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Rondae Holllis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson figure to celebrate tomorrow as two more Arizona first-round draft selections (Twitter photo from AZ Desert Swarm)
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This is the time of year you expect an Arizona player to be at the podium shaking hands of the NBA commissioner as a first-round selection.
When the NBA draft takes place tomorrow night, the Wildcats will build upon their impressive list of 19 NBA first-round draft picks. Stanley Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are likely to be taken in the first round.
Johnson will potentially be picked by Miami’s No. 10 selection while Hollis-Jefferson should be taken by No. 20, when Toronto will try to pick him.
Before Lute Olson arrived in 1983, Arizona’s draft history, like much of everything else in the program, was dormant after Fred Snowden tried to awake it in the early to mid 1970’s.
Now, Arizona’s program does not take a back seat to any other bluebloods in college basketball when it comes to the NBA draft.
Sean Miller has continued the tradition of making Arizona synonymous with producing high-level NBA talent. The production is a direct result of his elite recruiting status nationally.
What all of this means is Arizona has built a pretty nifty NBA draft history, one in which others aspire to reach.
The following slideshow lists the top five elements of Arizona’s NBA draft portfolio, especially since the program gained solid ground five years into Olson’s rebuilding process. …
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Site founder and award-winning sports journalist Javier Morales has published his first e-book, “The Highest Form of Living”, a fiction piece about a young man who overcomes a troubled upbringing without his lost father and wayward mother through basketball and hope. His hope is realized through the sport he loves. Basketball enables him to get past his fears. His experience on the court indirectly brings him closer to his parents in a unique, heartfelt way. Please order it at Amazon (for only $4.99) by clicking on the photo:
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