"First came 11, one of the Blazers’ numbers. Then nine, another Blazers number. Then 13, the third number in the Trail Blazers’ sequence. If the next number out of the hopper was 12, the number one pick in the draft would have once again belonged to Portland.
But it wasn’t meant to be. A ball with the number seven was removed, and the Chicago Bulls were awarded the first pick. The Blazers, just one number away from pulling off the biggest draft buster in the history of the lottery, ended with the 13th pick. "
from blazers.com
damn, we'da been the most hated/loved/conspiracy-theory ridden team in the league had it been a 12 instead of a 7