The wait was long for Nick Young, happily a little longer for Arron Afflalo and painfully the longest for Gabe Pruitt on Thursday night at the NBA draft in New York.
Afflalo, the All-American guard from UCLA, and USC's guard duo of Young and Pruitt all decided to leave college after their junior seasons to make money playing basketball.
For Young and Afflalo, the decision paid off.
Young was the No. 16 pick in the first round by the Washington Wizards and Afflalo was chosen by Eastern Conference finalist Detroit as the No. 27 pick in the first round. For Young and Afflalo, that means three-year guaranteed contracts and paychecks.
Pruitt wasn't chosen until the second round by the Boston Celtics and will find himself in a spot where nothing is promised but where he can't shop himself freely to teams that might more suit his talents.
"It was a big relief," Pruitt said of hearing his name called.
Young will join another Los Angeles guard, Gilbert Arenas, on the Wizards.
"It was nerve-racking," Young said. Young said he had been given indications that New Orleans, drafting 13th, was interested, but the Hornets chose Kansas forward Julian Wright instead. The Clippers had the next pick and Young said he was excited. "I was hoping my hometown team would take me," Young said from New York. "I was kind of disappointed when they didn't want me."
Instead the Clippers chose Florida State forward Al Thornton and Young had to keep waiting.
Afflalo said he was surprised when the Pistons chose him.
"The shock definitely came because I hadn't worked out for the team so I wasn't expecting to hear my name at that particular time," Afflalo said.
Pruitt was also surprised.
"I had no clue," he said. "I didn't work out for the Celtics nor was I contacted by them so this is a pretty big shock to me."
There had been conflicting reports of whether Afflalo would get drafted in the first round and by Thursday, Afflalo said, he had quit worrying about where he was drafted.
"I know my work ethic and I know what kind of basketball player I want to be," he said. "When you talk about Detroit Piston basketball the first thing that comes to mind is mental and physical toughness and a desire to get better, and I think those are my strongest qualities."
Afflalo wasn't even the first guard west of Idaho chosen by the Pistons. Eastern Washington guard Rodney Stuckey was chosen by Detroit at No. 15, only the second Eastern Washington player ever drafted.
