JustSON the Numbers: Shaq tames Dwight Howard

Remember how the Orland Magic was just the better team during last year's playoffs against the Cavaliers? Well even though they were playing without Rashard Lewis - the balance in the east may have shifted to Cleveland thanks to the addition of Shaq.

While he only scored 10 points, he managed to keep Orlando superstar Dwight Howard in check to the tune of 11 points and seven rebounds as the Cavs won 102-93 last night to improve to 5-3 on the season.

How did Shaq do this? He was a presence, and he got Howard in foul trouble early. If he can do this against the Magic in the playoffs, we could see the Cavs blow by Orlando.

And how did Lebron James do? 36 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists.

Yeah he's pretty good.

Epic Video: Shaq does "Beat It"

Shaq just continues to rock. Here is his tribute to Michael Jackson.



On a side note, in terms of entertaining athletes, where does Shaq rank?

JustSON the Numbers: NBA #1 Picks

Since the Los Angeles Clippers were the winner of the NBA draft lottery last night I thought today would be a good time to look into how every #1 overall draft pick has fared in the Association since the beginning of the lottery back in 1985.

Locking down the number 1 overall pick in the NBA draft doesn't always mean you are getting a superstar, but it seems more of a sure thing than at least the NFL draft. So far two players since the '85 draft have been elected to the Hall of Fame, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson, while a few others like Pervis Ellison, who only appeared in 474 games over 11 seasons (about 43 games a year out of 82 possible because of injury) and Danny Manning (883 games over 15 seasons, about 59 games a year because of injury) never really got going. Others like Michael Olowokandi and Kwame Brown never made a successful transition into the NBA and have struggled.

11 of the 24 (46%) 1st overall picks since '85 have gone on to win the Rookie of the Year award (or at least share it). Six times the 1st overall has won the MVP award (David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan twice and this year LeBron James), and 1st overall picks have netted 92 All-Star game appearances between them. Also 1st overall picks have been a part of 11 NBA Championship teams with 6 winning Finals MVP (Shaq 3 times and Tim Duncan 3 times).

Anymore in the NBA there doesn't seem to be any defined positions (Center, Power Forward, Small Forward, Shooting Guard, Point Guard), now it seems you have your Center/Power Forward position, Small Forward/Shooting Guard and Shooting Guard/Point Guard. I figured I would classify the players in the 3 previously mentioned categories because it isn't easy to define what position they were when they came into the league. Based on the 3 categories there have been 18 Center/Power Forwards drafted 1st overall since '85 with 4 being from the Small Forward/Shooting Guard mold and the other 2 being Shooting Guard/Point Guards.

With that being said it looks more and more likely that the Clippers will pick Blake Griffin with the first selection. This isn't good news for Griffin because the Clippers have a very bad history of lottery picks (Darius Miles, Benoit Benjamin, Yaroslav Korolev....exactly).

Either way it plays out the top pick is gonna get his shot because the Clippers need everything.

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.

JustSON the Numbers: NBA Draft Lottery

Tonight on ESPN at 8:30 pm eastern time in tropical Secaucus, New Jersey the NBA will hold the annual draft lottery. This installment of JustSON the Numbers will look into the history of this event, which began in 1985 after the Houston Rockets allegedly tanked games during the 1984 year so they would be able to select Hakeem Olajuwon (wasn't there a guy from North Carolina that came out that year?).

The first incarnation of the lottery had the non-playoff teams all with an equal chance at getting the #1 pick. In the '85 lottery the New York Knicks got the top spot (people to this day still swear this was rigged) and the Golden State Warriors who had the worst record got the 7th and final lottery selection. In 1987 the NBA decided to hold the lottery for only the 3 worst teams and the remaining non-playoff teams would select in order of finish (this ensured that the worst team would secure no lower than the 4th selection, the second worst would get no lower than the 5th, etc., that is still how the lottery process works).

In 1990 the NBA changed the lottery system again. At the time there were 11 non-playoff teams and the worst team had the best odds with 11 chances, second worst had 10 chances and so on. Then again in 1994 the lottery was altered when the worst team had a 25% chance of winning and the best non-playoff team had .5% chance of winning with the percentage odds increasing the worse the team was (unless there were any ties).

Since 1994 when the NBA changed the lottery to give the worst team an even better chance at getting the top pick, it hasn't always happened. Actually it's only happened 3 times, in 1996 with the Philadelphia 76ers (they were actually 2nd worst but the Memphis Grizzlies were barred from getting the 1st pick in '96 and '97 because they were an expansion team), 2003 the Cleveland Cavaliers (they were tied for the worst record this season) got the top spot and then again the following year when the Orlando Magic were first to select.

It doesn't get any better for the second worst team, the only times they've gotten the 1st overall was 1994 with the Milwaukee Bucks (they were tied for 2nd worst) and again in 1997 when the San Antonio Spurs (again because of the Grizzlies) got the first ping-pong ball drawn. If you're keeping score at home that is 5 out of 14 (about 36%) times since 1994 that the worst or second worst teams got the #1 overall.

Teams finishing 3rd worst overall have actually had as good a chance as the worst overall teams to get the first pick. From 1998 to 2001 it happened three times, 1998 the powerhouse Los Angeles Clippers, 1999 the Chicago Bulls and 2001 with the Washington Wizards. 8 of the 14 (57%) lotteries since 1994 have had one of the top three worst teams take home the 1st selection. Oddly enough the 4th worst team has never won the lottery since '94, that's good for us Oklahoma City Thunder haters since they finished 4th worst this season and have an 11.9% chance to win the lottery.

Since the 2005 lottery no team that has finished in the top 4 worst teams has won the lottery, '05 was the 6th worst Milwaukee Bucks, '06 the 5th worst Toronto Raptors, '07 the 7th worst Portland Trail Blazers and then last year the 9th worst Chicago Bulls who had only a 1.7% chance to win the lottery.

The Orlando Magic are the only team that has won the lottery three times since it began in 1985. Multiple teams have won it twice. Below is a list of teams that have won the lottery and who they selected.

3 Times: Orlando Magic ('92 Shaquille O'Neal, '93 Chris Webber and '04 Dwight Howard)

2 Times: Chicago Bulls ('99 Elton Brand and '08 Derrick Rose)
Cleveland Cavaliers ('86 Brad Daugherty and '03 LeBron James)
Los Angeles Clippers ('88 Danny Manning and '98 Michael Olowokandi)
Milwaukee Bucks ('94 Glenn Robinson and '05 Andrew Bogut)
New Jersey Nets ('90 Derrick Coleman and '00 Kenyon Martin)
San Antonio Spurs ('87 David Robinson and '97 Tim Duncan)

1 Time: Charlotte Hornets ('91 Larry Johnson)
Golden State Warriors ('95 Joe Smith)
Houston Rockets ('02 Yao Ming)
New York Knicks ('85 Patrick Ewing)
Philadelphia 76ers ('96 Allen Iverson)
Portland Trail Blazers ('07 Greg Oden)
Sacramento Kings ('89 Pervis Ellison)
Toronto Raptors ('06 Andrea Bargnani)
Washington Wizards ('01 Kwame Brown)

In conclusion it appears there is a 57% chance that either the Kings, Wizards or Clippers will end up with the right to select Blake Griffin #1 overall, and that the Thunder will not get the 1st pick. If Oklahoma City does get the 1st pick this will further add to the speculation that Clayton Bennett and the rest of the Thunder ownership group sold their soles to the devil.

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.