(AP) -- As expected, the Washington Wizards selected
Kentucky point guard John Wall with the No. 1 overall pick in
tonight's NBA draft. The 6-foot-4 Wall, the Southeastern Conference
player of the year, is the first Kentucky player taken with the
first overall pick. Wall is the fourth freshman selected first
overall in the past four years of the NBA draft.
The Wizards finished 26-and-56 during a tumultuous year last
season. The reigning Wizards point guard, Gilbert Arenas, was
suspended 50 days and was convicted on a felony gun charge for
bringing weapons to the locker room in a Christmas Eve stunt.
Washington doesn't always have a lot of success with No. 1 picks.
The last year it had the top pick was 2001 when the Wizards took
center Kwame ( Brown, who has averaged just 6.7 points
during a career that has taken him to four teams.
The other Top-10 picks:
- With the second pick, the Philadelphia 76ers took national
consensus player of the year Evan Turner of Ohio State. He was the
AP player of the year after averaging 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and
6 assists a game.
- The New Jersey Nets, who won just 12 games last year, selected
6-foot-10 Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors, the rookie of the
year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, averaging better than 12
points and 8 rebounds a game.
- Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson is going to Minnesota with the
fourth pick. The 6-foot-7 Johnson was the Big East player of the
year, averaging 16.5 points a game.
- Sacramento, which had the NBA rookie of the year this season
with Tyreke Evans, took Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins
with the fifth pick. He's the third freshman taken among the top
five picks. He averaged 15 points and just under 10 rebounds a
game.
- Golden State took Baylor forward Ekpe Udoh (eh-PAY' YOO'-doh),
a 6-10 junior forward. Udoh is a good shot-blocker, averaging four
blocks a game in college. The Warriors gave up an average 112
points last season, the worst defensive average in 17 years in the
NBA.
- At No 7, the 27-and-55 Detroit Pistons drafted Georgetown
sophomore forward Greg Monroe. The 6-foot-11 Monroe is an excellent
passer in the post ..
- The L.A. Clippers took Al-Farouq Aminu
a 6-9 forward from Wake Forest who averaged 15.8
points and 11 rebounds last season.
- The Utah Jazz, who made the playoffs, earned the No. 8 pick
with a trade from the New York Knicks and took Butler forward
Gordon Hayward, the Horizon League player of the year and a key cog
in getting Butler to the NCAA title game.
- Rounding out the top 10, the Indiana Pacers took Fresno State
forward Paul George. The 6-foot-8 George averaged a Fresno-record
90.9 percent from the free throw line, averaging 16.8 points a
game.
For the first time ever, five players from one
college were drafted in the first round. All five Kentucky starters
went in the first round of the NBA draft. In addition to John Wall
going to Washington with the top overall pick, Sacramento took
Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins with the fifth pick, Houston
drafted forward Patrick Patterson with the 14th pick, Oklahoma City
took guard Eric Bledsoe with the 18th pick and then proposed to
trade him to the L.A. Clippers, and Orlando took center Daniel
Orton with the next-to-last pick in the first round.
In other NBA news:
- A person familiar with the situation says the Chicago Bulls
agreed to trade veteran guard Kirk Hinrich and the 17th
pick in the draft to the Washington Wizards, freeing up more
salary-cap space. The Bulls will receive a future second-round pick
in the deal, which gives them enough room to go after two
high-profile free agents.
- The first senior taken in the draft was Clemson 6-8 forward
Trevor Booker. He was tapped by Minnesota with the 23rd pick, the
latest pick for the first senior in the draft since 1985. The
Timberwolves then proposed to trade Booker to Washington for a pair
of draft picks.
- The Oregonian newspaper reports on its Web site that the
Portland Trail Blazers fired general manager Kevin Pritchard less
than an hour before the start of the NBA draft.
Pritchard's last duties were involved in conducting Portland's
draft. The Blazers took Elliot Williams, a guard out of Memphis,
with the 22nd pick.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)