Before tonight's Game 1 of the Miami Heat-Detroit Pistons Eastern Conference Finals series, the NBA held another playoff staple-the NBA Draft Lottery. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the lottery, it is an annual event that the NBA hosts to determine the top three picks of each draft. Any of the 14 non-playoff teams can slip into the top three, but the NBA uses a sliding-scale odds system that gives the league's worst teams the highest probability of doing so. However, sometimes the odds are defied and a team that barely misses the playoffs ends up with the top pick. For example, the Orlando Magic were the lottery team with the best record during the 1992-1993 NBA season, yet somehow managed to luck out and win the number one pick.

Even though the NBA has taken drastic measures to prove the fairness of the lottery, many skeptics remain. At times, I almost agree with them. Doesn't it seem a little fishy that the Cleveland Cavaliers landed the first pick the year that Ohio's favorite son and future MVP candidate LeBron James became draft eligible? Or that the New York Knicks, the team with the NBA's biggest market, managed to land the top pick in the first ever NBA Draft Lottery?

In my opinion, the controversy only adds to what usually already is must-see TV. That being said, here is the live journal that I jotted down during the lottery...

Pre-Lotto Hype

4:40 PM PT - Great. ESPN lead sportscaster Dan Patrick is hosting this shindig. He is interviewing NBA Commissioner David Stern right now. I'm not a big fan of either of these two, so the TV is on mute for now. Listening to the new Gnarls Barkley CD St. Elsewhere instead.

4:42 PM PT. - Here we go... Stern's goofy bonds stooge is carrying out the envelopes that contain the secret order of the first 14 picks of the upcoming 2006 NBA Draft. Commercial break...

Steve Zissou isn't the only one with a bonds stooge.

4:44 PM PT - A X-Men: The Last Stand commercial is on now. Yes, I am a X-Men fan. Does that mean that I am secretly 16? No, I'm 27, meaning that at least one of us in the Next Great Sportswriter II contest is actually of age.

4:45 PM PT - Back to the lottery... The Philadelphia 76ers are using team president Billy King as their good-luck representative. Is that a good idea? After all, this is the guy that turned the Sixers, a borderline title contender a few years back, into a lottery team in the first place. The spot is typically designated for someone with good karma. Take the Orlando Magic for example, they are using senior vice president Pat Williams. Williams has represented the Magic all three times that the team has landed the first pick.

4:47 PM PT - The Boston Celtics are using JoJo White, who was a great player for the Celts in the 1970's as the team's rep. Apparently not only did he bring one of Red Auerbach's cigars, but he is also wearing underwear. He didn't even say lucky underwear, he just said that he brought underwear. Weird. Patrick just made a completely unfunny wisecrack about White's undys. He thinks he's doing stand-up now or something.

4:49 PM PT - Patrick just asked Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson if he would trade back the lottery pick that the New York Knicks sent him for C Eddy Curry. Yeah, Paxson really wants an overweight malcontent with a history of heart problems back in exchange for what should be a top-five pick.

4:50 PM PT - Before I announce the top 14 picks, here are each team's percentage-wise odds of winning the first pick:

2006 NBA Draft Lottery Odds

Portland Trail Blazers - .250

Chicago Bulls - .199

Charlotte Bobcats - .138

Atlanta Hawks - .137

Toronto Raptors - .088

Minnesota Timberwolves - .053

Boston Celtics - .053

Houston Rockets - .023

Golden State Warriors - .022

Seattle Sonics - .011

Orlando Magic - .008

New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets - .007

Philadelphia 76ers - .006

Utah Jazz - .005

The 2006 NBA Draft Lottery Countdown

Here is the order, announced in reverse order for dramatic affect...

14. Utah Jazz... No surprise here...

13. Philadelphia 76ers... King wasn't exactly a rabbit's foot, was he...

12. New Orleans... Still in order...

11. Orlando Magic... Pat Williams couldn't do it this time...

10. Seattle Sonics... Seattle has still never had the first pick...

9. Golden State... Still no surprises...

8. Houston Rockets... This could really help them next year...

7. Boston Celtics... Ditto here...

6. Minnesota Timberwolves... Still no surprises...

5. Atlanta Hawks... Toronto moves up...

Will the Hawks really pick yet another small forward?

4. Portland Trail Blazers... The worst pick the Blazers could possibly end up with...

Another commercial break...

4:52 PM PT - This commercial is referring to soccer as football on American TV. This is an outrage! I'm calling my Congressperson. Whoever is responsible for this blatant pushing of inaccurate propaganda needs to be punished!!

OK, I'm sorry for that. I turned into Michael Douglas from Falling Down for a moment there. What can I say? I'm just not a big soccer fan.

