Former USC Trojans men's basketball player Nikola Vucevic was selected in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
The 6-foot-11, 260-pound forward-center will be heading to Philadelphia after being selected 16th overall by the 76ers.
Once thought to be a second round pick at best, Vucevic's stock rose dramatically in the days leading up until the 2011 draft, putting up great performances at various pre-draft workouts and measuring quite well at the Chicago combine.
With the selection of Vucevic, the 76ers get an excellent post player who has drastically improved during his three seasons at USC. Following a lackluster freshman year, Vucevic exploded out of the gates as a sophomore in 2009-10, earning the Pac-10's Most Improved Player award with averages of 10.7 ppg and 9.4 rpg.
In 2010-11, Vucevic again showed off marked improvement, extending his shooting range beyond the college 3-point arc and averaging a double-double for the year with 17.1 ppg and 10.3 rpg.
Vucevic was the third Pac-10 player selected in the first round, following Arizona's Derrick Williams, who went No.2 overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Washington State's Klay Thompson, who ended up going to the Golden State Warriors with the 11th pick.
Besides Williams, Thompson and Vucevic going in the first round, three more conference players landed in the 2011 draft's second round. Drafting at No.35, the Sacramento Kings selected UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt, followed by former Bruins guard Malcolm Lee going to the Timberwolves at 43rd and Washington point guard Isaiah Thomas being selected with the final pick in the draft, No.60, by Sacramento.
© 2011 Neal J. Leitereg -- All Rights Reserved
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