In the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they have never moved up in the draft lottery.  They have always picked in the spot determined by their record or moved down because of the lottery.  The worst scenario was when the Wolves had the worst record in the league and instead of drafting first (Shaq) or second (Mourning), the Wolves drafted third (Laettner). 

In 2008, the Wolves and Grizzlies tied with 22-60 records.  A couple of weeks ago the Wolves won the coin flip and will get the third best chances in the lottery.  The Grizzlies will get the fourth best chances.  At first, you may think this doesn’t really matter.  There are two reasons it could matter.

1. If the lottery goes as planned, the Wolves will have the third pick and the Grizzlies will have the fourth pick (definitely not as nice as having the #1 or #2 pick this year).

2. Last year the Timberwolves and Trailblazers tied with the sixth worst records in the league at 32-50.  Portland won the coin flip and then proceded to win the lottery getting the #1 overall pick in the draft.

Since good things just don’t happen to the Wolves, I fully expect the Grizzlies, with the fourth best chances of winning the lottery, to move into the #1 or #2 slots.  We’ll find out May 20th when the NBA Draft Lottery is held.