Hornets, Kings win NBA Draft tie-break
NEW YORK: The Charlotte Hornets have the third-best odds of capturing the top pick in next month’s NBA Draft Lottery after winning a random tiebreaker drawing on Monday (Tuesday in Manila), the league announced.
The drawings settled some selection order issues for the NBA Draft, set for June 26-27 in New York, while setting the odds for each club in next month’s NBA Draft Lottery for capturing the top pick.
The May 12 draft lottery will include the 14 NBA clubs who failed to reach the playoffs, with the Detroit Pistons (1468) and Washington Wizards (15-67) each having the best chance of landing the first selection at 14 percent odds.
Charlotte and Portland shared the thirdworst record in the NBA at 21-61 but the Hornets’ drawing victory gives them a 13.3 percent chance of taking the top pick with Portland on 13.2 percent.
San Antonio, which took French star Victor Wembanyama with last year’s top pick in the NBA Draft, went 22-60 for a 10.5 percent chance at this year’s top pick, followed in declining odds by Toronto, Memphis, Utah, Brooklyn (going to Houston), Atlanta, Chicago and Houston.
Sacramento won a tie-breaker drawing over Golden State for the best odds among the clubs with the least chance, the Kings having a 0.8 percent hope of winning the lottery to Golden State’s 0.7 percent chance. Both went 46-36.
Among playoff clubs whose draft order is now set, the Philadelphia 76ers won a four-team tie-breaker among 4735 finishers for the 16th spot, with the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando and Indiana following in order.
Milwaukee won a tie-breaker for the 21st pick among 49-33 clubs with Phoenix second and New Orleans third.
Dallas won a tie-break drawing over New York for the 24th spot after both went 50-32.
Defending NBA champion Denver won the 28th selection in a tie-breaker drawing with Oklahoma City after each team went 57-25.
Nets name new coach
Jordi Fernandez, who guided Canada to a bronze medal in last year’s World Cup, was named as the new head coach of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets on Monday.
The 41-year-old Spaniard, who had served as associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings for the past two seasons, will replace interim coach Kevin Ollie, who took over after Jacque Vaughn was fired in February.
“We’re thrilled to announce Jordi Fernandez as Brooklyn’s new head coach,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said. “As we progressed through an extensive search over the past six weeks, it became increasingly clear that Jordi is the best coach to lead our team forward.
“Jordi brings a diverse set of experiences and basketball knowledge gained over the course of a coaching career that has taken him around the world. Each step of the way, Jordi has consistently demonstrated the ability to implement strong processes and creative systems designed to optimize each team’s specific roster.”
Fernandez helped the Kings reach the playoffs for the first time since 2006 last year, although Sacramento was eliminated by Golden State in the first round.
The Kings were eliminated by New Orleans in the eighth-seed play-in game this year.
“I’m truly grateful to lead the Nets,” Fernandez said, calling it an “exciting and humbling opportunity” and added, “We will be fully committed to building something special for Nets fans and the borough to be proud of for years to come.”
The Nets went 32-50 this season and missed the playoffs. Brooklyn has lost eight of 10 playoff series since moving from New Jersey in 2012, never advancing past the second round.
“We look forward to working with Jordi to build a sustainable winning culture in Brooklyn,” Nets team owner Joe Tsai said.
Fernandez took over the Canadian national team last June and guided the squad to a 6-2 World Cup run, including a victory over the United States for third place.
He will still coach the Canadians at this year’s Paris Olympics even with the Nets hiring, Canada Basketball said.
Fernandez spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets.