Want to hear some impressive numbers? After Thursday’s NBA Draft, Jim Calhoun’s UConn program has produced 13 lottery picks, 18 first round picks and 27 total draft picks. Hang on one second while I send those numbers to every recruit in America (and Germany). It’s an amazing testament to Calhoun and his player development as very few of those 27 were highly touted recruits when they arrived in Storrs.
With the draft fresh in our minds and the beginning of the 2012-2013 fake season months away, let’s hop on the Wistful Wagon™ and take a look at all of the pros that came from UConn.
Yesterday we covered 2nd round picks. Now onto the heavy hitters.
Travis Knight – 1996 | 29th | Chicago
Overshadowed by his star teammate Ray Allen, Travis Knight was at one point viewed as a legitimate NBA prospect. That tends to happen when you’re 7 feet tall. Knight played seven underwhelming seasons in the league, managing to sign an infamous 7 year, $22 million contract with the Boston Celtics of which he played a single season before being traded back to the Lakers. Knight averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds per game for his career and has the bragging rights of being involved in a massive trade that included Glen Rice and Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.
Josh Boone – 2006 | 23rd | New Jersey
Josh Boone was an integral piece on one of the most talented UConn teams in history. That team historically underachieved, bottoming out with an embarrassing loss to 11 seed George Mason in the Elite Eight. Boone, however, got his money’s worth 2 seasons earlier when he won a National Championship playing besides Emeka Okafor. Boone played 4 seasons with the New Jersey Nets. His second year in the league, he averaged over 8 points and 7 rebounds per game before seeing his minutes, and his play, steadily decline. For the past 2 seasons, Boone has been playing overseas in China.
Tate George – 1990 | 22nd | New Jersey
Only months after sinking the most famous shot in Husky history, Tate George was off to the New Jersey Nets as their first round pick. George played four seasons for the Nets and scored only 4 points a game before leaving the league. George is now under indictment for his role in a real estate development scheme. How the mighty have fallen.
Marcus Williams – 2006 | 22nd | New Jersey
Draft night in 2006 wasn’t a whole lot of fun for Marcus Williams. After leading the same talented UConn team that produced the aforementioned Denham Brown and Josh Boone, Williams was considered a lottery pick. As the night wore on, Williams remained undrafted, culminating in the pick of Rajon Rondo immediately before the Nets grabbed Williams and then Boone with consecutive picks. Williams underwhelmed in his 4 years in the league averaging 5.6 points and 2.8 assists per game with three different teams. He has since played in Puerto Rico, Russia and most recently China.
Scott Burrell – 1993 | 20th | Charlotte
Scott Burrell played 8 seasons in the NBA including a few very impressive seasons with the Charlotte Hornets. His career fizzled out a bit at the end but not before he caught on with Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in 1998 and won an NBA Championship – the first UConn player to do so.
Jeremy Lamb – 2012 | 12th | Houston
Jeremy Lamb is the most recent of UConn’s draft picks after being selected with the 12th overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets. The talented swingman should get every chance to succeed on a young roster in need of perimeter scoring.
Hilton Armstrong – 2006 | 12th | New Orleans
Hilton Armstrong might be Jim Calhoun’s greatest success story. He went from a scrawny, raw, out of control post player into a lottery pick by constantly improving during his 4 years at UConn. Armstrong played 5 seasons in the NBA but garnered few minutes and had a hard time producing when given the chance. He averaged just 3 points and 2 rebounds per game before heading overseas. At last glance, he was continuing his career in France.
Caron Butler – 2002 | 10th | Miami
Caron Butler only played two seasons at UConn but, in that time, established himself as one of the most important players in the program’s history. His dominance in the 2002 NCAA Tournament led to speculation that Butler could be one of the draft’s top picks. Weeks before the draft however, an odd rumor surfaced that Butler had a bullet in his knee. A rumor that was disproven but not before Butler’s draft stock slipped. Butler was picked 10th by the Miami Heat and is one of 4 All Stars to emerge from the 2002 draft. He was also involved in the trade that sent Shaquille O’Neal to the Heat in his breakup from the Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Butler most recently played on the upstart Los Angeles Clippers and has averaged 16 points per game so far in his productive career. He won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks despite not playing in the playoffs due to an injury.
Andre Drummond – 2012 | 9th | Detroit
Andre Drummond fled UConn after his freshman season for the NBA Draft and was rewarded with the 9th pick on Thursday by the Detroit Pistons. Drummond was projected as a top 2 pick before attending UConn so you could say his stock slipped by going to college. Watching him struggle against tough competition, and holy mackerel those free throws, enough NBA teams were scared off that some players with far less potential leapfrogged him in the pecking order. Drummond will have every chance to prove people wrong. He was the youngest player taken in the draft and will get starter’s minutes to develop his post game alongside the very talented Georgetown graduate Greg Monroe.
Kemba Walker – 2011 | 9th | Charlotte
UConn’s latest hero, Kemba Walker, was selected 9th overall last year by the Charlotte Bobcats. Poor Kemba suffered through a tough season on a horrible, horrible team. Seriously, they were horrible, winning 7 games all season. Seven games. All season. Kemba, however, put up a very respectable 12 points and 4.5 assists per game and registered his first NBA triple-double. Hopefully Walker will get more help this season as Michael Jordan tries to bring his Bobcats into a position of relevance.
Rudy Gay – 2006 | 8th | Houston
Rudy Gay is currently UConn’s biggest star in the NBA. After getting drafted by the Houston Rockets, Gay was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Shane Battier. Gay has averaged 18 points per game and has raised the Grizzlies from a laughingstock into a legitimately talented young team. In 2010, Memphis rewarded that effort with a 5 year/ $80 million contract.
