Larry Riley considered all manner of good-luck charms as accompaniment to Tuesday's NBA draft lottery before ultimately electing to bring his wife to Secaucus, N.J.
"A lot of great things have happened to me when she's been around," the new Golden State general manager said in a phone interview Friday. "Of course, Don Nelson can draw to an inside straight better than anyone I know, and we'll definitely have some shamrocks out there, too." The Warriors will need all of the luck they can muster to win the ultimate prize, having only a 4.3 percent chance of getting the top pick. If the pingpong balls don't pop them into the top three, the Warriors can select no higher than their current slot at No. 7 and no lower than No. 10.
History indicates that the Warriors are past due for a little good fortune. In 17 trips to the lottery, they have improved their position only three times. Seven of the last 11 times, they held their ground, and the other four times, they dropped at least one spot.
"The Warriors have been abused by the lottery in the past," Riley said. "You see some franchises that have been totally changed by the luck of the draw."
This year's draft class doesn't appear to include a franchise-changer like LeBron James in 2003 or Dwight Howard in 2004. Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin, Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio and Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet are the consensus top three.
"The top two or three are pretty good players, but, if you polled all the teams in the league, you would probably get a wide variety of opinions on which player is No. 5 and which player is No. 15," Riley said.
He knows all of those players and more. Riley has spent the last six months scouring the globe, logging more airline miles than at any time in the last decade and searching "to add a player who is going to help our team, somewhat short-range and also long-range.
"I've seen so many doggone good athletes with great quickness in college Basketball this year. Are we talking about stars? No. But there are some great athletes."
Many mock drafts link the Warriors to 19-year-old point guard Brandon Jennings, who opted to play in Italy instead of accepting a scholarship to Arizona this season. Riley said he has and will continue to investigate every possibility, including moving up or down to trading for an established player.
"We're in the preliminary stages right now, because we don't know where we're picking," Riley said. "My purpose isn't to know the inside information of every team, but we want to know as much we possibly can and assure that the lines of communication are always open."
