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SECAUCUS, N.J. - The Cavaliers hit the LeBron James jackpot.
They won the NBA draft lottery Thursday night, giving them the right to make the first overall selection in the June 26 draft. They're expected to stay in Ohio and choose James, the 6-foot-8 high school phenom from Akron.
"We don't know who we are going to pick," Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund said jokingly as he later held up a Cleveland jersey with James' name embroidered on the back and his No. 23.
The Grizzlies got the second selection, but that pick goes to Detroit. The Nuggets will pick third.
Cleveland and Denver had the best chance of landing the top pick. Each team had 225 balls out of the 1,000 available after finishing tied for the worst record in the league at 17-65.
Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse to the national championship this season as a freshman, is projected to be taken after James.
Darko Milicic, a left-handed 7-footer from Serbia who turns 18 on June 20, is the best big man available, and he's expected to be the No. 3 pick.
James, however, is the player everyone in the NBA has been coveting. The 18-year-old swingman can shoot from the outside as well as drive the lane.
James, who just signed lucrative multiyear contracts with Nike and Upper Deck trading cards, averaged 30.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.9 steals as a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary High.
Raptors All-Star Vince Carter said James will face intense pressure as a rookie.
"He's stepping into another level," he said. "I think he is going to be a great player. I think everybody thinks it, but I think that's what this is all about, his potential."
The Pistons, who had the best record in the East, got the second pick from Memphis. The Grizzlies traded the pick in 1997 for Otis Thorpe. Memphis would have kept the pick only if it had won the lottery.
The fourth selection went to Toronto, which will be followed by Miami, the Clippers, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Washington, Golden State, Seattle and the Grizzlies again.