Brooklyn Nets hope for a lottery windfall to snap decades of draft misfortune and ignite a swift franchise turnaround.
The NBA draft lottery is on Sunday, and it could help the Brooklyn Nets break a 16-year drought of not having a top-four pick or a 26-year drought of not getting the No. 1 pick.
Brooklyn finished the season with the third-worst record in the league at 20-62. A couple of wins down the stretch of the regular season stressed fans out, but the Nets have a 14-percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick or a 52-percent shot of landing within the top four.
Before having a chance at selecting one of the many top college prospects next month, the franchise's draft luck has been rough since the 2000 draft.
In the 1999-2000 season, the New Jersey Nets finished with the seventh-worst record at 31-51. The Los Angeles Clippers had the worst record at 15-67, but did not secure the No. 1 pick; they picked third in the draft.
New Jersey selected Kenyon Martin, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Cincinnati, with the No. 1 pick.
Martin spent four seasons with the Nets, averaging 15.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists. The former Bearcat earned All-Rookie first-team during his first season, but New Jersey finished with the sixth-worst record in the league at 26-56.
In the next season, the Nets ballooned to the top of the Atlantic Division, and Martin helped lead them to the 2002 NBA Finals, with the addition of Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, before getting swept by the Los Angeles Lakers.
After reaching the finals, New Jersey did not return to the grandest stage in basketball despite finishing atop their division for two more seasons.
Martin's tenure with the Nets ended when the team received multiple first-round picks in return for a sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets.
New Jersey waited seven seasons after Martin's departure before the team got a top-3 pick in the 2010 draft. During that period, the franchise consistently picked in the mid-first round, the lowest pick being No. 27 (Jordan Crawford, 2010) and the highest being No. 10 (Brook Lopez, 2008).
In the 2009-2010 season, New Jersey finished with the worst record in the NBA and in franchise history at 12-70. The team landed the No. 3 pick in the draft and selected Derrick Favors, a 6-foot-9 power forward out of Georgia Tech.
Favors' time with the Nets was surprisingly short, as he was traded to the Utah Jazz with two first-round picks and cash considerations for Deron Williams. He played 56 games for New Jersey and averaged 6.3 points and 5.3 rebounds.
After trading their No. 3 pick, the Nets relocated to Brooklyn two seasons later and did not have a top-15 pick until last year. Egor Dëmin, a 6-foot-8 point guard from BYU, became Brooklyn's eighth pick in last year's draft.
The Nets also had four other draft picks: Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf, Nolan Traoré and Drake Powell, whose draft rights they traded for from the Atlanta Hawks.
Brooklyn's rookies showed some promise in their extended opportunities, developing their weaknesses in a tanking season. They did pull out some late-season victories that had fans stressing, such as the close six-point win over the Washington Wizards last month.
Despite some of those wins, the Nets finished with the third-worst record in the NBA and have a good chance of breaking a 16-year drought of not picking in the top three or a 26-year drought of not picking No. 1.
Brooklyn could come out with franchise players like BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Kansas' Darryn Peterson or Duke's Cameron Boozer.
The draft lottery on Sunday determines the Nets' fate of breaking a long-standing draft drought.
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