Kevin O'Connor asked for two years before judging him on drafting Gordon Hayward. He'll be judged instantly tonight as the results of the NBA Draft Lottery are announced.
While O'Connor doesn't have any control over how the Jazz will do in the lottery, green tie and cuff links aside, the two draft picks that the team received in the Deron Williams trade are going to be a huge weight in determining the success of that trade.
Even before big-name players started returning to school officially, this was considered a down year for the draft. Once most of the marquee names took their talents back to their respective campuses, the draft became a relative wasteland to recent years. With each dropout, the Nets pick got weaker and weaker.
So perhaps that's why O'Connor has decided to take a couple of lucky charms with him to the draft this year after missing out the past two times sans charms. Though there could be some solid players taken in the sixth spot, they're not likely going to be the franchise player you're hoping for after trading your last franchise player. Next year's draft will be much deeper where the Jazz have a top-7 protected pick from the Warriors via the Nets. But are you going to get a franchise player out of that? The team needs to land at least one franchise player to return to the playoffs and contention.
So for this draft, that means landing one of the top two picks.
Let's hope for some of that "New York luck*" that O'Connor is counting on.
More draft links after the jump. Draft thread at 6:00 p.m. MDT
*Hopefully luck means some mafia-style fortune
Everybody hates the draft | Blog Archive | The Basketball Jones | Blogs | TheScore.com
ksl.com - Jazz insider: Utah won't draft Jimmer just to sell tickets
Jazz insider Tim Buckley joined Tom Kirkland on SportsBeat Sunday to discuss Jerry Sloan's coaching career and whether Utah should draft Jimmer Fredette with one of their first round picks.
Utah Jazz hoping this year they will get lucky | Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — The last time the Utah Jazz had this good of a chance to win the NBA's draft lottery, Kevin O'Connor didn't turn
Jazz hope to win big in tonight's draft lottery - Standard-Examiner
SALT LAKE CITY -- Hold your breath, Utah Jazz fans. The 2011 draft lottery is -- drum roll, please -- finally about to take place.In the wake of a fru...
NBA Draft Lottery 2011: Utah Jazz Pray For New Franchise Player - SBNation.com
The Utah Jazz traded Deron Williams for the New Jersey Nets' No. 1 pick. Will the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery turn the pick into Kyrie Irving? We'll find out Tuesday.
Lottery allows NBA teams to dream
Lottery allows NBA teams to dream, even if for just one night.
Fox Sports takes a look at the upcoming draft schedule
May 18-22: Chicago pre-draft camp All you need to know about Chicago is there were concerns in 2007 that Kevin Durant couldn't bench press enough weight. Basically, it has become an over-hyped waste of time, as it's really nothing more than pro basketball's version of a visit to the school nurse. Top prospects were once forced to play in real live games, against each other, weeding out the overrated and allowing unknowns to emerge. Nowadays, they are measured every which way imaginable (wingspan, reach, speed, agility), with little regard given to whether they can actually dribble a basketball against other potential NBA players.
NBA Draft Lottery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
N.B.A. Draft Lottery Could Create More Problems Than Solutions - NYTimes.com
The Minnesota Timberwolves have the best chance of winning the No. 1 pick Tuesday, but doing so could limit their options.