Un-Luck Of The Irish? Revisiting Celtics' Past NBA Draft Lottery History

When it comes to the NBA draft lottery, the Boston Celtics haven’t had much luck.

After winning 16 titles through 1986, Boston endured a string of bad luck and misfortune on and off the court, and the draft lottery has been a major part of that.

The 2016 draft lottery takes place Tuesday night, and the Celtics have a shot at the No. 1 pick. Boston has a 15.6 percent chance at the top selection, but most fans probably aren’t that optimistic given recent lottery results.

Let’s take a look at the Celtics’ lottery luck over the last 30 years.

1986: The Celtics actually had great luck in the second-ever draft lottery. They acquired the Seattle SuperSonics’ 1986 first-round pick in the Gerald Henderson trade prior to 1984-85 campaign. The Sonics finished with the fifth-worst record in 1985-86, but the Celtics got lucky and won the No. 2 selection. Unfortunately, they selected Len Bias, who died of a cocaine overdose a few days after the draft.

1994: The Celtics had the ninth-best chance at No. 1 and got the No. 9 pick. They selected North Carolina center Eric Montross.

1997: The Celtics had the second-worst record at 15-67 and the best chance to win the top pick (the Vancouver Grizzlies were 14-68 but couldn’t win the lottery because of expansion team rules). They also had the Dallas Mavericks’ first-round selection from a 1996 trade, which had the sixth-best odds to win the top pick.

Boston went into the lottery with a 27.51 percent chance at No. 1, which would have been Wake Forest forward and future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan.

Instead, the Celtics the got Nos. 3 and 6 picks, and Rick Pitino selected Colorado guard Chauncey Billups and Kentucky guard Ron Mercer, respectively. Both of them did very little for the C’s, and the team gave up on Billups midway through his rookie season by trading him to the Toronto Raptors.

It basically was a disaster in every sense of the word.

1998: The Celtics had the 10th-best odds and stayed at No. 10. The lack of lottery luck wasn’t an issue, though, as top-three prospect Paul Pierce shockingly fell to Boston at No. 10, and he would go on to become one of the best players in franchise history and lead it to a 17th NBA title in 2008.

1999: The Celtics traded their first-round pick and center Andrew DeClercq to the Cleveland Cavaliers for center Vitaly Potapenko. Boston’s pick had the seventh-best chance to win the lottery and ended up being the eighth pick after the lottery, to Cleveland’s dismay. The Cavs used that pick to take point guard Andre Miller, who had a pretty good career.

2000: The Celtics went into the lottery slotted for pick No. 11 and that’s what they got. Boston selected UCLA center Jerome Moiso. In the C’s defense, the 2000 draft probably is the worst in NBA history.

2001: Boston didn’t move from its pre-lottery position and received the No. 10 pick. The Celtics selected guard Joe Johnson, but they weren’t patient enough to allow him to develop into the All-Star player he’d eventually become. The C’s traded him to the Phoenix Suns in 2002.

2006: The Celtics entered this lottery with the seventh-best odds and remained at No. 7. They selected guard Randy Foye, but traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night in a deal that sent guard Sebastian Telfair to Boston. It was another failed draft trade for the Celtics.

2007: This was another disaster (at the time, at least). The Celtics had the second-best odds at No. 1 in a year that featured Ohio State center Greg Oden and Texas forward Kevin Durant as can’t-miss prospects. Boston had zero luck, though, and fell to No. 5. The C’s took forward Jeff Green, and traded him, along with other assets, to the Seattle SuperSonics for All-Star guard Ray Allen. The deal helped convince Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett to agree to join Boston via trade, setting the stage for a championship season in 2008.

It turned out well for Boston in the end, but the actual lottery was abysmal.

2014: The Celtics had the fifth-best odds for the top pick, but they slid down to No. 6 in the lottery. They ended up drafting guard Marcus Smart, which appears to be a quality selection two seasons into his career.