Hillsborough wins 2023 draft lottery

Hillsborough had historic luck in the 2023 draft lottery, winning the No. 1 overall pick from the No. 6 position.

The Hit Men jumped five spots, bumping Empire City to No. 2. It's among the biggest jumps in draft lottery history and the largest since 2019. That year Poovey Farms leaped from No. 4, vaulting past Allentown, Hoboken and Blue Ridge, and ended up drafting Brandon Nimmo.

The last time Hillsborough (74-88) drafted No. 1 overall was in 2020 when they hit on Yordan Alvarez. That year, they won the lottery from the No. 2 position, leapfrogging Hopatcong, who would go on to draft J.D. Davis at No. 2.

This year, Hopatcong fell from an original No. 2 to select at No. 4.

Rockland (formerly Race Point) had the highest selection that remained unchanged, picking at No. 3. Last year, the Racers selected Alek Manoah at No. 1 overall after retaining the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery.

Lottery Result	Team	2022 Finish	1st Rnd Pick	Later Rounds
1	Hillsborough Hired Hitmen	15th	#1	#6
2	Empire City Trojans	20th	#2	#1
3	Race Point Racers	18th	#3	#3
4	Hopatcong Floating Fish	19th	#4	#2
5	Blue Ridge Bombers	13th	#5	#8
6	The San Francisco Experience	14th	#6	#7
7	Erie SnowWolves	16th	#7	#5
8	Allentown Mules	17th	#8	#4
9	Green Lake Gators	12th	#9	#9
10	Hoboken Cutters	9th	#10	#12
11	El Paso Chihuahuas	10th	#11	#11
12	Sardine City Straphangers	11th	#12	#10

Blue Ridge (76-86) and The San Francisco Experience (76-86) improved their lot, going from No. 8 and No. 7, respectively, to draft in the No. 5 and No. 6 slots, respectively. That came at a cost to Erie (74-88), which tumbled from No. 5 to No. 7.

While Hillsborough jumped up the most spots, Allentown took the biggest fall, dipping from No. 4 to No. 8.

Green Lake, formerly Loudon (78-84), remained at No. 9. The only other change in the 1st round will see Hoboken (79-83) swapping with Sardine City (78-84) to select at No. 10, while originally at No. 12. El Paso (79-83) remained at No. 11.

The 12 teams that missed the playoffs entered the draft lottery. Hoboken finished 9th and received 1 ball in the lottery and the number of balls for each team doubled after that, all the way to Empire City, with 2,048 balls. Hillsborough, at No. 6, had 64 balls in the lottery.

After the 1st round, teams will select based on their records, so Empire City (63-99) will select first, followed by Hopatcong (68-94), Rockland (71-91), Allentown (71-91), etc.