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Magic man UNC's Haywood dons the cap -- twice
Updated: Thursday June 28, 2001 8:06 AM
By Travis Richmond, CNNSI.com NEW YORK -- Nearly two hours after the beginning of the NBA Draft, Brendan Haywood finally heard his name called, when he was chosen by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 20 selection. And while the baby blue Cavs hat went well with Haywood's Carolina-blue shirt, the Cavs later dealt the 7-foot center to the Orlando Magic for the rights to free agent Michael Doleac. "I can't tell you what is going to happen with the trade talk. All I know is that I'm here now, and that is all I care about," Haywood said an hour before the deal was announced. "If I get traded to another team, that's fine with me. I will go in there and work just as hard." What was supposed to be a night to remember for Haywood became memorable for a different reason. He was not picked by Seattle (at No. 12) or by Orlando (at No. 15), clubs he thought had interest in him. "When those two teams passed on me, it was really kind of scary," Haywood said. "I feel I surprised a lot of people [in workouts], but I guess I didn't surprise them enough. There were a lot of guys who went ahead of me that I was surprised about. But it's not where you start, it's where you finish. I will remember this the rest of my life." To add insult to injury, Haywood was then bypassed in favor of a series of big men: Indiana's Kirk Haston (No. 16), Villanova's Michael Bradley (No. 17), Stanford's Jason Collins (No. 18) and Michigan State's Zach Randolph (No. 19). "This is nothing but motivation. I can't wait until I get to the NBA and this is going to make me work harder," Haywood said. "Even though I am a little disappointed I wasn't taken higher, being in the NBA is a dream come true. Being a top-20 pick isn't that bad." In the grueling minutes before Cleveland made Haywood the last player in the Green Room to be selected, Haywood bowed his head and stared down at the table where he was seated. "I was praying the cameras were moving toward me because I saw the cameras move toward everybody who got picked. Every time I thought I was going to get picked I looked up and saw the cameras weren't moving, so I knew it wasn't me," Haywood said. "When I looked down and I heard the cameras moving toward me, I got a little excited and tried to keep it all inside of me."
That emotion was finally released, albeit a little later than expected.
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