It's good being green, or is it?

By John Gottlieb

The Phanatic Magazine

Could the NBA Draft lottery have gone any better?

I don't root for the misfortune of others, but it's interesting that two teams got extremely lucky on Tuesday, while three others, the NBA, and to a lesser degree Greg Oden and Kevin Durant were all screwed.

Kudos to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Supersonics, who both snuck their way in to the top two picks and have changed the faces of their respective franchises.

However, I can't imagine that David Stern had an easy time getting down his Cheerios this morning as he read the morning newspaper. He has two superstars in the making, and instead of having one of them end up in Boston while the other one probably would've gotten Larry Brown back on the court, they will now be playing hoops in the Great Northwest with no one on the East Coast watching.

Seems almost like a waste.

The Blazers are getting younger and better and Oden will eventually lead them deep into the playoffs, but can they play enough defense and how will Oden fare against Yao, Amare, Tim Duncan, etc.?

Who knows where Seattle will be playing basketball before to long. Will Durant be playing Oklahoma City soon? Seattle doesn't have a whole lot of history, making Durant is one of the greatest players in franchise history for a team that's made it to three NBA Finals. Durant doesn't push this team over the top. He certainly makes the Sonics better but they have a long way to go.

Then there are the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies. The Bucks don't get to gripe as much since they probably didn't expect to come down with one of the top two picks. I'm sure they didn't expect to finish sixth either, though. I knew they never should've traded Kareem. Apparently, there are some mistakes you can never pay for.

Then there are the Celtics and the Grizzlies. It's quite funny to see Jerry West complain the day after being robbed of the first pick after the team didn't start trying to win ballgames until after they had secured the worst record in the NBA. I guess coming home empty-handed wasn't such a great curtain call for the NBA logo.

Then there are the Celts. Woe is me. Boston can now complain a little while longer about how the Celtics are missing the luck of the Irish. They lose out Tim Duncan and then 10 years later they lose out on the best big man since the former Wake Forest product.

The dumbfounded look on Danny Ainge's face was priceless enough for Bill Simmons to rethink everything that seemed right in this world. I guess Tommy Heinsohn wasn't as lucky as Boston thought. I'm sure that Corey Brewer will be just as exciting as Oden or Durant.

And let's not forget that this another team that did nothing but sit most of their regular players in the last month and a half of the season. Has Doc Rivers been fired yet?

It was especially enjoyable last night when the greater good of the NBA was sacrificed for the improvement of two struggling franchises on the Pacific.