NBA Draft report

— Unibrow might not make cut

Anthony Davis made the unibrow look trendy during Kentucky’s run to the national championship and it picked up speed as the NBA Draft drew closer and the 6-10 freshman was a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick.

Minutes after the New Orleans Hornets selected Davis with that first pick, the Chicago native was asked about his eyebrows which come pretty close to being one long one that stretches over both eyes.

“As far as endorsements, still working on the endorsements and still working on the shoe contract but I think everything will fall into place,” Davis said when asked about his immediate future as an NBA player.

He was then asked if the brow was going to be part of the endorsements.

“Most definitely,” he said before adding, “Unless I cut it off.” Family way

When Austin Rivers of Duke was taken by New Orleans with the 10th overall pick, it extended the streak of at least one son of a former NBA player being drafted to 11 years.

Rivers, who played one season at Duke, is the son of longtime NBA guard Doc Rivers, who is the coach of the Boston Celtics.

Klay Thompson of Washington State was taken 11th by Golden State last year to keep the streak alive.

He is the son of Mychal Thompson, the overall No. 1 pick in 1978 by Portland out of Minnesota.

The father-son streak started in 2002 when Mike Dunleavy Jr. of Duke was taken third overall by Golden State.

Other one

Anthony Davis was just the second Kentucky player to be taken as the No. 1 overall draft pick and both were selected in the past two years. John Wall was taken No. 1 by the Washington Wizards in 2010.

Davis is the third player from the SEC to be taken No. 1, joining Wall and Shaquille O’Neal of LSU in 1992.

The last No. 1 overall pick before Davis to be selected after winning the national championship the previous season was Danny Manning, who was taken by the Los Angeles Clippers just months after leading Kansas to the 1988 national championship.

Conference call

The SEC provided the first three players selected in the 2012 draft with Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist of Kentucky and Bradley Beal of Florida.

The last time that happened was 1986 when Brad Daugherty of North Carolina, Len Bias of Maryland and Chris Washburn of North Carolina State - all from the Atlantic Coast Conference - were taken as the top three.

Same time

Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist became the first college teammates to be selected with the first two picks of the draft.

“No. I was shocked at first. I was shocked,” Kidd-Gilchrist said when asked if he and Davis, who are very close friends, talked about being the first two picks. “No we didn’t. We didn’t at all.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor,and Lucius Allen of UCLA were picked first and third in 1969.

In a two-year period teammates were taken second and third twice. In 2002, Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy Jr. of Duke were taken second and third, and two years later, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon of Connecticut were selected second and third.

Sports, Pages 23 on 06/29/2012

Upcoming Events