2007 NBA Draft Recap: Beware the Gators

Thursday's NBA Draft was a historic occasion—especially for the Florida Gators and their fans.

 

There were plenty of surprises, and, of course, plenty of cheers and jeers. Here's your instant replay of the NBA's banner night...

 

 

Big Timers Make the Cut

  

The Greg Oden-Kevin Durant show has been running all summer, and its conclusion was no surprise.

 

Despite his conditioning flaws, Oden went number-one to Portland. His counterpart Durant was the "perfect" choice for a Supersonics team looking to make waves.

 

After Big O and D-Rant were off the board, most observers expected the draft to go from a slow boil to a simmer.

 

Boy, were they wrong.

 

 

Irish Eyes Aren't Smiling

Boston Celtics fans were still fuming over the Lottery...but nothing could prepare them for this:

 

"With the fifth pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Seattle Supersonics select...Jeff Green from Georgetown."

 

Wait! What happened to Boston's pick?

 

"The Celtics trade their number five pick to Seattle for...Ray Allen."

 

Are you kidding? Why sacrifice a shot at some young blood for an aging player who's been nothing but a headache?

 

The Celtics subsequently tried to soothe the angst in Boston by selecting Gabe Pruitt from USC. Yeah. That will shut the Boston faithful up...for about 10 seconds.

 

Just long enough to clean up the beer they spit all over their television sets.

 

 

Historic Noise

 

It's an old story, but some fans never get tired of it: The University of Florida made history again on Thursday.

 

With the exception of Lee Humphrey, every Gators starter and/or reserve found a home in the league. Even more remarkably, Florida became the first school to have not one, not two, but three players taken in the first ten picks of the draft. 

 

Al Horford started things off by going to Atlanta at three. Four spots later, Corey Brewer was taken by Minnesota. Not even ten minutes after that, while Brewer was being interviewed on the radio, the Chicago Bulls brought Joakim Noah to the Windy City with the ninth pick.

 

Chris Richard joined Brewer in Minnesota at number 31, and Oden got his own version of Dwyane Wade when Taurean Green went to Portland later in the second round. 

With so much talent gone to the next level, maybe Billy Donovan should have stayed in Orlando.

 

 

Consolation Prizes

 

The UCLA Bruins didn't make it to the dance this year, but at least Arron Afflalo found a home in Detroit. Afflalo's play could be crucial for the Pistons if Chauncey Billups skips out of Motown.

 

The Ohio State Buckeyes also rallied from postseason disappointment to show well on Thursday. In addition to Oden, Mike Conley Jr. and Daequan Cook both had their numbers called in the first round. Conley got the call from Memphis, while Cook can get silly with CSU's Jason Smith in Philly.

 

 

If there's any lesson to be learned from the 2007 NBA Draft, it's that the United States is turning out more and more quality college prospects. Fear us, Europe and China—or at least...

 

Fear the Gators!!!