Pistons were close to No. 1 pick?

I know nothing about how the ping pong balls work in the NBA Draft, but this was a small note in an ESPN Insider draft blog from Chad Ford:

"How close were the Detroit Pistons to winning the No. 1 pick? The Wizards’ winning pingpong ball combination was 8-7-11-4. The Pistons owned 8-7-11-6. They were essentially one pingpong ball from moving up from No. 7 to No. 1."

First, a team with essentially the same odds in the draft grabs the No. 2 pick (76ers), but now we learn that of hundreds (thousands?) of ping pong balls, the Pistons were only lousy ball away from the kind of team-altering luck that could have put the team in the fast lane toward rebuilding a true championship contender. Yuck.