NYK fan from the Realgm.com bard:

I still can't believe people don't know how the lottery works.

They put balls numbered 1-14 in a lottery machine, they pick out 4 number combos and each team is assigned a certain amount of 4 number combos. Bulls 225, Grizz 225, Knicks 44 are the only ones I know offhand.

They dish out the combos until 3 teams are picked, then they put the rest in order from least to most wins.
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Now it makes sense to me now. Thats why the Knicks cannot get pick 4-6 and no lower than 10.

So does that mean when they open the envelopes Stern actually already knows who won it (because the lottery had taken place before)???