4:55 PM PT - And we're back on again...Three teams remain-Toronto, Charlotte and Chicago...

3. Charlotte Bobcats... Adam Morrison could really help fill the seats...

2. Chicago Bulls... The Bulls should unload this pick. K.G. would look real good in red and black...

1. Toronto Raptors... Man, new Raptors President Bryan Colangelo has to love his new gig. More on this development, along with some of the others, here in a moment...

4:57 PM PT - Patrick just suggested to Bryan Colangelo that the Raptors take a PG with the first pick. Has he even glanced at this draft class? Picking UCONN PG Marcus Williams with the first overall pick would make the Raptors lottery pick of Rafael Araujo a few drafts back look brilliant. Patrick is really on a roll here.

4:59 PM PT - After cracking yet another underwear joke (his third of the night) Patrick approaches Trail Blazers President Steve Patterson and asks him if he is "disappointed" after his Blazers slipped all the way down to the fourth pick. Who is this guy? Of course he's disappointed. Look at his face, Patterson looks like he has just lost his first-born child or something. Now the Blazers will be lucky if they can even draft local product and Gonzaga star Adam Morrison and boost ticket sales. Patrick has some nerve, doesn't he? He constantly aims to bring out the worst in people. Then again, maybe that is what makes him so successful.

Looks of the Kingsford Charcoal guy, ego of King James.

5:00 PM PT - Patrick is interviewing Bobcats G/F Gerald Wallace now. Wallace looks so nervous that I wouldn't be surprised if there was a pool of urine beneath him on the floor. Plus, he sounds like Barry White. His voice can't be that deep naturally. He's Snoop Doggin' it for sure. ESPN is cutting away to...

5:02 PM PT - The Heat-Pistons game, which tips off in a few minutes. With the Spurs getting kicked to the curb last night, I hope the Pistons get bounced next. How bad would it be for the NBA after such an entertaining season to have either the Pistons or the Spurs in the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive season? That will be the case if the Pistons make the Finals. Personally, I'm pulling for a non-boring Heat-Dallas Mavericks Finals. Dirk Nowitzki and Dwayne Wade would give the Finals some much-needed star power. Plus, the Mavs are as fun to watch as any team in sports right now and I'd do almost anything to see Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban after his Mavs won it all. I'm not so sure that he wouldn't go streaking through the arena Frank-from-Old School style.

Will Cuban go "Frank the Tank" on us if the Mavs win it all?

The Aftermath

Honestly, I'm just glad that I don't have to listen to Dan Patrick any longer. The only things that bug me more than him right now in the world of sports are the Babe-Bonds saga, Rasheed Wallace bemoaning every foul called on him, and the Miller Lite "Man Law" commercials currently airing during the NBA games.

By the way, those commercials are horrid. There is no way that I'm going to let a bunch of has-beens (Burt Reynolds), B-listers (Eddie Griffin, Triple H), and no-names (a rodeo star and some guy who survived getting hit by a train) tell me what my laws of manhood should be. The "you poke it, you own it" rule is a pathetic attempt at a sexual innuendo, and the other commercials are even worse. Does Miller Lite actually think that I want to see Triple H rip his shirt off. The dude is straight flabby now, plus I already saw Gilbert Arenas do the same thing almost 90 times this season.

Anyway, back to the draft... The Raptors absolutely made out here, but who's the pick? This draft is jam-packed with forwards and the Raptors already have emerging stars Charlie Villanueva and Chris Bosh. I think that the Raptors should take Italian 7-foot sensation Andrea Bargnani. CB4 can play center and CV3 is a natural small forward, adding Bargnani at the power forward spot would give them a fantastic nucleus to build around. Even if Bargnani is nothing more than a poor man's Nowitzki, this frontcourt would still eventually be among the best, if not the best, in the NBA.

I think that the Bulls also lucked out. The Bulls were a playoff team (albeit not for very long) this season, and now they will add the second pick into the mix. Like I suggested earlier, the Bulls should dangle the pick out in front of the Timberwolves, along with Luol Deng and Tyson Chandler, and see if a Kevin Garnett trade can materialize. A core of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni, and K.G. would give the Bulls a team talented enough to potentially win the East. The Timberwolves would make out as well, getting back Deng, Gordon and a future-star big man like Tyrus Thomas or LaMarcus Aldridge to add to Ricky Davis and the sixth-overall pick.

2:11 AM PT - Well, I'd love to stay and ramble on and on all night long, but my girlfriend graduates from college tomorrow and is having a crisis picking her outfit. I fear that she might just fire the stiletto she's holding at me if I neglect her any longer. If you made it this far, thanks for rolling with me 1,800-plus words deep and check back for more material later on in the week.