It’s amazing how two years of the 76ers making the playoffs can make you forget about the NBA’s bottom-dwellers’ annual meeting in Secaucus, N.J.

Yes, it’s draft lottery time, when the dredges of the NBA get rewarded for their miserable seasons by looking toward a better day.
This year’s lottery winner and recipient of the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is the Los Angeles Clippers, who had the third-best odds of winning at 17.7 percent.
The Memphis Grizzlies will pick second and the Oklahoma City Thunder third. The Sacramento Kings, who had the worst record in the league, slipped to fourth and the Washington Wizards will pick fifth.
The consensus thought is that the Clippers, who have the first overall pick for the third time, will select University of Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin, the National Player of the Year.
Considering the Clippers’ history, Griffin may have been the biggest loser at last night’s proceedings.
Descriptions of Griffin, a 6-10, 250-pounder, have ranged from being a young Carlos Boozer to having more upside than Karl Malone.
Boozer, OK, but I’ll lay off any comparisons to the Mailman until Griffin makes at least two NBA All-Star teams.
And, frankly, that’s the problem with this year’s lottery.
Griffin is a nice player, but unless he does become another Malone, he is not a franchise-altering player.
And if Griffin, who had 30 double-doubles last season while averaging 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds for the Sooners, is the best of the lot, what does that tell you about the rest?
After Griffin, the next best player is projected as Ricky Rubio, a 6-4, 18-year-old point guard from El Masnou, Spain.
I watched Rubio in the Olympics last summer and was not overwhelmed. He isn’t a knock-your-socks-off athlete, had a shaky jump shot and did not exude confidence.
It’s not that I don’t think that Rubio, who is only 180 pounds, can make the transition to the NBA, it’s just that he is a high-risk, high-reward prospect, and, frankly, you want a little more security from the No. 2 pick in the draft.
Playing in the Spanish ACB League for DKV Joventut, Rubio averaged 10.0 points, 6.1 assists and 2.2 steals in 22 games. The scouting report is that he is not a good isolation player, which, love it or hate it, is an ingrained part of today’s NBA, and is reluctant to take jump shots.
The team that drafts Rubio will have to display the patience the Toronto Raptors have shown with Andrea Bargnani, the No. 1 pick in 2006 who is just now starting to reach his potential.
And after Griffin and Rubio, you can throw the other top prospects in a hat.
Drafts like 2003, which produced LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, happen about once every 10 years. Most drafts are like this one — loaded with a lot of players who don’t particularly stand out from each other.
With the prospects so close, the potential for teams to make mistakes will be as high as any draft since 2005.
That year, the Milwaukee Bucks took center Andrew Bogut with the first pick, a legitimate call because Bogut was the best center in the draft.
But then the Atlanta Hawks, as they are inclined to do, outsmarted themselves by taking North Carolina freshman swingman Marvin Williams with the second pick, based on his upside.
All the Hawks did was leave future All-Star point guards Deron Williams and Chris Paul on the board for the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Hornets, respectively.
Of course, in 2006, Brandon Roy, who immediately emerged as the best player in the draft, stayed until sixth for the Portland Trail Blazers while Bargnani, LaMarcus Aldridge, Adam Morrison, Tyrus Thomas and Shelden Williams (Atlanta again) were selected before him.
I like to think I follow a lot of basketball, but some of the names at the top of this year’s lottery list barely elicit a yawn.
Players like 7-2 Connecticut junior center Hasheem Thabeet, Arizona State sophomore guard James Harden, Arizona junior forward Jordan Hill, Southern California freshman forward DeMar DeRozan, and Memphis freshman guard Tyreke Evans may end up having fine careers, but right now I just don’t see them as game-changing players.
And really, that’s what teams are looking for out of the lottery.
They’re in the lottery because they were bad. They are hoping to get a player who will change the fortune of their franchise.
This is one of those drafts when it’s probably better to be a team like the Sixers, who will select 17th, rather than be a team picking six through 14.
A player like Brandon Jennings, the Los Angeles high school star who skipped college to play in Italy this past season, is probably a top-10 pick because of his youth and potential.
But the Sixers could get just as good a player if someone like Virginia Commonwealth senior point guard Eric Maynor or North Carolina junior shooting guard Wayne Ellington slips to them at 17, and it won’t cost them nearly as much in salary or expectations.
The final draft order for the NBA is now known. I’m just not sure if this isn’t one of those drafts where it’s better to be at the end of the lottery or not in it at all.