Grizzlies win flip of coin for draft pick
June 16, 1995
NEW YORK -- The Vancouver Grizzlies are unbeaten in two. The NBA expansion franchise won a pair of coin flips conducted in New York on Friday and decided to pick sixth in the June 28 draft of college talent.
The Toronto Raptors, now 0-2, will choose seventh in the college draft and will have first and subsequent odd-number picks in the June 24 expansion draft. The Grizzlies pick second, fourth and so on until all the league's 27 existing teams lose one player.
I don't know how big a win it is, but I feel real fortunate," Grizzlies general manager Stu Jackson said in Vancouver. " You like to win. It just meanss there's one less team to worry about in terms of choosing the player we want in the college draft."
“It was the consensus of the teams that the NBA draft lottery serves an important purpose and should be maintained,” deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.
But the Raptors didn't end the day disappointed. " Being at seven doesn't give as much opportunity at the college draft, but it does give you an opportunity to select from a pretty good group of professional player," Toronto general manger Isiah Thomas said from Detroit, where he went to attend the wedding of his secretary.
The process involved two flips of a newly-minted canadian silver dollar.
The first, with Toronto being assigned heads and Vancouver tails, was to determined who would make the call on the second flip.
Most experts agree the draft get muddled after the top five players -- sophomores Joe Smith of Maryland, Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse of North Carolina and Alabama's Antonio McDyess and senior Ed O'Bannon of UCLA. A group that includes centres Bryant Reeves of Oklahoma State and Duke's Cherokee Parks, guards Shawn Respert of Michigan State and Damon Stoudamire of Arizona and forward Rashard Griffin of Wisconsin, Corliss Williamson of Arkansas and six-foot-11 high school student Kevin Garnett of Chicago makes up the most attractive alternatives.
"Picking sixth gives you a better oportunity of getting your man," said Larry Riley, Vancouver's director of scouting..
Source: The Canadian Press,