NBA draft: By way of Portland, Brockman a King

NBA DRAFT: UW’s Jon Brockman selected by Blazers in second round

DON RUIZ; The News Tribune | • Published June 26, 2009

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Washington forward Jon Brockman was taken in the second round of the NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday and immediately shipped in a prearranged deal to the Sacramento Kings.

The trade means Brockman will be reunited with former UW teammate Spencer Hawes of the Kings instead of former UW teammate Brandon Roy of the Blazers.

“It’s truly a dream come true, just getting drafted into the NBA,” Brockman said. “I don’t think I could ask for a better situation playing alongside my AAU teammate, and then college teammate and now NBA teammate. I don’t even know if that’s ever been done before in the NBA. But it’s a dream come true, and I’m just overwhelmed.”

Brockman and Hawes shared the UW frontcourt in the 2006-07 season, when Brockman was a sophomore and Hawes was a freshman.

Hawes then left UW after that one season, and was the 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft. However, Brockman stayed for four seasons before becoming the 38th overall pick Thursday.

After graduating from Snohomish High School, Brockman became the Huskies’ all-time leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. He led UW in rebounds all four of his seasons and ranked seventh nationally as a senior. He was a two-time All-Pacific-10 Conference selection.

He ended his UW career with 1,805 points (13.8 ppg average) and 1,283 rebounds (9.8 rpg), becoming the first Husky and fourth Pac-10 player to surpass 1,800 career points and 1,200 rebounds.

“I’m just so excited and proud of Jon,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “He did everything in his power to be a team guy for four years, and was selfless and was a servant; and now he has been rewarded to go out and attack his lifelong dream in terms of basketball, and that’s playing in the NBA. And it’s a lot of fun that he’s going to be able to join Spencer Hawes as well.”

Brockman had created some pre-draft mystery by not taking part in NBA combines, individual workouts or even speaking with the media.

He explained Thursday that the strategy was difficult for him, but that he trusted his agent who believed he had shown enough by averaging 15.3 points and 16.3 rebounds in the pre-draft Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

Brockman said he went into the draft with no assurances that any particular team would take him. He said he was selected in about the portion of the draft that he had expected. However, his route to Sacramento was indirect: drafted by Portland and then shipped with veteran guard Sergio Rodriguez to the Kings in exchange for forward Jeff Pendergraph of Arizona State, whom the Kings had selected with the 31st overall pick.

Brockman said he was alerted to the deal in advance during one of “about five” calls he got from Hawes.

Other players with ties to the state of Washington who were drafted Thursday were Terrence Williams of Louisville and Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, who went to New Jersey with the 11th pick; and Austin Daye of Gonzaga, who went to Detroit with the 15th pick.

Josh Heytvelt of Gonzaga and Justin Dentmon of UW weren’t selected.

Six Pacific-10 Conference players were taken in the first round: James Harden of Arizona State went No. 3 to Oklahoma City, Jordan Hill of Arizona went No. 8 to New York, DeMar DeRozan of USC went No. 9 to Toronto, Jrue Holiday of UCLA went No. 17 to Philadelphia, Darren Collison of UCLA went No. 21 to New Orleans, Taj Gibson of USC went No. 26 to Chicago.

Taken in the second round were Pendergraph, Brockman and Chase Budinger of Arizona, who was taken No. 44 by Detroit and traded to Houston.

Don Ruiz, 253-597-8808

don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com