Cole Aldrich can temper his enthusiasm for playing with New Orleans Hornets' elite point guard Chris Paul.
The Kansas center was drafted by the Hornets with the eleventh pick and then traded to the Seattle SuperSonics Oklahoma City Thunder for a couple of later first round draft picks (Iowa State power forward Craig Brackins and Washington small forward Quincy Pondexter).
Poor, Cole. Going to a playoff contender -- and the home of one of the league's top-five best players, Kevin Durant.
Kansas coach Bill Self had an idea of where Aldrich was going to
end up.
"Sam Presti, their general manager, word had got to us
that he would love to be able to make a play to possibly draft Cole,"
Self said in a statement. "It worked out perfectly. To have him down
there with [Kevin] Durant, will be an unbelievable opportunity. To have
[ex-Jayhawk] Nick [Collison] down there help mentor him
will be great."
Henry finally ended up in Memphis.
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Henry didn't have to wait long to hear his name called. The
Memphis Grizzlies selected him with the twelfth pick. It's not a
bad spot for the long-range bomber, especially if Rudy Gay ends
up elsewhere via free agency.
"They need somebody that can make shots," Self said of Memphis. "They
have a good starting five but they need somebody who can score off the
bench and make shots. X is an improved player, just in the last two
months. He'll be a guy that has a chance to go down there and play awful
lot of minutes and a legitimate double digit scoring threat for them as
a rookie."
As for Subway dieter Sherron Collins, his
phone never rang.
"I can't believe he is not one of the best 60 prospects to come out of
this draft," Self said in the statement. "I feel for Sherron but
certainly it's not lost. He's put himself in a situation where he's
going to have to work harder and be more disciplined than he ever has
been to show everybody they made a mistake."
That's a long, hard road for Collins.
Photos via KU Athletics.
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