1997 NBA Draft Notes
June 17, 1997
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. EDT
This is the final year of the two round draft. Next year in Vancouver begins one round only.
This year a record 47 players declared for early entry to the draft, six more than last year's total of 41. A record 17 were selected in the first round, including the first 7 picks. Three more were picked in round two
Last year, Kerry Kittles set a mark by being the first senior selected , at number 8. The previous low for first senior picked was number 6 (Bryant Reeves in '95, Calbert Chaney in '93)
Tim Duncan will be the first senior selected first overall since Larry Johnson in 1991.
Duncan will be the first Wake Forest player selected first overall. Previous high for a Demon Deacon was Rodney Rogers, 9th in 1993 by Denver.
Duncan will be the 15th center selected first overall, first since Shaquille O'Neal by Orlando in 1992.
This will be the second time the Spurs have had the first selection overall. In 1987 they selected David Robinson of Navy.
Duncan will be the sixth ACC player selected first overall - David Thompson, N.C. State (1975) by Atlanta, John Lucas, Maryland (1976) by Houston, James Worthy, North Carolina (1982) by Los Angeles, Ralph Sampson , Virginia (1983) by Houston, and Brad Daugherty, North Carolina (1986) by Cleveland.
Tony Battie will be the first Texas Tech player selected in the first round. They have had three players picked in the second round, most recently Jason Sasser last year by Sacramento.
Adonal Foyle will be Colgate's first draft pick since 1981, when the Bullets selected Mike Ferrara in the third round.
Antonio Daniels will be the first Bowling Green player selected in the first round since Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond in 1963 by San Francisco.
Chauncey Billups will be just the fourth Buffalo selected in the first round, following Cliff Meeley (7th in 1971), Scott Wedman (6th in 1974), and Shaun Vandiver (25th in 1991).
If Olivier Saint-Jean is selected in the first round, he would be the first Spartan picked in round one since Ricky Berry (18th) in 1988.
If Tracy McGrady is selected in the first round, it would be the third straight year that a high school player has been picked in round one.
If Kebu Stewart (Cal State Bakersfield) is selected in the first round, he would be the first Division II player picked in round one since Earl Jones from the University of the District of Columbia was picked 23rd by the Lakers in 1984.
Seven schools have had two players selected first overall - Georgetown (Ewing & Iverson), North Carolina (Worthy and Daugherty), Houston (Hayes and Olajuwon), UCLA (Abdul-Jabbar & Walton), Michigan (Russell & Webber), Purdue (Carroll and Robinson), and Maryland (Lucas & Smith).
Six universities have had three players selected in the first round of the same draft. Kentucky - Antoine Walker, Tony Delk & Walter McCarty in 1996, Arkansas - Todd Day, Lee Mayberry & Oliver Miller in 1992, UNLV - Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon & Greg Anthony in 1991, Michigan - Rumeal Robinson, Loy Vaught and Terry Mills, 1990, UCLA - David Greenwood, Roy Hamilton & Brad Holland - 1979, and Indiana - Scott May, Quinn Buckner & Bobby Wilkerson - 1976.
The highest for two teammates to be selected is in the 1969 Draft, when UCLA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was selected first overall by Milwaukee, and Lucius Allen went third to Seattle.
No team has ever had the first and second selections in the draft. Three times one team has had picks 1 & 3 - in 1975, Atlanta took David Thompson first and Marvin Webster third, in 1977 Milwaukee took Kent Benson first and Marques Johnson third, and in 1983 Houston took Ralph Sampson first and Rodney McCray third.
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