The Celtic Curse: 1986-present

"The Curse of Len Bias" continues to plague the Celts. As a former die-hard Celtics fan who desperately would like to regain my passion for the team, it's not just sour grapes that are feeding my ire this morning. For several years, I've felt that there must be a better process than the current lottery system which seals a team's fate based on the selection of four ping-pong balls out of a drum. I understand that the lottery system, by not necessarily assuring a team that it will get the top pick if it has the worst record in the league, is designed to prevent teams that are not playoff-bound from tanking it at the end of the year. However, these noble intentions are not realized by the current lottery system either, which doesn't give teams any greater incentive to work harder as the season winds down. The probability of the worst teams securing the top picks are far too low with the current system, and consequently, two pitiful teams that deserved to get top picks are relegated to selecting fourth and fifth. After Oden and Durrant, there are still some solid players left in the draft but it's unlikely that any of them will be the immediate game-changers that these two promise to be. Looks like the Celtics should be mired in mediocrity for some years to come.