NBA draft: Pollin's ring proves lucky for Wizards

SECAUCUS, N.J. — With his championship ring on her hand and her late husband's dreams of another on her mind, Irene Pollin stood in shock as the Washington Wizards won the draft lottery.

Towering over her to the side, Mikhail Prokhorov watched the New Jersey Nets lose yet again.

The Wizards won the draft lottery Tuesday night, moving up from the No. 5 spot to earn the top pick in next month's draft, when it will likely choose between Kentucky freshman John Wall and national player of the year Evan Turner of Ohio State.

Washington was represented by Irene Pollin, who wore the 1978 Bullets championship ring of her late husband, longtime owner Abe Pollin. When the Wizards pulled off the surprising win, her jaw dropped and appeared to mouth 'Oh my God!!' with wide eyes.

Abe Pollin died at age 85 in November.

"This is very, very special. I have been in this my entire adult life and to be here, representing my husband, this is very special to me tonight," Irene Pollin said. "I think it's the culmination of my husband's dream because he wanted another ring and maybe this will get us another ring."

The Philadelphia 76ers, another disappointment this season, moved up from the sixth spot to grab the No. 2 pick. The Nets continued the run of failure by teams with the best chance of winning, falling to the third.

Prokhorov, the 6-foot-6 Russian billionaire who was approved as Nets owner last week and had a front row seat for the loss, shrugged off the disappointment.

"Sometimes luck makes all the difference, but it never comes down to one player," Prokhorov said. "I'm sure we're going to get a great player. For our team, the only way is up."

The lottery victory — despite only a 10.3 percent chance — is just about the only thing that has gone right in a disastrous year for the Wizards, marred by the suspension of All-Star Gilbert Arenas for bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room. They finished 26-56 after being widely forecast to finish in the middle of the Eastern Conference.

Irene Pollin hopes the lottery win will help fans forget a turbulent season, when the Wizards also traded former All-Stars Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison to cut salary after things fell apart.

"Fans are fickle. But I think this is a wonderful thing for our fans who have really stuck by us," Pollin said. "They really have been through a very, very tough year. Actually when I got up and spoke to them, I was thanking them for sticking by us and being so supportive even though we had all the problems."