USA - Oden, Durant prizes of NBA draft lottery

NEW YORK (NBA) - The Memphis Grizzlies hope a nightmarish season ends with the top pick in the NBA draft. The Boston Celtics hope luck may finally be on their side.

Ohio State center Greg Oden and Texas forward Kevin Durant are the prizes of the NBA draft lottery, which will be held on Tuesday night.

Oden and Durant declared for the draft after just one year in college and are expected to be the top picks in the June 28 draft.

Coming off a 22-60 season, Memphis has the best odds of the 14 lottery teams of landing the No. 1 overall pick, at 25% (250 chances out of 1,000).

The Grizzlies' season started without star forward Pau Gasol, who was recovering from a broken foot, and ended with team president Jerry West announcing he will leave the organization
in July. However, the possible addition of the 7ft Oden is likely to turn the fortunes of the franchise.

The Celtics had the league's second-worst record (24-58) meaning odds favor them getting the second pick. They have a 19.9% chance of landing the top pick.

Boston needs no reminders about the 1997 lottery, when a 36.3% chance of landing the top pick and Tim Duncan turned into the No. 3 and No. 6 picks. Instead, Duncan ended up with
the San Antonio Spurs and is trying to win his fourth NBA title for the franchise.

The Celtics will send Hall of Famer Tom Heinsohn to the draft lottery in an attempt to recapture their past glory. Heinsohn won eight championship rings as a player and two more as a coach
with Boston.

"Oden and Durant are potential franchise types," Heinsohn said.

Oden fell just short of leading Ohio State to the national championship. The Buckeyes lost to Florida, which became college basketball's first back-to-back national champions since
Duke in 1991 and 1992.

Oden would have been the top pick in the 2006 NBA draft had the league not passed a rule preventing players from entering directly out of high school.

A highly-touted player since his high school days in Indianapolis, the 19-year-old Oden overcame offseason wrist surgery to average a team-leading 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds
in 32 games.

Oden had 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks in the national championship game against a front line led by Al Horford and Joakim Noah, who also declared for the draft and are considered
lottery picks.

Oden was runner-up to Durant for the Wooden Award, honoring college basketball's best player. Durant declared for the draft on April 10.

The 6-9 Durant led the Longhorns to a 25-10 record, a trip to the Big 12 Conference title game and an appearance in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He led the Big 12 Conference in
scoring (25.8 points), rebounding (11.1) and blocks (67).

Durant also set the league's single-season scoring mark with 903 points, becoming just the second freshman in NCAA history to eclipse 900 points.

The Milwaukee Bucks, who won the draft lottery two years ago and selected Andrew Bogut, have a 15.6% chance of landing the top pick again.

The New York Knicks have just a 1.9 percent chance of winning the lottery. But if they do, the pick will go to the Chicago Bulls. Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas agreed to flip-flop
picks with the Bulls in the deal for center Eddy Curry.

Other teams in the lottery are the Atlanta Hawks (11.9), Seattle SuperSonics (8.8), Portland Trail Blazers (5.3), Minnesota Timberwolves (5.3), Charlotte Bobcats (1.9), Sacramento Kings
(1.8), the Indiana Pacers (0.8), Philadelphia 76ers (0.7), New Orleans Hornets (0.6) and the Los Angeles Clippers (0.5).

The Hawks' pick may be conveyed to the Phoenix Suns and the Pacers' pick may be transferred to Atlanta.

The Toronto Raptors won last year's lottery after finishing with the fifth-worst record. The Raptors took Andrea Bargnani, who finished second in NBA Rookie of the Year voting, and won the Atlantic Division for the first time in franchise history.

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