(Re-posted with permission from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.)
ST. PAUL — The Minnesnowta Chill sent a representative to the COMO Draft Lottery as a formality. The Chill had technically traded away their 2020 first-round pick as part of a deal for DeAndre Jordan in December. But GM Matthew Taylor made sure to slap a protection on the pick on the off chance that (1) his team made the lottery and (2) his team won said lottery with an 8-to-1 ticket. So, with that 12.5 percent chance hanging in the air, 'Snowta was present. If only they would've brought champagne. A dramatic lottery reveal came down to Chaska and St. Louis for the second straight year. In 2019, Chaska earned the right to take Zion Williamson in a controversial ending. This time, Chaska was selected for the No. 2 slot, which would normally be cause for celebration in St. Louis; however, the lottery victory was actually a win for Minnesnowta, and instead of holding a prime pick this season, the Hornets must take another spin of the wheel with Snowta's (unprotected) pick next summer. "YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME," wrote GM Aaron Connolly. "IT HAPPENED AGAIN." (St. Louis did, however, come away with the No. 5 overall pick thanks to their own lottery slip. And the Hornets still own a total of five picks in 2020.) This is not a particularly exciting draft class, but Minnesnowta will have some good options at the No. 1 slot—and maybe even an opportunity to trade the pick if another franchise is enamored with LaMelo Ball, James Wiseman, Anthony Edwards, or another player. Here is the official order of the 2020 COMO Draft, which will be held the morning of Sat., Dec. 5 on Twitter @COMOLeague.
*Lottery pick
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NASHVILLE — No matter the setup, the COMO Draft Lottery seems to engender significant controversy on an annual basis. Monday night was no exception, as the Chaska Moose — making their first-ever lottery appearance — appeared to benefit from a last-minute change of plans. As commissioner Alex Smith was about to announce the No. 2 overall selection, he paused and stated that the next envelope would instead receive the No. 1 overall pick. The precedent for such a move is almost non-existent. Smith called it a "spur-of-the-moment decision to increase drama." So, instead of being given the No. 2 pick, the next envelope — Chaska — got No. 1 and a chance to draft generational talent Zion Williamson in late July. The other team: St. Louis. General manager Aaron Connolly was beside himself, screaming, "Zion was taken from me!" After reviewing the video footage, he asserted, "Each time I watch it, I am more convinced that there are some shenanigans going on." Never mind that some pundits see projected No. 2 pick Ja Morant as a future Hall of Fame selection. Every team that entered the lottery (a six-team group that included expansion franchises Hamburg and Scranton) had its sights set solely on Williamson, a Duke phenom whose 6-foot-7, 285-pound frame and seemingly impossible vertical leap have carried him to near-mythical status before he's even set foot on the professional hardwood. So it's understandable that Chaska general manager Joseph Fafinski unleashed several exclamation points after securing the right to draft Williamson. "Zion!!!!!!" Fafinski shouted. "He was born to graze!" Hamburg and Scranton each had a 10 percent chance of snagging the No. 1 pick, while Chaska, St. Louis, Paisley Park and Colorado all had a 20 percent chance. Colorado was the biggest loser of the night, winding up at No. 5 (though the Top-5 status allowed the Hilltoppers to keep their pick away from St. Louis for one more season). Hamburg was first off the board at No. 6, then Colorado at No. 5, Scranton at No. 4, and Paisley Park at No. 3 before the real drama commenced. Video shows Chaska's envelope being opened by the commissioner's wife, Bridget, before the commissioner decides to change the format of the lottery. In his defense, Smith stated, "I never looked at the envelope until after I announced the change. What you saw on the screen was what I saw. You can even see my left hand covering the slip of paper until the announcement was made." "Furthermore," he said, "I had no incentive to swing the lottery toward or away from St. Louis. This is a championship franchise with an excellent young core and some bright seasons ahead. I'm proud of the work Aaron has done in resurrecting the Hornets from Curt Clauss' trash mountain of squandered potential." Connolly was unswayed. He'd seen multiple other COMO lottery attempts go sideways (Paisley Park general manager Brendan Halleron referenced the 2017 lottery, when the commissioner placed slips of paper inside an acoustic guitar and Kansas City won by virtue of getting stuck inside the instrument for more than a year). "Sure looks like Chaska's envelope was opened prior to that decision being made," Connolly said. Did it remind him of the infamous 1985 NBA Draft Lottery, in which commissioner David Stern allegedly used a frozen envelope to send Patrick Ewing to the New York Knicks? "This might actually top that," he said. "I will not forget this." 2019 COMO Draft order
