All non-playoff teams have X amount of "balls" put in and they draw 3 balls. Those three teams are the top 3 picks After that, all remaining teams pick in reverse order of finish, starting with pick 4. The Bulls pick (from the Knicks) is 9th in a straight "reverse order". The Bulls could either move up to 1-3, or, if they don't, would pick 9, 10 or 11. Only way they pick 10 or 11 is if a team behind them in a "straight" order were to jump into the lottery when did that change? When did what change? It's been that way for as long as I can remember. 1995 maybe? i guess i haven't been following the nba draft as well as i thought. i had been under the impression that each team was assigned an amount of balls via losing percentage then, with team symbol on each ball, balls were picked out randomly from that, starting at pick 12 until 1.