Charlie Villanueva – 2005 | 7th | Toronto
The Chuckwagon was a bit of a surprise pick at number 7 back in 2005. Word started coming down during the draft that Toronto had agreed to take Villanueva regardless of who was left on the board at the time of their pick. Villanueva rewarded the Raptors with a very successful rookie year, once scoring 48 points in a game, before being flipped to Milwaukee for point guard TJ Ford after the season. He is currently playing out the two final seasons of a 5 year/ $35 million contract he signed with the Detroit Pistons. For his career, he has averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Richard Hamilton – 1999 | 7th | Washington
Rip Hamilton was the best player on UConn’s first National Championship team. He celebrated the upset victory over Duke by declaring for the NBA draft where the Washington Wizards snatched him up with the 7th overall pick. Rip’s time in Washington was eventful. After suffering through 2 horrible seasons, part-owner Michael Jordan returned from retirement to join the team alongside Hamilton. The two famously had some very competitive square-offs on the practice court but after the season, Rip was traded to Detroit. There, he became a star. He was a 3-time All Star for the Pistons and helped lead them to a Championship in 2004. Hamilton is currently on the Chicago Bulls and has averaged 17.5 points per game in a very successful career.
Ray Allen – 1996 | 5th | Minnesota
Ray Allen is the best NBA player that UConn has ever produced. After being drafted by Minnesota, he was traded on draft night to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury. Allen enjoyed tremendous success on the Bucks before being traded to the Seattle Supersonics for Gary Payton. Allen became one of the greatest players in Sonics history before mercifully being traded to the Celtics a season before the floundering Sonics moved to Oklahoma City. Allen won a Championship with Boston in the first of his five seasons with the team. He is now a free agent. Ray Allen is a 10 time All Star and the most prolific 3-point shooter in the history of the league, making more 3s than any player in NBA history. He will become the first UConn player to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Donyell Marshall – 1994 | 4th | Minnesota
When Donyell Marshall left UConn after his junior season and declared for the NBA Draft, he did so as the best player UConn had ever seen. When Minnesota selected him with the 4th overall pick, he also became the highest drafted player in UConn history. A title he would hold for a decade. Marshall got traded to Golden State halfway through his rookie year where he earned more minutes and saw his numbers spike to almost 15 points per game. He traveled around the league playing parts of 17 seasons for 10 different teams. On one night in Toronto, he set a then record for hitting 12 3 pointers in a single game. Marshall is now an assistant coach in the NBA’s D-League. His career earnings top $72 million.
Ben Gordon – 2004 | 3rd | Chicago
Fresh off a dominant performance in a postseason that brought UConn a Big East title and its second National Championship, the Chicago Bulls selected Ben Gordon with the third pick in the draft. His rookie year, Gordon finished on the first team All-Rookie Team and won the Sixth Man of the Year award. Gordon was a star for the Bulls, averaging 18.5 points per game for 5 seasons. The Bulls never seemed to fully appreciate him however, mostly due to his defensive deficiencies. Their refusal to put him in the starting lineup weighed on Gordon and after a brutal playoff defeat at the hands of the Celtics in which Gordon dominated – scoring 42 points in a Game 2 loss and 33 in the deciding Game 7 – he jumped at the chance to leave and signed with the rival Detroit Pistons. Unfortunately, Gordon saw his minutes and his performance decline in Detroit and was traded last week to Kemba Walker’s Charlotte Bobcats where he will attempt to revive his electric offensive game. For his career, Gordon has scored 16.5 points per game and earned close to $55 million.
Hasheem Thabeet – 2009 | 2nd | Memphis
Hasheem Thabeet is widely panned as one of the worst draft picks in NBA history. After leading UConn to an improbable Final Four run, Thabeet declared for the draft after his junior season. Memphis selected Thabeet with the 2nd overall pick ahead of players such as Tyreke Evans, Brandon Jennings, James Harden and Stephen Curry. Thabeet struggled mightily and lasted less than 2 seasons with Memphis before being dumped on the Houston Rockets. Most of his time in the Rockets’ organization was spent in the D-League until he was traded to Portland last March. When you’re 7’3” you get plenty of chances to fail but Thabeet figures to be running out of his. For his career he’s averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds per game. On the plus side, he does have name recognition. He is mentioned as the worst-case scenario for every big-man draft pick including Andre Drummond.
Emeka Okafor – 2004 | 2nd | Charlotte
Emeka Okafor had quite a year in 2004. He led UConn to a National Championship and was lauded as a possible number 1 draft pick. However, when draft night came, Orlando selected high-schooler Dwight Howard with the first pick. Okafor was then selected by the newly created Charlotte Bobcats, one pick before teammate Ben Gordon. Okafor won the Rookie of the Year Award that season, averaging 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. The next season, he was injured and never quite managed to build on the momentum of his quality rookie campaign. Being surrounded by hilariously bad Bobcats teams certainly didn’t help his development. Okafor was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in 2009 but not before signing a massive six year/ $72 million contract with Charlotte. Earlier this month, he was traded to the Washington Wizards. Okafor has finished top 10 in the league in blocks and rebounds per game 3 times so far in his career. He has averaged 13 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks per game throughout his 8 seasons in the NBA.
It should be noted that several undrafted UConn players saw time in the NBA including current Assistant Coach Kevin Ollie and current NBA players Jeff Adrien and Jerome Dyson.
