So you thought you left behind stuff like logarithms and the Pythagorean theorem in high school? Well, pay attention, because it's time for the NBA lottery. Thursday, the NBA will decide which team gets the No. 1 pick in the June 26 draft, with the prize being high school phenom LeBron James. Here's how the process works:

? Representatives from the 13 lottery teams will be sequestered in a room (although only 12 have a shot at the top pick because Memphis has its own pick if it's No. 1 and it has Houston's first-round selection) at the studios of NBA Entertainment in Secaucus, N.J. Cell phones will be taken away.

? An NBA official will place 14 Ping-Pong balls, numbered 1 through 14, in a hopper. When four balls are drawn, there are 1,001 combinations that can come up. It doesn't matter in what order the balls are drawn. The combination 1-2-3-4 is considered the same as 4-3-2-1.