University of South Carolina Libraries
Wednesday, July 7,1999 Chicago s process w By Sara Ladenheim Special to The Gamecock WASHINGTON - When the soldout roar died down Wednesday night at the MCI center in Washington, D.C., No. 1 Pick, Elton Brand of Duke University donned the cap of the Chicago Bulls with a grin as wide as his wingspan. "Those are Maryland fans out there," Brand said, referring to the mixture of cheering and booing from a 1 _ 11* _ /?_ i1__ XT_ r? Clx _ _ uruwa purnng ior me ino. l pick oieve Francis of Maiyland to go No. 1. "I couldn't believe it was my name they called out first. I didn't have the slightest idea [that I would be picked first], I feel blessed," Brand said. Surprises were universal on the night dubbed by one prominent sportscaster as, "the day the dropout survived." Several times in the hype proceeding the 1999 NBA draft, underclassmen and high schoolers' eligibility was questioned; not on the basis of merit, but under a much-speculated proposal to introduce an age requirement for fiitnro Hro-ftc v # \y One man who lost much of his past ^ four years of recruiting in the historymaking selection of four players from ^ the same team was Duke coach Mike ^ Krzyzewski. Trajan Langdon (11th overall), Wilham Avery (14th overall) and Corey Maggette (13th overall) joined Brand as quick picks in the first 01 round. South Carolina nearly lost all of the t* hopes and dreams of a first round pick ui when the dismal 14th and 15th rank- be ings out of all point guard prospects sp rormer \JbL Fr Major League Soccer Eastern Conference iC W L SO Pts GF GA ^ D.C. 11 5 2 29 34 24 111 Columbus 10 5 5 20 17 16 L( New England 7 8 315 20 21 Tampa Bay 6 9 3 12 18 24 ,, NY-NJ 5 10 3 9 15 29 Miami 4 12 2 8 19 32 Gi U. Western Conference W L SO Pts GF GA _r Colorado 10 3 2 26 26 14 _ Dallas 9 8 1 25 28 13 " Chicago 8 7 1 22 23 17 Tl Los Angeles 9 6 3 21 16 11 Jej San Jose 9 7 7 13 22 29 j Kansas City 3 11 0 9 15 23 " tn NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for shootout win and zero noints for loss Shootout fSOl is a subset of wins. at Friday's Game pC Chicago 2, Dallas 1, SO er] Saturday's Game i Kansas City at Tampa, 7 p.m. Sunday's Games to NY-NJ at N.England, 4:30 p.m. DC at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. fjj Chicago at Dallas, 8:30 p.m. ^ Columbus at Colorado, 9 p.m. Miami at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. ^ Si itarts reb ith Brani First round 1 1. Chicago - Elton Brand, f, Duke 2. Vancouver - Steve Francis, g, Maryland 3. Charlotte - Baton Davis, g, UCLA 4. LA Clippers - Lamar Odom, f, Rhode * Island J' 5. Toronto (from Denver) - Jonathan Bender, 1 f-c, Picayune HS (Miss.) f, 6. Minnesota (from New Jersey) - Willy 2 Szczeibiak, f, Miami (Ohio) ( 7. Washington - Richard Hamilton, g, 2 Connecticut f 8. Cleveland (from Boston) - Andre Miller, g, 2 Utah 2 a /T~? rv?!U^ ? f y. riiuciUA viiuiij uaiw>j ? oiwwii m<uiuu, i, a UNLV 10. Atlanta (from Golden State) - Jason Terry, ~ g, Arizona 2 11. Cleveland - Trajan Langdon, g, Duke 12. Toronto - Aleksandar Radojevic, c, Barton " County CC (Kansas) ^ 13. Seattle - Coney Maggette, g-f, Duke 2 14. Minnesota - William Avery, g, Duke Ji 15. New York - Frederic Weis, c, Limoges 2 (France) 2 ere handed to Clemson senior Tferrell u 'clntyre and USC senior BJ McKie. Though speculation was high, nei- tl ter athlete proved to fit this year's s< BA mold. Neither McKie nor s1 'clntyre was drafted. ? McKie said before the draft he "was t] ad he had an education to fall back e: i." Mclntyre, however, has already :en reported to have signed a six-fig- F e deal with a French team and has n inn m v mn nnnl-ltAv olinrt/tn on 4-A C? ;cn given aiiutnci eiiaiiee, ou tu o*. ieak, with a free-agent tryout sched- G J stars Matt om Staff Reports Rob Smith graduated from USC in 94. Two years later, he became the st Gamecock to sign with a Major ;ague Soccer franchise. Two years after Smith signed with e Columbus Crew, two more amecocks followed his lead into the S.