2023-06-22 14:13:44
An annual event of the NBA, the draft will take place on the night of Thursday to Friday, around 2 a.m. (French time). Decryption of the functioning of this ceremony, where the basketball phenomenon Victor Wembanyama should mark the history of French sport.
On the night of Thursday June 22 to Friday June 23, the 77th NBA Draft is held. A scholarship for young basketball talents, aged 19 to 22, selected over two rounds by the thirty teams that make up the North American league. Decryption of the functioning of this event where the Frenchman Victor Wembanyama should go down in history by being chosen in first position by the San Antonio Spurs
Where is it ? That’s when ?
Scheduled each year at the end of June, after the NBA finals, this event is a must, both for basketball players dreaming of a career in the North American championship and for fans burning to know who their favorite club will choose for improve his team.
If the ceremony has long taken place at Madison Square Garden in New York, it now takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the home of the Nets. Broadcast on a national channel, it will take place on Friday from 2 a.m. (French time).
What is the principle ?
The purpose of the draft is to allow the least efficient teams of the previous exercise to strengthen themselves, in order to try to rebalance the balance of power with the clubs which play the leading roles.
Because the NBA, like other major sports leagues in North America, but unlike foreign championships, is a closed league, where the principle of relegation/accession does not prevail. Except in the context of a move from one city to another, with a possible change of nickname, or an expansion of franchises, the landscape therefore does not change.
The fourteen lowest ranked teams at the end of the regular season and therefore eliminated from the race for the play-offs share the first choices of the draft. Their position is determined in two stages: first by their win/loss ratio, then by the process of a lottery.
Since 2019, the three formations having finished with the worst records each have a 14% chance of selecting the player of their choice first. The fourth worst team has a 12.5% chance, the fifth 10.5%, etc., down to the fourteenth who has only 0.5%.
The lottery is held to determine which teams will pick first, second, third, and fourth. The order of passage of the ten others, starting from the fifth, is established according to the balance sheet of each one, from the most to the least bad.
>> To read also: NBA Draft: why the San Antonio Spurs are the perfect team for Victor Wembanyama
This year, Detroit, Houston and San Antonio were part of the trio at 14% and it was finally at the Spurs that the lottery carried out on May 16 smiled. Consequently, unless there is a huge surprise, they will choose the French nugget Victor Wembanyama. Then will come the turn of the Charlotte Hornets to choose second, then the Portland Trail Blazers, the Houston Rockets, the Detroit Pistons, etc.
How does the ceremony take place ?
The draft begins when Adam Silver, the boss of the NBA, arrives on the stage of the Barclays Center to announce the choice of the San Antonio Spurs with a cult phrase for the followers of North American basketball: “With the first pick in the 2023 NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs select…”
The called player then joins Adam Silver on the stage for the cap of his new franchise.
Then, the next franchise, the Charlotte Hornets, will then have five minutes to decide on their choice. And so on for the thirty NBA teams. After the first choice comes the second. Normally, sixty players are selected but there will only be fifty-eight this year, as Philadelphia and Chicago lost their second rounds, sanctioned for approaching players outside the authorized recruiting window.
The thirty NBA franchises select the best young basketball players from the American university circuit (NCAA), the G-League (NBA development league) or other foreign leagues. These prospects must be in their 19th year.
>> To read also: Victor Wembanyama, the nugget of French basketball who makes the NBA dream
At the center of all attention is obviously Victor Wembanyama. For several months, the former Boulogne-Levallois player has been presented as the biggest talent that world basketball has known since the arrival, twenty years ago, of LeBron James, who himself called him “d ‘extraterrestrial”.
Behind the phenomenon, winger Brandon Miller and point guard Scott Henderson are the players most likely to be the second “pick” of this draft. The first particularly caught the eye of Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets, holder of the second choice.
Behind Victor Wembanyama, other French people will be in the spotlight: Bilal Coulibaly, teammate of “Wemby” in Boulogne-Levallois, and Rayan Rupert, currently playing for the New Zealand Breakers, have been placed by the NBA in the “green room”, the VIP area of the draft which brings together the 25 most anticipated players. Sidy Cissoko and Nadir Hafi can also hope to be chosen. Enough to hope to see French basketball beat its record of players drafted in the first round. The reference mark is currently two players, established five times (2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2016).
For this edition, 84 players are on the starting line. And, mathematically, if only 58 players are chosen, there will be 26 who fail.
Does being drafted first ensure success?
It is not enough to be the number 1 “pick” to ensure a successful career. And conversely, a late “pick” does not necessarily lead to a career as an average mid-table player. Last example in date, the Serbian star Nikola Jokic, double MVP (best player) of the league which has just been crowned champion with the Nuggets of Denver. In 2014, the pivot was selected in 41st position
Similarly, all future “NBAers” do not necessarily need to be drafted to make a career there. The Summer League held in early July allows franchises to test these eligible players. Others, who evolve abroad among professionals, can simply be recruited.
Thus, from Ben Wallace to Udonis Haslem, passing by Fred Van Vleet, they are a certain number to have become, by side roads, stars of the league with champion titles at stake.
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