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UK’s Davis The Prize In Tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery

Michael Jordan's Bobcats could use the No. 1 pick.

Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, the long-armed freshman that led the Wildcats to the National Championship, is the prize from tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery at 8 on ESPN before the Miami Heat take on the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference fianls.

Davis not quite the prize as some of the other No. 1 projected NBA draft picks. That list includes Patrick Ewing, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

But the 6-foot-10 power forward with the wingspan of a player 7-foot-4 has more sure-fire projections than others taken No. 1 via the draft lottery, which started in 1985. That list is much longer: Danny Manning, Pervis Ellison, Kenyon Martin, Joe Smith, Michael Olowokandi, Elton Brand, Andrea Bargnani, Greg Oden and Andrew Bogut, among others.

Jay Bilas, the ESPN analyst, for one told USA Today that Davis “is a sure-fire future all-star. I don’t have a lot of question marks about him. I think he’s going to continue to get better and better.”

Michael Jordan’s Charlotte Bobcats had the league’s worst record this year and therefore has the best change to land the pick among the 14 teams in the lottery at 25 per cent. The Washington Wizards have a 19.9 per cent chance and New Orleans Hornets at 14.8 round out the top three. The other 11 teams are, in order of likelihood of getting the top pick are: Sacramento, Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey) Nets, Golden State, Toronto, Detroit, Minnesota, Portland, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Houston.

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