<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It was a banana peel on the sidewalk. It was Charlie Brown running toward the tee, kicking and watching Lucy yank the football away. It was sickeningly predictable. It was mind-numbingly expected. And in the end, the results of Tuesday's NBA draft lottery hurt plenty but should have surprised no one. Let's see. The Trail Blazers, owners of the worst record in the league and the best chance of any team to get the top pick, left with the No. 4 pick. By league rule, the Blazers could have done no worse than fourth had team President Steve Patterson blown his nose with NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik's tie. Fourth overall was the worst-case scenario, which only means that most of us knew exactly how this was going to turn out -- fourth. Look, we're all aware of what's going on here. Call it the Curse of the Accidental Zillionaire. When one of the world's richest men lays off 88 people, gives Darius Miles a $48 million guaranteed contract, throws the home arena into bankruptcy court and complains that the financial model is broken -- and his team wins 21 games -- he probably deserves to have little to show for his futility. Oh, and in some other swift, karmic kick below the belt, that was Chris Paul, the NBA rookie of the year, who plays for New Orleans/Oklahoma City, sitting down the way from Patterson, smiling. Paul is one of the players Portland passed on a year ago, electing to trade down to take Martell Webster. Appropriately, Patterson wore black. And his eyebrows raised and his face contorted when the placard showing the Blazers logo was unveiled at No. 4. Patterson gets no grief for his reaction here. He'd have received a free pass had he tipped over Granik's lectern and received an escort out of the league casino after what went down. Don't blame this on Sam Bowie, either. Bowie's curse is a draft-day thing. This lottery thing is on Allen, who it seems should stay away from the blackjack tables this summer. Maybe he needs to sacrifice one of his yachts to the NBA gods to set things right. (Here's a vote for Tatoosh -- I never did like the name.) With the franchise spinning on Tuesday, Patterson said, "The math played itself out" while pointing out the team had a higher probability of getting the No. 4 pick (35.8 percent) than the No. 1 pick (25 percent). But again, that clever little anomaly is caused by a league rule that keeps the team with the worst record from having too much bad luck. And thank goodness for it, because the way things have been going the Blazers could very well be holding the No. 14 pick today. A team official whispered recently, "Have you noticed we just can't catch a break?" H e was referring to the last few years of draft picks, free agent signings and trades, with every move seemingly blowing up in the franchise's face. Rasheed Wallace traded essentially for nothing? Bonzi Wells traded for more nothing? Zach Randolph signed for $84 million? Trenton Hassell, here today, gone tomorrow? Webster chosen over Paul? The theory holds that even a blind squirrel wandering the woods would eventually find a nut, but here the Blazers were again on Tuesday, stumbling around, hungry and empty handed. The No. 4 pick will merit a good player, but it feels flat. </div> Source
