The Latest: Crotian 7-footer can't wait to meet Kobe
NEW YORK (AP) The Latest from the NBA draft at Barclays Center in New York.(all times local):
12:35 a.m.
Not many projected first-round picks were happy about dropping into the second round, but Croatian 7-footer Ivica Zubac was ecstatic.
That's because he landed with the Los Angeles Lakers, his favorite team and the home of his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.
Zubac says this is his dream come true and that he couldn't believe ''this is happening.'' He says everybody was predicting he was going to be picked around 20, but his agent told me when he didn't go 23rd, that ''we've got the Lakers if nobody selects you before''
Zubac says he ''was praying nobody would select me before.''
The 19-year-old Zubac got up at 4 a.m. in Croatia two months ago to watch Bryant's final game, even though he had practice at 10 a.m. He owns the jerseys of four Lakers: Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Metta World Peace.
Zubac wants to play for the Lakers next season - and he can't wait to meet Bryant, who retired in April.
He really loves Kobe's ''killer instinct and his will to win the game.'' Zubac says that is really the most important thing in basketball, so he Bryant ''since the first game I watched him.''
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12:25 a.m.
The final pick has been made.
Tyrone Wallace of California is the 60th and last selection of the draft, announced by NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum. Wallace was selected by the Utah Jazz.
Wallace's pick made Cal the 12th school in this draft with multiple picks. The others: Kentucky, Iowa State, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Providence, Syracuse, UNLV, Vanderbilt and Washington.
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11:55 p.m.
Deyonta Davis had left the Green Room at the NBA draft when the first round ended.
When the second round started, his time had come.
The Michigan State standout was the last of the Green-Room invitees to hear his name called. He and his family had left the room and the draft floor just before the end of the first round, then emerged for the start of the second round.
He's not the first Michigan State guy to be disappointed by not making the first round. Maybe Draymond Green's experience as a second-round pick can inspire Davis now.
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11 p.m.
Basketball has truly become a global game, and this NBA draft has only proven that further.
We're not just talking No. 1 pick Ben Simmons from Australia, either.
The first round spanned the globe, with 14 international players - the most in any round of any draft, ever.
No. 4 Dragan Bender became the highest-drafted Croatian player ever when he got picked by the Phoenix Suns. No. 9 pick Jakob Poeltl of Austria is his country's first NBA member, with him getting taken by the Toronto Raptors. And when Phoenix took Greece's Georgios Papagiannis at No. 13, he became his country's highest NBA draftee ever.
Pagagiannis beamed afterward, saying ''it's a great achievement for the whole of Greece.''
Buddy Hield (No. 6, Bahamas), Jamal Murray (No. 7, Canada), Thon Maker (No. 10, Australia and South Sudan), Domantas Sabonis (No. 11, Lithuania), Juan Hernangomez (No. 15, Spain), Guerschon Yabusele (No. 16, France), Ante Zizic (No. 23, Croatia), Timothe Luwawu (No. 24, France), Furkan Korkmaz (No. 26, Turkey), Pascal Siakam (No. 27, Cameroon) and Skal Labissiere (No. 28, Haiti) also helped add the huge amount of international flair to the draft's first round.
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10:20 p.m.
It's been a long night for a trio of players invited to the NBA draft.
Nearly three hours after the start of the draft, Washington's Dejounte Murray, Michigan State's Deyonta Davis and Kentucky's Skal Labissiere are all still in the Green Room waiting - and hoping - to hear their names called before the end of the first round.
After the Boston Celtics picked Croatia center Ante Zizic No. 23 overall, the number of players not invited to New York that had been drafted rose to eight.
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9:25 p.m.
The draft was nearly two hours old when Denzel Valentine's name was finally called by Commissioner Adam Silver.
The now-former Michigan State star didn't seem to mind.
Valentine was the 14th overall pick in the draft, a selection made by the Chicago Bulls. He's still a lottery pick, but the reigning AP College Player of the Year had to wait a bit longer than his recent predecessors did before getting chosen on draft night.
