Or maybe Clint Eastwood could show up as Dirty Harry to mutter "Are you feeling lucky, punk?" to one of the guys running the NBA draft lottery.

Who, after all, could resist a trip to Secaucus in the spring?

Whether luck be a lady, a grotesque advertising symbol, an iconic movie character or whatever, the Knicks and Nets are open to suggestion if it means moving up at tonight's annual Soiree' in Secaucus, where both return for a second straight year.

The Knicks enter it at No. 8, the Nets at No. 11, so it'll take some doing for them to climb into the top spot or even the top three, where the draft is considered top-heavy with Oklahoma power forward Blake Griffin, Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio and Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet.

Still, perhaps the Knicks (whom the rules dictate can finish either Nos. 1-3 or 8-11) and Nets (Nos. 1-3 or 11-14) could check in with Steve Schanwald, the business operations vice president who seemed to draw the short draw when he represented the Bulls last year.

Instead, they beat the 1.7 percent odds of winning the top pick from the nine-hole and eventually chose Derrick Rose, ultimately the overwhelming Rookie of the Year winner.

Thus, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni plans to get as far away as he can from this year's lottery after sitting on the stage last year, when the Bulls pushed his team down a spot from the five-hole (and the Nets down from No. 9 to 10).

He says he'll be in his native West Virginia for an "appearance" (perhaps tea with the lottery lady?) as the Knicks try to "win" the event for the first time since 1985's initial lottery.

That's when conspiracy theorists believe the league (before it used pingpong balls to determine the draft order) planted a frozen or bent card for commissioner David Stern to pull from the hopper and steer Patrick Ewing to New York.

This time, Allan Houston, hoping to rekindle the 10th anniversary luck of his rim-and-backboard-dancing, series-winning shot in Miami, will sit onstage.

Nets president Rod Thorn, meanwhile, will do it himself, saying, "I've always been a little bit lucky."

Lucky, his laugh said, as in Michael Jordan landing in his lap when he had the third pick while running the Bulls in 1984.

Yet, the Nets last won the lottery in 2000 (drafting Kenyon Martin) and also won in 1990 (Derrick Coleman) ? a pattern that suggests they ought to wait 'til next year.

However, the Knicks' 2.8 percent chance plus the Nets' 0.9 percent chance adds up to a 3.7 percent chance of the top pick landing in the metropolitan area, more than twice the Bulls' '08 odds. Combined, their chances of finishing in the top three also are better than 13 percent: Knicks almost 1-in-10, Nets 3.25 percent.

Yet, Knicks president Donnie Walsh, who found the likes of Reggie Miller and Danny Granger in the teens for Indiana, insists the top three isn't the draft's be-all and end-all.

"They always say that," he said. "By June, we'll be fighting over players."

"They're [usually] right," D'Antoni said. "But there is a guy eighth or 10th or 12th who's really good. Courtney Lee [drafted by Orlando last year] at 22 is really good."

"It's like always," Thorn said. "There'll be two or three guys in the top 10 who will never be more than role players. And there'll be two or three that'll be really good.

"And from 10 to 20, there'll probably be two guys that'll turn out to be good. Then there'll be a couple role players and then the rest of them won't be that good.

"Then there'll be one, I guarantee you, between 21 and 30, that'll turn out to be a heck of a player."

Still, members of both teams might want to channel the theme from "The Jeffersons" ("Movin' on Up") ? what history shows has been a frequent lottery theme.

Only twice since 1990 (when the Nets won after a league-worst 17-65 season) has the team with the worst record won the lottery: Orlando in 2004 (Dwight Howard) and Cleveland in '03 (LeBron James). The average starting spot for the lottery-winning team since '04: 6.25.

Hey, you never know.

Luck of the draw

Here are the percentages the 14 teams are facing in tonight's NBA draft lottery as they envision picking first and probably selecting Blake Griffin of Oklahoma:

Team's chance of picking first

1. Sacramento 25 percent

2. Washington 17.8 percent

3. L.A. Clippers 17.7 percent

4. Oklahoma City 11.9 percent

5. Minnesota 7.6 percent

6. Memphis 7.5 percent

7. Golden State 4.3 percent

8. Knicks 2.8 percent

9. Toronto 1.7 percent

10. Milwaukee 10 percent

11. Nets 0.9 percent

12. Charlotte 0.7 percent

13. Indiana 0.6 percent

14. Phoenix 0.5 percent