Unser Chat » Orleans at No. 10 from last years trade that

NEW YORK -- The Cleveland Cavaliers lottery luck just keeps going. The Cavaliers continued their remarkable run Tuesday, winning the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft for the second straight year and third time in the last four. They moved up from the ninth spot, when they had just a 1.7 per cent chance of winning the top selection. "It seems surreal," Cavs vice chairman Jeff Cohen said. "This is three out of four years and we had a 1.7 per cent chance of coming up with the first pick and we pulled it off again." They drafted Kyrie Irving first in 2011 and will hope to do better with this win than last year, when they took Anthony Bennett, who had a forgettable rookie season. Nick Gilbert, the son of Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, was on the podium for the previous two wins, but general manager David Griffin was there this time. Griffin had a pin on his lapel from his late grandmother and was carrying one of Nick Gilberts bowties, which was as lucky in his breast pocket as it was with Nick wearing it. The Cavs can now choose among the likes of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid of Kansas, Dukes Jabari Parker, or another player from whats considered a deep draft. "This means everything," Cohen said. "This is the deepest draft arguably since LeBron (James) and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony came out." The Cavs won that one, too, in 2003, when they picked James. But they have been lottery regulars since he bolted for Miami in 2010, and they want that to stop. "Rebuilding is a process and we lost a player a number of years back that it was going (to take) some time. Quite frankly its taken a little bit longer then wed like, but weve been patient," Cohen said. "I think now is the time were going to reap the rewards of our patience." The Milwaukee Bucks fell one spot to second and the Philadelphia 76ers will draft third. The Bucks had a 25 per cent chance of winning after a league-worst 15-67 record, but the team with the best odds hasnt won since 2004. The expected strength of the class led to speculation that teams were tanking in hopes of getting a high pick. But the Cavs had playoff expectations, hoping a strong season could make them attractive to James if he was interested in returning home as a free agent. Nick Gilbert said last year he expected the Cavs to be done with the lottery, but they were right back in Times Square after a disappointing season that resulted in them firing Mike Brown after just one year and a 33-49 record in his second stint with the team. Another top selection surely will make Cleveland more attractive to prospective coaches. The city of Cleveland may be on a 50-year championship drought, but sure does have this lottery thing figured out. The 2011 win was also a stunner, when the Cavs moved up from the No. 8 spot with a pick they had acquired from the Los Angeles Clippers. And by moving up this year, they hurt the Detroit Pistons, who started eighth but by falling back, had to trade the pick to Charlotte as part of a deal for Ben Gordon. Orlando dropped a spot to fourth and also will have the No. 12 pick from Denver. Utah is No. 5 and the Lakers and Boston Celtics couldnt make the most of rare lottery appearances, with Los Angeles at No. 7 and Boston at No. 6. The 76ers couldnt move up even with Hall of Famer Julius Erving representing them, but they will have two top-10 picks: their own and New Orleans at No. 10 from last years trade that sent Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans. "If we had No. 3 alone, I would be a little disappointed and so would our group. But the fact that we also have the 10th pick, we may have done better than anyone else," Erving said. "We can get two players out of this draft or leverage those two picks." Still, the big winners -- again -- were the Cavs. Nick Gilbert was the hit of the 2011 lottery, his big glasses and bowtie charming viewers. This time it was Mallory Edens, the 18-year-old daughter of incoming Bucks co-owner Wes Edens. She gained thousands of Twitter followers after her brief on-camera interview. But her Bucks pin wasnt lucky enough to end the run of back luck for the worst teams. "I was really nervous, but Im really happy we got the second pick," Mallory Edens said. Things kept rolling for the Cavs, who duplicated the feat of Orlando, which went back-to-back at No. 1 in 1992-93. The latter win, after the Magic had gone 41-41 in Shaquille ONeals rookie season, caused the league to change the lottery to a weighted format that gave the worst teams the most chances. The tanking talk has led to discussions to change it again, something Commissioner Adam Silver has said will be discussed this summer. But he has also said that if there was an ideal solution, the league would have implemented it by now. The Cavs like it just as it is. