Joe Goes No. 8
June 26, 2008 08:30 PM | General
June 26, 2008
NEW YORK – Joe Alexander realized a lifelong dream when he was selected as the eighth overall pick in the NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night in New York City. Alexander snapped a 40-year first-round draft drought for West Virginia.
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| Number eight draft pick for the Milwaukee Bucks, Joe Alexander is congratulated by members of his entourage during the 2008 NBA Draft at the Wamu Theatre at Madison Square Garden June 26, 2008 in New York City.
Nick Laham/Getty Images |
"What I did was just go out everyday and work as hard as I could and I was focused. This is what I thought about everyday was being here," Alexander said.
Memphis point guard Derrick Rose went first to Chicago, Bob Huggins recruit Michael Beasley of Kansas State went second to Miami and USC’s O.J. Mayo went third to Minnesota.
The UCLA tandem of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love went fourth and fifth respectively to Seattle and Memphis, and Italian Danilo Gallinari went sixth to the New York Knicks. Indiana guard Eric Gordon went seventh to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Alexander earned first-team all-Big East and honorable mention All-America honors for the Mountaineers as a junior, averaging 16.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. The 6-8 forward shot 46.2 percent from the floor and blocked 54 shots in leading West Virginia to a 26-11 record and its third NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance in four years.
Alexander was a member of WVU’s NIT championship team in 2007 and was a freshman on the Mountaineers’ NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 club in 2006.
Alexander averaged 10.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore for former Mountaineer coach John Beilein. In 83 career games Alexander scored 990 points and grabbed 392 points. Alexander produced career-highs in nearly every statistical category under Bob Huggins in 2008.
Alexander is the fourth NBA lottery pick for Huggins, who has had six first-round picks and the 14th overall pick during his coaching career.
“This is a great night for Joe Alexander and for the Mountaineer basketball family," Huggins said. "Joe has worked extremely hard to put himself in this position to be selected as the eighth pick in the draft. He’s got talent, and I think he will do well at the NBA level. The entire Mountaineer basketball family is happy for Joe.”
"I'm going to bring toughness; I'm going to bring someone who is committed to the game and wants to win and hopefully I'm going to bring a lot more wins to the Bucks," Alexander said. "I can't wait to get there."
Although most draft experts had Alexander going to the Bucks at No. 8 there was some doubt earlier today when the Bucks traded for New Jersey forward Richard Jefferson. Last year Jefferson averaged 22.7 points per game for the Nets.
Alexander is West Virginia’s sixth first-rounder and the first since Ron “Fritz” Williams went ninth overall to the San Francisco Warriors in 1968. WVU’s other first-round picks in basketball were center Mark Workman in 1952 (11th overall), guard Rod Hundley in 1957 (first overall), guard Jerry West in 1960 (second overall) and guard Rod Thorn in 1963 (third overall).
The last West Virginia player selected in the draft was forward Gordon Malone, who went in the second round to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1997.
Alexander was also the first Big East player selected in this year’s draft.
 ESPN Analyst Jay Bilas on Joe AlexanderHe's a freak of an athlete. He's got great spring in his legs. He's a big-time athlete that can shoot the ball from midrange. He's kind of a face-up four-man. He can post up but a lot of times his post-ups are from weakside pin-downs. He can put the ball on the deck; he's learning to use that freakish athleticism to get all the way to the rim and finish. In the second half of the season there wasn't a better forward in the country than Joe Alexander. He's got a great pull-up game, he can put the ball down on the floor with one or two dribbles and he can rise up and shoot over bigger defenders. He's got a good turnaround jumper in the post. Bob Huggins I thought used him really well. I don't think any player, maybe other than Russell Westbrook of UCLA, rose up from last year to this year more than Joe Alexander did. I think he's going to have to work on his defense a little bit moving his feet. One of the things that he benefited from in the Big East last year was that he was guarded by a lot of mismatches - a lot of fours and sometimes fives guarded him out on the perimeter and he took advantage of that. In the NBA he is going to be guarded by really athletic fours and super-athletic threes so that is going to be an adjustment. But he has a ton of talent, he works really hard and he wants to be good. |
John Antonik
