On Tuesday, the Warriors walked away from the 2006 NBA Draft Lottery slightly disappointed with the number nine pick. If only they had finished that high in the Western Conference this past season.

The NBA Draft Lottery, a transparently made-for-media non-event, is not the actual draft. Instead, it is a drawing of ping-pong balls to determine the order in which the 14 sad-sack teams that didn't make the playoffs will select in the actual draft -- Wednesday, June 28 in Madison Square Garden. Based on a complicated formula of ping-pong balls and futility, the Warriors were expected to get the number nine pick; they had only a 2.2 percent chance of getting the number one pick. For once, they lived up to expectations.

Thanks for nothing.

Tonight is Playoff Time for the Warriors, or at least the only exciting thing to happen to the Warriors during playoff time-- the NBA Draft Lottery. This will be the eleventh consecutive year the Warriors will be part of the NBA's reality show, which means that, yes, now that the Clippers are a playoff team (or were) and look like they'll be a playoff team for years to come, the Warriors are the new Clippers. Yay, team! ...