Bob Cook

This might shock anyone under the age of 35, but a generation of Boston fans know only of the Red Sox and the Patriots as perennial championship contenders, and the Celtics as the cursed bunch of losers.

But after 20 years of heartache since their NBA-best 16th, and last, championship, the Boston Celtics could be winning by losing. As in, losing enough — like an 18-game losing streak that lasted as long as Noah steered his ark — to get the best chance at a No. 1 pick that could be a franchise-changer like Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. If Boston, 13-38 (as of Monday night), keeps the worst record in the NBA, it would have a 44.1 percent chance to get either the first or second pick in the NBA draft lottery.

Boston can tell you, however, that being the worst is no sure thing. In 1997, the 15-67 Celtics had the second-worst record in the NBA, but lost the No. 1 pick to San Antonio — who got Tim Duncan.

Still, like any state lottery will claim, you can’t win if you don’t play. Or maybe it’s more like you can’t win if you do play. Either way, here are the sorry seven whose fans (except for Atlanta, which doesn’t have any) will be cheering every loss:

BOSTON CELTICS (13-38)
The race to the bottom is the most exciting thing to happen to Celtics basketball since then-coach Rick Pitino’s postgame rant in 2000 about how "Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door." Given their unsteady tenures as general managers, the Celtics might not want Bird or McHale walking through that door — they’ve already got a struggling ex-glory days GM in Danny Ainge. Things have gotten so bad, Pitino walking through that door would be a step up.

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Actually, Boston has some decent young talent, but way too much of it — eight out of 15 players are in their first or second year.

Outlook for Oden or Durant: Should be close to a sure thing, even though technically the Celtics have a 55.9 percent chance of not getting either of the top two picks as the worst team in the NBA. The way the last 20 years of Celtics basketball has gone, it is possible Boston could get the No. 2 pick, and watch Durant taken first as Oden sticks to his pledge on staying in college for more than one year.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES (14-40)
It’s been nothing but turmoil all year for the Grizzlies. Their best player, Pau Gasol, misses the first 23 games with a broken foot he suffered in the World Basketball Championships, then gets put on the trading block. Coach Mike Fratello gets fired. The best offer for buying the money-losing franchise is a dubious deal from an ex-Duke player that would include putting Christian Laettner, Mario Lemieux-style, in the owner’s box and on the roster. Tim Hardaway says he hates Rudy Gay.

Interim coach Tony Barone Sr., seeing what he has to work with, directs the Grizzlies like an exploitation film — no aspirations of artistic greatness, but nonstop action and plenty of scoring.

Outlook for Oden or Durant: Good, with a 50 percent chance of Steve Francis-like eyerolling if this awful franchise drafts either one. Didn’t Jerry West used to work here?

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (17-36)
The 76ers sprinted to the bottom with a 5-19 start, one that included putting Allen Iverson on ice before trading him to Denver, and paying Chris Webber big money so he would leave as well. Having gone 12-17 since that start, Philadelphia shows disturbing signs of improvement.

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Fortunately, the 76ers entered the All-Star break on the right note, losing three straight.

Outlook for Oden or Durant: With two games against Boston and Atlanta, and one game against Charlotte, Seattle and Memphis, Philadelphia can control its own draft-ball destiny. That three-game deficit to Boston is hardly insurmountable.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS (19-34)
The Bucks’ ascension (or descension, which really is a word) to this group is a fairly recent phenomenon. They were 15-14 after a six-game winning streak and looked like they would challenge in the cushy Eastern Conference, where even the what-lineup-are-we-running-out-tonight

Indiana Pacers can be a fifth seed. But three games later, Michael Redd (27 points per game) strained his left knee, sending Milwaukee on a 3-17 spiral, including losing streaks of five, six and four games. The Bucks "broke" the Celtics’ 18-game losing streak a few days before the All-Star game by losing in Boston, running the Celtics’ home record to a sparkling 5-21.

Outlook for Oden or Durant: Redd might be back soon. But if Milwaukee wants a chance at a No. 1 pick who is no Andrew Bogut, it shouldn’t hurry him back.

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