed this one badly and, instead, watched their shot at a dynasty bounce off the rim.

2. Los Angeles Clippers: They weren't going to pick in the top two anyway unless they got Blazers in '07 or Rockets in '02 lucky, but the Clippers, much like the Nets, were hoping to get a bounce their way from the lottery gods in an attempt to lure LeBron James to the West Coast. Instead, they'll have to settle for a guy like Kentucky headcase DeMarcus Cousins or lone UNC bright spot Ed Davis to add to their stable of talented youngsters. LeBron was a long shot to join the Clippers anyway. After all, owner Donald Sterling is a racist cheapskate and an elite star of LeBron's magnitude is not going to want to share the same building with Kobe Bryant while playing for a team that seems to have the hardwood version of the Madden Curse. Still, it would have been fun to see what the Clippers would have done with a top-3/top-5 pick in a deep draft and see the kind of measures Sterling would go to to try to convince LeBron or Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh to come to Hollywood. Instead, they'll have to welcome another uncertain prospect and hope that Blake Griffin's busted knee was just an aberration.

3. John Wall: As bad as the Nets were last year, at least they had a young nucleus around them. They also had the scant hope that LeBron James or another top level free agent would sign with them. There was also the allure of possibly playing in New York when the Nets go to Brooklyn. Instead, "The Great Wall" gets to be city mates with President Obama and be the face of a franchise that just sold off its best assets for half price. Wall will take over a team that features two of the NBA's biggest nutjobs in small forward Josh Howard and waiting-to-be-reinstated point guard Gilbert Arenas. You have to think the Wizards will do whatever it takes to keep a toxic knucklehead like Agent Zero from poisoning their new cornerstone, but Arenas' ridiculous contract is harder to move than JaMarcus Russell in a line at Golden Corral. Howard's the same deal, even if he does have an expiring contract. Even if the Wizards COULD move Arenas and Howard, that leaves Wall to carry a Wizards team with absolutely no talent around him(unless, of course, they make a few big signings or trades). If you're a Wizards fan, you have to wonder, as bad as last season was, was it worth giving away Jamison and Butler now that you know that the faint dream of John Wall coming to town has come to fruition?