Editor's note: SportsDay's Eddie Sefko recently wrote a series of columns chronicling the Mavericks' NBA draft lottery picks. With this year's lottery approaching, we're bringing it back.The Mavericks don't have a recent history of being in the NBA draft lottery, but in their previous incarnation, they had a long, storied history of hoping for the pingpong ball gods to look favorably upon them.Alas, they did not.In fact, their history in the lottery is anything but storied.But it's a past worth chronicling, so we will have an occasional look back at what's happened to the Mavericks in their dips into the lottery as they prepare to have a chance at lottery gold in May (assuming they don't trade the pick).