2023-05-19 14:32:00
It is often said that life is all regarding opportunities taken or missed. Last Tuesday, the Wizards missed Victor Wembanyama with a single ping pong ball. To make you experience the seum of Washington, immersion in the drawing room of the four numbers that took Wemby to the Spurs.
Chicago, May 16, 2023. H-1 before the Lottery airs on ESPN. The league members for each franchise assigned to the Lottery by the NBA are gathered in a room to draw the magic balls.
Stop. Small aside. Why balls already? During the Lottery (whose operation is explained here) four ping pong balls ranging from 1 to 14 are drawn to create a combination of four numbers. The right combination and it starts once more with the first pick of the Draft. So when we talk regarding chance percentage, we are really talking regarding the number of combinations that the franchise has out of 1001 possibilities.
Hop, let’s resume. The Wizards have only 67 combinations : on the distributed 8-page folder, the DC team part is no more than halfway up page 7. When he reads his small list, he sees that none of his combinations include the smallest digits: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Without those numbers, the Wizards can believe it, believe in the opportunity to have generational talent.
Silence in the room. Mark Tatum starts the draw. The first ball goes out: 14, the second: 5, the third: 8. Oh my God! I got it ! Like the village football club lotto, the jackpot is more than possible. Only one number is missing and the Wizards don’t have just one shot at it. They have six! The 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, or 13th and Wemby arrives in the North American capital. Six chances when they only have a 6.7% chance of having it, with the eighth worst record in the League. And Victor Wembanyama would bring Bradley Beal and his men back to center stage. It would just be crazy, so crazy that Mark Tatum pulled out the fourth number while the Wizards’ assistant GM started to gloat.
And the last number is… 2! The first pick therefore goes to the San Antonio Spurs. The small numbers therefore brought bad luck to Washington, the assistant GM and his colleagues are just annoyed. Going from the possible first pick to a poor eighth pick… We understand that the disappointment can be great, especially when we see the Texans next door with a smile from ear to ear.
So life is all regarding opportunity, and for the Wizards, a low 2 took away one of the greatest opportunities of the decade, potentially more. There will be others, chances, maybe not the same, but there will be. Our hearts are with you, dear Wizards fans. And as they say: one lost, ten found. With the eighth choice, it is possible to pick up an awesome guy who will put a smile on your face. You just have to believe in it, as the other would say.
Source texte : The Washington Post
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