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . -- Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday for the first time in his seven-year career because of a swollen muscle in his left upper back. Cheap Adidas Wild Jerseys . CSKA received the heavier punishment of playing its next European home game behind closed doors, after its supporters displayed racist and far-right symbols in the Czech Republic during a 2-1 loss to Viktoria Plzen on Dec. http://www.cheapwildjerseys.com/. Week 2s biggest games include Florida facing Miami and Notre Dame travelling to the Big House to conclude their rivalry against Michigan in primetime on TSN2 and TSN 1050. Wholesale Wild Jerseys . Englands only win in the four most recent trips north had been tight, and Scotland was expected after losing 28-6 to Ireland six days ago to show some venom against its archrival. Cheap Wild Jerseys China . Garcia had eight birdies overall to go with a lone bogey on the fourth to move to an 18-under total of 198 at the Asian Tour event. "I was able to hit some really nice shots and then was able to roll two or three really good putts in and it was nice to be able to finish birdie, birdie on this difficult finishing stretch," Garcia said.It was back in 1991 that Stephen Ames got a taste of what life in Canada would be like. For a guy raised in the tropical temperatures of Trinidad, it was a rude Calgary welcome. "I think the wind chill was minus-55," he said recalling his first Canadian winter spent living in the basement of his mother-in-laws house. "I never left the house." Ames has never really grown fond of winter, but he has certainly fallen in love with Canada. On Wednesday, the country paid him back for that by naming him to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. A four-time winner on the PGA Tour including the 2006 Players, Ames is winding down his career on the regular tour and preparing to join the 50-and-over gang on the Champions circuit in April after reaching the magic age of 50. For most of this year, hell split his time between the two tours using his top 50-career money list exemption on the PGA Tour. When asked what he thought the difference between the two tours would be, Ames said it might have to do with what happens off the course. "I think its the 19th hole," he said with a chuckle. "I think its a bit more relaxed after the round." Ames would be a worthy inductee based solely on his playing record, but his contributions to Canadian golf go well beyond that. He has run the Stephen Ames Cup for the past decade, a team event that pits squads from Canada against those from Trinidad. Some of the youngsters who have participated in that event have gone on to earn U.S. college scholarships. And he was instrumental in bringing the Shaw Charity Classic to Calgary, helping line up a team of big rollers in the Western Canadian city to lay the foundation for the Champions Tour event. Ames was also the guy who gave an energetic young teacher named Sean Foley a chance to work with a PGA Tour pro. We all know where thats gone. When asked what the top mark of his career is, Ames didnt hesitate. "Its this," he stated, in reference to his indduction.dddddddddddd "I think being in the Hall of Fame is the highlight." On the course, Ames said that his Players victory was at the top of his personal list. I can say that in all the golf Ive covered and watched, that is simply the best 18 holes of golf Ive ever witnessed. Ive never seen anyone control his golf ball for every shot as Ames did that day. All he did was beat the best field in golf by six shots. I remember some of the biggest names in the game that day shaking their heads in disbelief at what he was doing to TPC Sawgrass. For some people, Ames is seen as a prickly personality but to those who get to know him, nothing could be further from the truth. Hes a guy with a huge heart who loves to laugh and loves his family. Sometimes when he speaks his mind, it can get him in trouble such as the occasion when he questioned Tiger Woods driving ahead of the 2006 Match Play. While a lot was made of that and the subsequent beating Woods laid on him, what he said wasnt wrong. Woods was hitting it all over the lot with his driver. After he won the Players, some media members took him to task for saying he might skip the Masters to go on a family vacation. They couldnt understand how someone would pass up the years first major, the one thats exceptionally difficult to get into. What many failed to realize was that his wife, Jodi, was recovering from surgery for lung cancer. Suddenly a golf tournament, even the Masters, didnt seem so important. There are also still some who, for small-minded reasons, dont even consider him a Canadian. To me, a guy who leaves his native country to willingly take up citizenship, to give back to the game here, to start businesses here, to create tournaments here and make his home full time in Canada – and even cheer for the Calgary Flames -- is about as Maple Leaf as they come. Ames is more than deserving of a spot in Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, even if hes never learned to love those nasty wind chills. ' ' '