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Karma's a chameleon; it comes and goes (whoa, whoa). Before Thursday afternoon, the Kansas City Monarchs found nothing but misfortune in the COMO draft lottery. In the 2014 lottery, KC — projected to receive the No. 1 pick — fell to No. 4. The 2015 lottery was even worse; a rash of demerits dumped the hapless Monarchs to No. 10. But after failing to repeat their first-ever playoff appearance, the Monarchs have apparently been saved by the spirit of Johnny Cash. Commissioner Alex Smith and his wife, Bridget, conducted the 2017 lottery with the help of an acoustic guitar and a Cash soundtrack. Each of the five lottery teams — Colorado, Kansas City, Manhattan, Paisley Park and Sunnyvale — was represented by a crumpled ball of paper and tossed into the guitar. Smith was supposed to shake the paper onto a framed photo of Cash, but only four emerged. The fifth was swallowed by the guitar and could not be located. Thinking on the fly, Smith declared that the missing team would receive the No. 1 pick, with the other four scraps competing for spots Nos. 2-5 (the deciding factor: how close were they to Cash's head?). By process of elimination, Kansas City learned that its ball of paper was the one stuck in the guitar, and now the Monarchs have roughly one month to decide what they'll do with the top spot. Here is the official 2017 draft order: 1. Kansas City 2. Manhattan 3. Paisley Park 4. Sunnyvale 5. Colorado 6. Duval United 7. Minneapolis 8. Chaska 9. Manhattan (from Shorewood) 10. Sunnyvale (from Minnesnowta) 11. Sunnyvale (from Newport Beach via St. Louis) 12. Manhattan (from St. Louis) -- 13. Kansas City 14. Manhattan 15. Paisley Park 16. Sunnyvale 17. Colorado 18. Duval United 19. Minneapolis 20. Chaska 21. Kansas City (from Shorewood) 22. St. Louis (from Minnesnowta) 23. Newport Beach 24. Paisley Park (from St. Louis) Notes
LOS ANGELES -- When the results from the 2015 COMO Draft Lottery were broadcast worldwide on Sunday afternoon, Newport Beach owner and general manager Peter Mayer gave a virtual "thumbs up" to the rest of the league. Several thumbs, in fact. His Grizzlies (17-65 last season) had just won the lottery despite possessing the fourth-best odds entering the ceremony, beating out the lowly Minneapolis Player Haterzz (10-72) and the two yet-to-be-named expansion teams. The winning lottery card was the final step in a tanking plan that began almost immediately last fall. Mayer kept star players Russell Westbrook and John Wall glued to the bench while a ragtag team of hacks slowly descended the standings. "My hard work tanking paid off," Mayer said. "Russell was upset with me when I benched him so much, but John Wall was chill with taking a year off. I think Russ will be happier when we use our cap space on a proven superstar and our first-round pick on [Duke center] Jahlil [Okafor], [Kentucky center] Karl [Anthony-Towns], or [Ohio State guard] D'Angelo [Russell]." While Mayer's plan to land a top free agent will likely work out this summer, drafting a star will be much harder than it seems. That's because Minneapolis holds the right to swap first-round spots with Newport Beach either this year or next, and the time seems ripe for Player Haterzz general manager Dan Renfro to pull the trigger. "He might," Mayer said. "Who knows? I'm moving forward and preparing as if the pick is mine to use how I want to use it. If he wants to trigger the clause, we'll deal with it." Dropping from No. 1 to No. 4 (where Minneapolis currently sits) is a bummer this off-season, as Okafor, Towns and Russell have become consensus Top 3 picks. Unsurprisingly, Renfro seems ready to move up. "This is a pretty perfect situation given the deal," he said, referring to last August's draft day trade between the teams that netted the clause. "(Mayer) didn't even think twice about it, if I remember correctly. He was so desperate to get in to the first round plus I don't think he planned to be awful so it double worked out against him." Renfro is expected to make a decision well before the June 25 deadline. Mayer is ready for it, saying 19-year-old Emmanuel Mudiay would be the primary option at No. 4. "We would also look into moving the pick if the right deal came across the table," Mayer said. "Other players could move up our board as well. All we know is we want to bring a championship to Newport Beach." How soon? "This year." Official 2015 Post-Lottery Draft Order 1. Newport Beach* 2. Expansion A 3. Expansion B 4. Minneapolis* 5. Colorado 6. Duval United 7. Shorewood 8. Minnesnowta 9. Chaska 10. Kansas City 11. Rio ----- 12. Newport Beach 13. Expansion B 14. Expansion A 15. Newport Beach (from Minneapolis) 16. Colorado 17. Duval United 18. Minneapolis (from Shorewood) 19. Minnesnowta 20. Chaska 21. Shorewood (from Kansas City) ----- 22. Expansion B 23. Expansion A SHOREWOOD, Minn. -- Prince's plan worked to perfection.