-based league. Josh Wolff joined the Chicago Fire, i expansion team, after signing a oject 40 contract in Januaiy of 1998. le next former Gamecock to join the ague was Clint Mathis. Mathis was afted by the Los Angeles Galaxy with e sixth pick in the first round of the 98 MLS draft. Mathis was the more frequent scorer USC, but he and Wolff have similar ?int totals as professionals. The differipp is that. Wnlff srnrps mnrp crnals tiile Mathis gets more assists credited him. Mathis (1994-97) was a consensus st-team Ail-American in 1995 after tting USC records for points (53), goals 5) and game-winning goals (10). nith (1991-94) was a member of the CAROLINA SPORTS uilding d name 6. Chicago (from Phoenix) - Ron Aitest, f, t. John's 7. Atlanta (from Sacramento)- Cal Bowdler, c, Old Dominion 8. Denver (from Milwaukee via Phoenix) ames Posev. f. Xavier 9. Utah (from Philadelphia) - Quiney Lewis, , Minnesota :0. Atlanta (from Detroit) - Dion Glover, g, ieorgia Tech 1. Golden State (from Atlanta) - Jeff Foster, c, Southwest Texas St 2. Houston - Kenny Thomas, f, New Mexico 3. LA Lakers - Devean Geoige, f, Augsbuig Minnesota) 4. Utah (from Orlando) - Andrei Kirilenko, CSKA (Russia) 5. Miami - Urn James, f, Miami (Florida) 6. Indiana -- Vonteego Cummings, g, ittsburgh 7. Atlanta (from Portland via Detroit) - imaine Jones, f, Geoigia 8. Utah - Scott Padgett, f, Kentucky 9. San Antonio - Leon Smith, f, King HS led with Orlando later this month. One surprise pick of the top 10 was le No. 5 selection, Mississippi high :hooler Jonathan Bender. Bender's tatus as a Raptor didn't last long, iefore the night was over, he was aded to the Indiana Pacers in scchange for veteran Antonio Davis. Draft Notes. Maryland's Steve rands wore the saddest prospective lulti-millionaire face at the draft after jcond overall selection by the Vancouver rizzlies. His pained expression matched ds, Smith ? 1996 Olympic team and was a thir team All-American in 1994. He is the USC all-time assist lead (40). His 19 career goals, combined wi his assists, tie him for eighth on tl Gamecocks all-time scoring list with ' points. While at USC, Smith's tear i. u; J ACi io A went a uuinuuieu. Wolff (1995-97) is 20th on the a time scoring list with 21 goals and eig assists, totaling 50 points. Wolff's and Mathis' three tear went 40-16-3 during their years playi] together. The Rob Smitl I;!! Height* 5-10 Wei] mlfli Born: 8/20/73 in \ \lrT W How Acquired: ? tion in 1996 MLS Draft YEAR TEAM GP GS MEN 1996 Columbus 9 9 765 1997 Columbus 25 8 110(: 1998 Columbus 24 15 1502 1999 Columbus 2 0 3" jfL ^pjslsp sbiibb JEHBw /KH jSL ^Bgjf I fgWHk ^1 ut si |L ^HEk HKBHKS IJJH Mpn HHHSP ? Elton Brand's decision to leave Duke after t the Chicago Bulls drafted him first overall. his comments to the press later on. Charlc "The Bulls took a big gamble by not believe picking me," led many to whisper "sore he mis loser" as he continued. "All I know about selecte [Vancouver] is that ifs rainy and cold, far Clippe away from here, and they take all your Roc money" tYancis said, referring to Canada who Y. and its tax laws. State Y Baron Davis of UCLA was selected by the dri md Wolff shim 1 ^The Clint Mathis Fil( Height; 5-10 Weight: 17( Born: 11/25/76 in Conyer How Acquired: Drc LAin the first round (6tl of the 1998 MLS Draft. ht YEAR TEAM GP GS MEM G as 1998 L.A. 30 15 1550 5 1 lg 1999 L.A. 15 12 1066 5 1 i ?ht-150 Pos: M Heid Vilmington, DeL p||M Born Second round selec- \IjtiL q3 Supplemental jjo I . fcI [ G A PTS ZUZZ i 0 1 1 5 0 0 0 YEAR TEAM GP ! 3 2 8 1998 Chicago 14 r 0 0 0 1999 Chicago 16 VI Page 11 . fl * Special to The Gamecock lis sophomore year paid off as itte, and Lamar Odom, who was d to have first-Dick DOtential until sed several pre-draft workouts was id fourth overall by'the LA rs. inding out the top five was Bender, Lad committed with Mississippi lefore making himself eligible for aft. s in MLS ? ? USC Records Season )PokM Points-53 (1995) s Qq Goals - 25 (1995) Game Winners-12 ifted by (1995) i overall) Career No 3 AO-Time Scorer * 1994-97 A PTS 53 goals 0 20 15 assists 1 11 121 points Josh Wolff File it: 5-8 Weight: 160 Pos: F : 2/15/77 in Stone Mountain, Acquired: Assigned to the is a Project-40 player, 1/26/98. GS MIN G A PTS 4 651 8 3 19 9 984 6 2 14