NBA Commissioner David Stern, left, poses with the No. 4 overall draft pick Dion Waiters, of Syracuse, who was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA basketball draft, Thursday, June, 28, 2012, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? Former Syracuse University basketball player Dion Waiters and Fab Melo were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft Thursday.
Waiters went 4th overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers while Melo was taken 22nd by the Boston Celtics.
Waiters didn't start a single game last season for the Orange, averaging 12.6 points in 37 games. But at 6-foot-4, and a stocky 221 pounds, he's not afraid to drive to the basket and many feel he's already got a pro-ready game. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has compared Waiters' playing style to that of a young Dwyane Wade.
Waiters was named the Big East's best sixth man last year
He was a bit of a mystery man leading up to the draft because he didn't work out for the Cavs or any other team. After he was promised by a lottery team that they would take him, Waiter, on the advice of his management team, packed up and left the league's combine in Chicago before he was measured or participated in a drill.
A talented defender and shot blocker, Melo was the second big man chosen by Boston. They also had the 21st pick, which they used to take Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger. Boston's second-round pick is the 51st overall.
Melo led Syracuse with 5.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game while averaging 7.8 points per game last season but missed the NCAA tournament because of academic issues. Syracuse was eliminated in the Elite Eight by Ohio State, 77-70.
The 7-0, 255-pound Melo played sparingly as a freshman but was named Big East defensive player of the year as a sophomore when he set a school record with 10 blocks against Seton Hall.
No one-and-done for Kentucky's kids in the NBA draft. The Wildcats instead became the first school to go 1-2.
After the New Orleans Hornets selected Kentucky forward Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick Thursday, Charlotte followed by taking fellow freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Continued...
The Wildcats are the first school to have the top two picks, part of what they hoped would be perhaps five or even six players selected in the first round. John Calipari has been criticized for recruiting "one-and-done" players ? they stay the required one year and leave ? but he looked thrilled hugging his two stars.
"It's crazy," Davis said. "Michael is a great player. We have two down and four more to go. Hopefully all of them will go in the first round."
It's been a long time since a school made such an impact on the draft.
UCLA had the Nos. 1 and 3 picks in 1969, when Milwaukee took Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ? then Lew Alcindor ? and Lucius Allen went third to the Seattle SuperSonics.
Davis will begin his pro career in the same city where he ended it with a national title. College basketball's player of the year as a freshman was the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four despite shooting just 1 for 10 from the field in the championship game, grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking six shots in the victory over Kansas.
Davis slipped on a blue and purple Hornets hat above a conservative gray suit that took no attention away from basketball's most famous eyebrow. Davis even attempted to capitalize on the attention his unibrow gets, trademarking "Fear The Brow" and "Raise The Brow" earlier this month.
On the floor, Davis has the agility of a guard ? and he was one only a few years ago.
The 6-foot-10 Davis averaged 14.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.7 blocks, becoming a dominant defender after growing 7 inches from the start of his junior year of high school.
A season after the Hornets traded longtime star Chris Paul, Davis is ready to be their centerpiece, since playing for the Wildcats means he's already accustomed to plenty of attention.
"Like I said, at Kentucky we had it all the time, especially the six who played, we had the spotlight all the time," Davis said. "I think it really prepared me." Continued...
Charlotte, coming off a 7-59 season and the worst winning percentage in NBA history, had been open to moving the No. 2 pick if it found the right deal. Instead, Michael Jordan's team went with Kidd-Gilchrist, whose selection by the Bobcats was loudly cheered, a sharp contrast from the boos Commissioner David Stern received when coming out to announce the picks.
The new Charlotte swingman played in high school at nearby St. Patrick's in Elizabeth, N.J., and fans chanted "MKG! MKG!" as he walked off the stage. Though he and Davis talked before the draft, they didn't discuss the history the Wildcats were about to make.
"No. I was shocked at first," Kidd-Gilchrist said. "I was shocked. But no, we didn't. We didn't at all."
Florida's Bradley Beal went third to Washington, making it three SEC freshman in the first three picks.
Thomas Robinson of Kansas, who hoped to go second, fell to Sacramento at No. 5. Portland took Weber State's Damian Lillard at No 6 with its first of two lottery picks, and North Carolina's Harrison Barnes was taken seventh by Golden State.
After Washington's Terrence Ross went to Toronto and Connecticut's Andre Drummond to Detroit, the Hornets rounded out the top 10 by taking Duke guard Austin Rivers with a pick they acquired in the Paul trade. Rivers hugged his father, Boston coach Doc Rivers, who came to be with his family instead of with the Celtics, who owned two later first-round picks.
Davis was the only clear-cut pick entering the draft, and there were some early surprises. Players such as Waiters and Ross went higher than expected, while Robinson dropped to the Kings.
"I really didn't know where I was going to end up at, but it is a bit of a surprise," he said, tearing up when talking about his difficult journey that included the deaths of multiple family members in college. "I didn't work out for Sacramento at all, I probably talked to them about once. But I'm here, so I'm meant to be here."
Houston took Jeremy Lamb of Connecticut at No. 12 with its first of three top-20 picks. But the Rockets, who also had the Nos. 16 and 18 picks, were hoping not to use all of them, instead packaging them for an established player after their pursuit of the Lakers' Pau Gasol fell through last year.
Source: http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2012/06/29/sports/doc4fed0bd10aa75671430954.txt
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