As has been expected ever sinceWashington won the NBA Draft Lottery last month, the Wizards selected Kentucky point guard John Wall with the first selection in the draft Thursday night.
Also in the first round, former Georgetown center Greg Monroe was selected seventh by the Detroit Pistons and former Maryland point guard Greivis Vasquez was taken 28th by the Memphis Grizzlies.
Vasquez, Maryland’s second all-time leading scorer, jumped up and down when his name was called and hugged his parents. Vasquez told ESPN, “We have a great roster. Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo…I just can’t wait to get to training camp and work hard. This means a lot to me and my country back in Venezuela.”
The only other time the Wizards had the number one pick was in 2001 when they selected Kwame Brown right out of high school, but Brown turned out to be a bust. Wall, however, is expected to be close to a sure thing. He averaged 16.6 points and 6.5 assists during his only season at Kentucky and was a Consensus First Team All-America.
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Definitely appreciate this article. I watched the first two picks in last night’s draft and totally forgot about Monroe and Vasquez.
Definitely nice to know where both of those guys found homes in the NBA.
I don’t know why Vasquez didn’t go sooner it seemed like that kid is a winner with fire in his belly for ballin’. Won’t his game translate? I think Memphis got a good player and they are going to prove it in a couple years yep.
I’m very excited to be in DC right now with Wall, Strasburg, Ovechkin, McNabb / Cooley / Orakpo. It feels like a legitmate star-filled town.