The last former college player of the year who wasn't taken in the top 14 picks was Jameer Nelson, who slid all the way to No. 20 in the 2004 draft. Considering Nelson has made about $55 million in NBA salary in his career, that didn't work out so badly for him.
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9:05 p.m.
The Boston Celtics had 4,000 fans at their draft party on Thursday night, and their first reaction wasn't exactly positive.
Some of them actually booed the team's co-owner.
When Wyc Grousbeck walked out to speak to the crowd shortly Boston's selection of Jaylen Brown with the No. 3 pick was announced, he was greeted with less than unanimous approval.
Grousbeck, who it was the worst reception he has received in 14 years, didn't take any offense to the boos, noting that ''they're Celtics fans and they've earned the right to say whatever they want.''
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8:55 p.m.
Like father, like son. Again.
For the 15th consecutive year, the son of an NBA player has been drafted. Orlando took Domantas Sabonis - the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis - with the No. 11 pick on Thursday night.
Domantas Sabonis averaged 17.6 points last season for Gonzaga. His father spent parts of seven seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, from 1995 through 2003.
This might not be the last in this draft, either. Possible second-round selection A.J. English III of Iona College in New Rochelle, New York is the son of A.J. English, who spent two seasons with the Washington Bullets in the early 1990s.
Here's the other sons who followed in their dad's footsteps in the previous 14 drafts:
Mike Dunleavy (2002); Luke Walton (2003); Jackson Vroman (2004); Sean May (2005); Ronnie Brewer (2006); Al Horford (2007); Patrick Ewing Jr. (2008); Stephen Curry, Gerald Henderson and Austin Daye (2009); Ed Davis (2010); Klay Thompson and Nolan Smith (2011); Austin Rivers (2012); Tim Hardaway Jr., Glen Rice Jr. and Erik Murphy (2013); Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker (2014); and Justise Winslow, Devin Booker, Jerian Grant, Larry Nance Jr. and Joseph Young (2015).
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8:45 p.m.
Thon Maker, the 10th pick by Milwaukee, was the first player chosen in the NBA draft who wasn't in the Green Room when his name was called.
He was sitting in the stands with family and the crowd around him exploded with cheers when his name was called.
Maker, who played in Australia, says he made the longer walk to the stage because he sat where he was ''comfortable'' and wanted to be with his family.
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8:15 p.m.
With the No. 5 pick in the NBA draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected Kris Dunn of Providence.
No pressure, Mr. Dunn. This tends to be a spot for players to shine.
Here's the other No. 5 picks in Minnesota history: Kevin Garnett in 1995, Ray Allen (who was traded for the No. 4 pick, Stephon Marbury) in 1996 and Ricky Rubio in 2009. And they worked out fairly well.
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7:25 p.m.
There are few proud college coaches at Barclays Center for the NBA draft, and they are all smiles.
Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar, Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Kentucky's John Calipari were among the college coaches in attendance. And each of them had multiple players in the draft.
Romar was visiting with Marquese Chriss and Dejounte Murray, Izzo was talking with Denzel Valentine and Deyonta Davis while Calipari took pictures with Jamal Murray and Skal Labissiere and their families.
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7:10 p.m.
All the players invited to New York for the NBA draft got up on stage at Barclays Center for the usual group picture.
A quick fashion take: It seems bow ties are the favorite sartorial item this year.
The ''Green Room'' is full of future NBA players, their parents, friends, college coaches and agents. The crowd at Barclays Center is sparse so far but thanks to a late trade with Indiana, the Brooklyn Nets have a first-round pick at No. 20 so crowd will have something to cheer about - or boo about.
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6:50 p.m.
All eyes will be on long-presumed No. 1 pick Ben Simmons when the NBA Draft gets started, and then it's Brandon Ingram's turn when the Los Angeles Lakers make the No. 2 pick.
After that, the intrigue begins.
Boston holds eight picks in this draft, including the No. 3 selection. And what Danny Ainge does or doesn't do with that selection will likely shape many of the other 57 decisions that will follow over the course of the evening.
It's a night the Celtics have waited some time for, and Ainge holds more cards than anyone else.