Rio's owner decided mid-season that the Rainmakers wouldn't make the grade come playoff time, and he -- along with general manager Brendan Halleron -- immediately began preparing for the long term. They moved Paul Millsap to Chaska for rising star Victor Oladipo, and slowly descended the standings into eighth place. To cap things off perfectly, Prince and Halleron needed a little Lottery luck, and they got it -- Rio snagged the first overall pick in July's Rookie Draft despite having only a 17.0 percent chance to do so. Rio ping-pong balls came up several times during the selection process. They were discarded after the team had already won the No. 1 pick, but the good energy was hard to ignore. "With my luck, I could've had four of the top six picks," Halleron said. "I was LOL-ing." Halleron said he's open to trading the pick, but he does have his sights set on a couple players. "Since I don't have to smokescreen, I felt Jabari Parker got the perfect situation for now," he said. "It's just a question of (what kind of) player he will become. Marcus Smart is also in a very interesting situation, and I think he will do special things." Kansas City and the yet-to-be-named expansion franchise had 68 percent of the ping-pong balls in the bowl, and 82 percent of the eligible balls after Rio got the No. 1 pick, but the Hollywood Hornets (No. 2 overall) and Minnesnowta Chill (No. 3 overall) beat the odds to snag picks. "Now I know how Sacramento feels every year," Monarchs owner Jack Nowland said. Newport Beach, with only one ball out of the 47 in the bowl, was the only team to gain the pick it was slotted at -- the Grizzlies' ball never came up, and they received the sixth slot, which means the pick will go to Shorewood as part of the Stephen Curry trade. OFFICIAL ROOKIE DRAFT ORDER (Tentatively scheduled for July 31, 2014) 1. Rio Rainmakers 2. Hollywood Hornets 3. Minnesnowta Chill 4. Kansas City Monarchs 5. Expansion Franchise 6. Shorewood Show (from Newport Beach) 7. Minneapolis Player Haterzz 8. Duval United 9. Chaska Moose 10. Shorewood Show --- 11. Rio Rainmakers 12. Hollywood Hornets 13. Minnesnowta Chill 14. Kansas City Monarchs 15. Expansion Franchise 16. Newport Beach Grizzlies 17. Minneapolis Player Haterzz 18. Duval United 19. Chaska Moose 20. Shorewood Show 21. Expansion Franchise (expansion pick) SHOREWOOD, Minn. — League finances will be set by June 26, on which day the first-ever COMO Draft Lottery will be held.
Per league rules, the lottery chances will be as follows: 10. Expansion franchise — 16 ping-pong balls (34.0% chance at No. 1 overall pick) 9. Kansas City Monarchs — 16 ping-pong balls (34.0% chance) 8. Rio Rainmakers — 8 ping-pong balls (17.0% chance) 7. Hollywood Hornets — 4 ping-pong balls (8.5% chance) 6. Minnesnowta Chill — 2 ping-pong balls (4.3% chance) 5. Newport Beach Grizzlies* — 1 ping-pong ball (2.1% chance) *If Newport Beach obtains one of the Top 3 picks, the Grizzlies retain their 1st-round draft pick. If they obtain the No. 4, No. 5, or No. 6 overall pick, the rights to the pick go to the Shorewood Show. On Saturday morning, Commissioner Smith vowed to clean up the league finances by June 26, which will allow the trade window to re-open at that time. |
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