Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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In less than twenty-four hours, the immediate and long-term future of the Cleveland Cavaliers will be drastically affected.  The Cavs have a 13.8% chance of doing something that has not happened since the Orlando Magic won the lottery in 1992 and 1993.  Winning the lottery would not guarantee a championship or even playoff success, but having two top picks would really move the franchise in the right direction.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, there are plenty of logistics that need to be discussed.  The absolute worst pick the Cavs can get is the 6th pick, and the odds of that are astronomically low.  In order for that to happen, they would have to be surpassed by multiple teams into the top three.

Watching the entire lottery show is one that raises blood pressure of fans across the world.  The draft order is presented from last to first.  Every single pick matters to Cavs fans.  For example, Houston has the highest odds of picking last in the lottery.  If they are not the team awarded the 14th pick, it means that they are going to have a top three pick.  

The draft lottery only determines the top three picks.  If a team moves up in the lottery, they will do so into the top three and other teams are “penalized” and are moved down a slot.  The Cavs will be in relatively good shape if the fourteenth through seventh pick happen and the draft order is in accordance to the best odds.  This will mean that Cleveland is not moving backwards in the lottery positioning.

The actual lottery drawing consists of 1000 pingpong balls that are numbered 1-14.  The Charlotte Bobcats have the highest chance of winning the lottery and they have 250 possible combinations that will give them the first overall pick.  In other words, the Bobcats who have the best odds at winning the lottery have a 75% chance of not getting the top pick.  In fact, they are most likely to select fourth overall with a 35.7% possibility of that happening.  Clearly, Thomas Robinson or Harrison Barnes are not the answer to all of Charlotte’s problems.  

Nobody knows how tomorrow will pan out.  The Cavs have a 13.8% chance of winning the lottery and coming away with Anthony Davis.  They also have a 86.2% chance of not winning the lottery and selecting a much worse player than Anthony Davis.  The only thing that Cavs fans can do is hope that Nick Gilbert can work some of his magic again and bring home a great player for the Wine and Gold faithful.

As I mentioned earlier, the draft lottery on Wednesday could have astronomical repercussions for the Cavs and possibly entire NBA.  If Cleveland can field a team that has Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, they will be a team with some elite young talent with a lot of cap space.  As Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun Sentinal warned Miami Heat fans, there is a certain small forward who may be keeping tabs on the Cavs who has the ability to become a free agent in 2014.  

Wednesday night can potentially setup the Cavs for great long-term success or condemn them into a future of mediocrity.  It is more important than any single game played by the team in the past season.  This is not me using superlatives or being overly dramatic.  There is a major drop off of talent after Anthony Davis and another year of exceptional luck would make the Cavaliers’ future outlook much more positive.  The Cavs lost a lot of games and had some tough growing pains in order to position themselves to potentially draft a superstar teammate for Kyrie Irving to grow with.

Go Cavs and go Nick Gilbert.  Bring it home.  In the meantime, I will be compulsively playing the ESPN Lottery Mock Draft machine.