The National Basketball Association held their annual selection meetings last evening and it was a big night for the city of Milwaukee.
It was expected that the Bucks would go big, but prior to the draft they traded picks and players for veteran center Samuel Dalembert. To the dismay of Badger fans, in the deal they sent Jon Leuer off to Houston.
With the Bucks no longer needing the immediate help at center, they went with North Carolina's John Henson with the 14th pick. Henson, a junior, finished as the Tar Heels’ all-time leader in blocks per game (2.56 – 12th in ACC history) and second in total blocks (279 – 11th in ACC). He is a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2011, 2012), and First Team All-ACC this season averaging 13.7 points, 8.1 rebs and 2.6 blocks per game.
In the second round the Bucks went with Kentucky's Doron Lamb, a 6-4 shooting guard. The sophomore was named to the 2012 Final Four All-Tournament Team after the Wildcats won the national title, and he was also named to theAll-SEC Second Team. Lamb finished as the top 3pt shooter in Kentucky history connecting on 47.5% beyond the arc.
As for other local players, Marquette's Jae Crowder went early in the second round to Cleveland/Dallas. Here is how it all played out for the Big East Player of the Year....
Cleveland drafted Jae in the second round with the 34th overall pick. His draft rights were then traded to Dallas along with Jared Cunningham, the 24th pick, and Bernard James (33rd pick) for Kelenna Azubuike and Tyler Zeller (17th pick).
Late in the second round teams were taking Euro stash pick after Euro stash pick, until Darious Johnson Odom was picked by Dallas with the 55th pick. It looked like Jae and DJO would again be teammates, but the pick was then traded to the LA Lakers.
I would like to say there was some major player movement that went into the DJO trade between Dallas and LA, but no, it was for straight up cash. Yep, the Lakers wanted DJO so they bought him from Dallas. Makes sense for all involved, DJO goes to a team that really wants him, and the Mavericks were overstocked with draft picks.
Congrats to all involved!