Jazz still unlucky in lottery

The Jazz had five chances in 1,000 — assigned in the form of numbered-ball combinations — to move up in Tuesday's NBA Draft lottery.

All Kevin O'Connor had to see was a 12-column printout of the various combinations — with the Jazz's five at the very bottom of the last column — to know the implications.

"When you looked at that," O'Connor, the Jazz's basketball operations senior vice president, said via conference call from Secaucus, N.J., where he represented the franchise at the ESPN-televised lottery, "you kind of went, 'Hey, we're a longshot.' "

Indeed they were.

The Jazz were unable to overcome the stacked odds Tuesday, and will pick — as expected — at No. 14 overall in the June 28 draft.

"Knowing the numbers," Jazz president Denny Haslam said, "we got what we expected."

The Toronto Raptors, however, had more luck with the unexpected.

The Raptors had just 88 chances in 1,000 — an 8.8 percent shot, in other words — of moving up from fifth to first.

But they did just that, leapfrogging four other teams to take their choice among a class of No.1 overall prospects that — for now, at least — includes Gonzaga forward Adam Morrison, Texas center LaMarcus Aldridge, LSU forward Tyrus Thomas and Italian forward Andrea Bargnani.

"For us to have this kind of luck," said new Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo, who left NBA title-contender Phoenix to take over a Toronto team that finished 27-55, "is a symbol of a reversal of fortune going forward."

Chicago will select No. 2 overall with a pick acquired from New York, which had the league's second-worst record in the 2005-06 season at 23-59, in the preseason trade for center Eddy Curry. Charlotte stays at No. 3, while Portland — which had the NBA's worst record at 21-60, and 250 chances in 1,000 at picking first in the draft) — was pushed down to No. 4.

Atlanta fell from fourth-best odds to the fifth pick in the June draft, with Minnesota (sixth), Boston (seventh), Houston (eighth), Golden State (ninth), Seattle (10th), Orlando (11th), New Orleans/Oklahoma City (12th) and Philadelphia (13th) all holding form to fill out the lottery ahead of Utah.

Though there is no consensus No. 1 choice with the draft still more than a month away, Portland's plummet came as something of a blow to the Trail Blazers.