University of North Carolina Athletics
Trio Of Tar Heels Go In First Round Of NBA Draft
June 25, 2009 | Men's Basketball
June 25, 2009
Chapel Hill --- A trio of NCAA champion North Carolina Tar Heels - senior forward Tyler Hansbrough and junior guards Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington - were chosen in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft, which was held Thursday evening in New York. Senior Danny Green went in the second round (46th overall) to Cleveland. Jawad Williams, a member of the 2005 national championship team, was a rookie with the Cavaliers in 2009.
That marks the second time ever that four Tar Heels were selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft. In 2005, four UNC players were selected, all in the first round. Carolina has now had 96 players selected in NBA Draft history, the most of any ACC school.
This is the second time in UNC history - and the second time in the last five years - that at least three Tar Heels were picked in the first round.
Hansbrough was drafted 13th by the Indiana Pacers, Lawson went 18th to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Ellington was selected 28th by the Timberwolves. Lawson was then traded to the Denver Nuggets for a future first round pick. Former Tar Heel guard George Karl is head coach of the Nuggets.
Hansbrough, Lawson and Ellington are the 37th, 38th and 39th Tar Heels to be drafted in the first round, which is more first round picks than any school in the ACC. Twenty of the last 25 Carolina players selected in the NBA Draft have gone in the first round.
The trio of first round picks increase to 19 the number of players coached by Roy Williams selected in the first round. That includes 11 Kansas Jayhawks and eight Tar Heels.
Hansbrough, the 2008 National Player of the Year, is the first Tar Heel senior to be selected in the first round since the Washington Wizards chose Brendan Haywood in 2001. Former Boston Celtic Hall of Famer Larry Bird is the Pacers' president of basketball operations. Hansbrough passed Bird for 12th place in NCAA scoring during the 2009 Final Four semifinal win over Villanova and finished his career with an ACC-record 2,872 points.
This year's draft was the ninth in which two or more Tar Heels were chosen in the first round. The other years with two or more first rounders included 1977, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2005.
Carolina has had 28 players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft since 1980, more than any other school in the country (Duke is second with 22, followed by Arizona and Kentucky with 16).
North Carolina, Southern California and Missouri are the only schools to have players selected in the first rounds of the 2009 NFL, Major League aseball and NBA Drafts. UNC wide receiver Hakeem Nicks went 29th to the New York Giants; first baseman Dustin Ackley went second to the Seattle Mariners and pitcher Alex White went 15th to the Cleveland Indians. This was the second time in Carolina history (1984) that at least one Tar Heel been selected in the first round in the NFL, Major League Baseball and NBA Drafts.
NBA Draft First Rounds with Multiple Tar Heels Selected
1977: Walter Davis (5, Phoenix); Tommy LaGarde (9, Denver)
1984: Michael Jordan (3, Chicago); Sam Perkins (4, Dallas)
1987: Kenny Smith (6, Sacramento); Joe Wolf (13, LA Clippers)
1991: Rick Fox (24, Boston); Pete Chilcutt (25, Sacramento)
1995: Jerry Stackhouse (3, Philadelphia); Rasheed Wallace (4, Washington)
1998: Antawn Jamison (4, Toronto); Vince Carter (5, Golden State)
2001: Brendan Haywood (20, Washington); Joseph Forte (21, Boston)
2005: Marvin Williams, (2, Atlanta); Raymond Felton (5, Charlotte); Sean May
(13, Charlotte); Rashad McCants (14, Minnesota)
2009: Tyler Hansbrough (13, Indiana); Ty Lawson (18, Minnesota); Wayne
Ellington (28, Minnesota)
Roy Williams' First-Round Selections
Kansas: Mark Randall (1991), Rex Walters (1993), Greg Ostertag (1995), Scot
Pollard (1997), Jacque Vaughn (1997), Raef LaFrentz (1998), Paul Pierce
(1998), Drew Gooden (2002), Kirk Hinrich (2003), Nick Collison (2003), Wayne
Simien (2005).
North Carolina: Marvin Williams (2005), Raymond Felton (2005), Sean May
(2005), Rashad McCants (2005) Brandan Wright (2007), Tyler Hansbrough
(2009), Ty Lawson (2009), Wayne Ellington (2009)
