The 2006-07 season was a down period for the storied Boston Celtics franchise, with the death of franchise patriarch Red Auerbach before the season began and franchise star Paul Pierce suffering injuries limiting him to 47 games, leading to a 24-58 record highlighted by a 18 game losing streak. The record was the second worst in the league, behind the 22 win Memphis Grizzlies. As such Celtics fans hoped to get a top two pick in order to get a chance of drafting one of two college stars Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. The Celtics themselves had a 19.9% chance of winning the top pick in the draft lottery. However, in OTL the Portland Trail Blazers, with a 32-50 record and 5.3% chance of winning the lottery won the 1st overall pick, whilst the Seattle SuperSonics with a 31-51 record and 9.7% chance to win the 2nd pick did so. The Celtics fell to fifth, and thus they used it on Jeff Green, who was part of a trade package with the Sonics for Ray Allen. They subsequently traded for Kevin Garnett from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The "Big Three" era thus began in Boston, winning a championship in their year of inception.
But what if luck smiled on the Celtics and granted them the first overall pick?