• The NBA Draft took place Thursday night and as expected, the Hornets selected Anthony Davis with the #1 overall pick. They also selected Duke guard Austin Rivers with the #10 pick, giving them two high potential players to pair with shooting guard Eric Gordon and possibly form a trio that will lead them to the playoffs in the future.
• Davis's former Kentucky teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was taken #2 and Florida guard Bradley Beal was taken #3. It's the first time that three freshman have been taken #1-#3 and the second time that three players from the same conference have been taken #1-#3, joining the ACC in the 1986 draft.
• There were a few surprises including Dion Waiters being taken at #4 by the Cavaliers (who also traded with Dallas for UNC's Tyler Zeller later on) and Terrence Ross being taken #8 by the Raptors.
•The four North Carolina players expected to be taken were drafted within a span of 11 picks (#7 through #17) all of which were before Kentucky's third player was taken. Kentucky, however, did have 6 players drafted and 4 in the first round. UNLV in 1977 is the only other team with 6 draftees but none of those were in the first round, much less the first two picks overall.
Injuries Crushing U.S. Olympic Basketball
• The U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team suffered another hit on Thursday when Miami Heat shooting guard Dwayne Wade announced he would be skipping the Olympics to have knee surgery. Wade said he could have had played through the pain, but didn’t want to risk being unprepared for the 2012-13 NBA season.
• Wade struggled with knee pain throughout this year's playoffs, in which Wade did play through the pain but was not always effective. During the Eastern Conference finals Wade even had his knee drained of fluid. Despite not being at 100% though, Wade had some big moments in leading the Heat to their second championship since 2006.
• Wade, who led the ’08 Olympic team in scoring, was expected to be a major contributor to this year’s Olympic team. He will be joined on the sideline by two other large expected contributors. Chicago Bulls’ point guard Derrick Rose would likely have been the starting point guard for the Olympic team, but tore his ACL at the beginning of the playoffs. Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, who would have been the starting center for the team, had back surgery and will be watching from the sidelines.
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