The race for consensus¹ No. 1 overall NBA draft prospect² Zion Williamson is on. But this tankathon will be different from that of past seasons.

状元大热蔡恩-威廉森争夺战仍在上演。但是，这赛季的摆烂将和以往不同了。

This is the first year under the lottery³ reform rules passed in September 2017 — more of an incremental⁴ step to deter⁵ blatant⁶ tanking than a complete overhaul⁷. Every loss at the bottom of the standings is now less valuable.

今年将是2017年9月通过的选秀改革规则实行的第一年。此次改革与其说是彻底整改，不如说是在原有基础上新增了一步，以此来抑制公然摆烂。对排名垫底的球队来说，输球不再那么重要了。

The NBA's board of governors voted to pass legislationon draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of healthy players in the regular season.

NBA董事会投票通过了选秀改革法，以及健康球员在常规赛轮休的指导方针。

The NBA draft lottery reform passed with a 28-1-1 vote, with Oklahoma City voting against and Dallas abstaining⁸. The NBA needed 23 of 30 teams — a three-quarters majority — to pass the legislation.

最终，NBA30支球队中有28支球队投票赞成选秀改革，剩下的两支球队中，雷霆队投了反对票，独行侠队弃权。NBA需要获得四分之三的投票，即30支球队中至少23支球队的赞成才能通过该法规。

The lottery reform changes will be instituted for the 2019 NBA draft.

选秀改革将于2019NBA选秀大会上正式实行。

Projecting the strength of any draft is challenging, but this is an interesting year to start having identical odds⁹ for the No. 1 pick and a top-four selection among the worst teams.

预测任何一个顺位的实力都是非常困难的，但是今年的情况会很有趣，因为从今年开始，联盟垫底的三支球队抽取状元签和前四顺位的概率都是一样的。

Despite a lingering injury, Williamson is a runaway¹⁰ No. 1 pick, and the second tier of prospects¹¹ behind him goes about three deep, including RJ Barrett, Ja Morant and Cam Reddish.

尽管伤病尚未痊愈，但蔡恩-威廉森仍是状元签大热。在他身后，选秀前景最好的三位球员分别是RJ-巴雷特，贾-莫兰特以及卡梅隆-雷迪什。

NBA

ESPN draft analyst¹² Jonathan Givony said on last week's Woj Pod that teams have more questions about the prospects in the Nos. 5-10 range.

上周，ESPN选秀分析师乔纳森-基沃尼在Woj Pod上说，NBA球队在5-10号签上的抉择会更难一些。

The Phoenix¹³ Suns (17.5 projected wins), New York Knicks (18.6) and Cleveland Cavaliers (19.3) have a decent lead on earning those coveted¹⁴ top-three spots and an equal chance at Williamson, per BPI. (FiveThirtyEight projects a similar finish.)根据BPI指数，菲尼克斯太阳队（预计获得17.5个胜场），纽约尼克斯队（预计获得18.6个胜场）以及克利夫兰骑士队（预计获得19.3个胜场）抽取前三顺位的可能性最大，并且有同等几率得到威廉森。（FiveThirtyEight网站给出的预测大致相同。）The Chicago Bulls (23.1) and Atlanta Hawks¹⁵ (26.2) aren't out of this race, but they have some ground to make up.

芝加哥公牛队（预计获得23.1个胜场）和亚特兰大老鹰队（预计获得26.2个胜场）尚未退出争夺战，但他们有一些需要改进的地方。

And remember: We're talking about much smaller differences in lottery odds between slots. If the Bulls finish fourth, they have a 12.5 percent chance at No. 1 and a 48.1 percent chance at a top-four pick.

而且，记住我们所说的：球队抽取高顺位的概率差大大降低了。如果公牛队在赛季结束时的战绩排名倒数第四，那么他们抽到状元签的概率为12.5%，抽取前四顺位的概率为48.1%。

If they move up to third, those odds bump up by only 1.5 and 4.0 percentage points, respectively.

如果他们降至倒数第三，那么这两项概率只会分别提升1.5%和4.0%。

"There aren't people like him athletically," Krzyzewski said. "His body has always responded instinctively¹⁶ to what his mind and heart feel. We've seen it. You can't put him out there at any less than (100 percent)."老K教练说：“他的运动能力是独一无二的。他的身体总是能对他的想法做出本能反应。这一点我们都看到了”。不管什么时候，他都能够百分之百的投入。