FSU has two first-round selections in draft
Florida State hit the jackpot in Wednesday’s NBA Draft, with two players chosen in the top 11 picks.
The Chicago Bulls selected forward Patrick Williams with the No.4 overall pick, then the San Antonio Spurs made shooting guard Devin Vassell the 11th overall choice.
Williams, who turned 19 in August and is one of the youngest players in the draft, has skyrocketed up draft boards in recent weeks as teams have started to fall in love with the versatile 6-foot-8 wing. Williams averaged 9.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 29 games during his lone season at Florida State. Williams also was voted the ACC Sixth Man of the Year.
Williams is a versatile defender who is capable of playing and defending multiple positions on the floor. He is a solid shooter (32% from 3 and 84% free-throw shooter in college) and athletic enough to get to the rim and finish, which gives him a chance to be one of the few two-way wings in this draft.
Vassell, a 6-foot-6 guard who spent two years with the Seminoles, averaged
12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists last season. He shot 41% on three-pointers with Florida State.
Earlier, the Minnesota Timberwolves made Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards their latest addition in an ongoing attempt to return to NBA relevancy, adding a potentially dynamic scorer to their lineup with the first overall pick in the draft.
The 6-foot-5 Edwards was the nation’s freshman scoring leader at 19.1 points per game in 2019-20 for the Bulldogs, before the pandemic halted the season. The 19-year-old native of Atlanta has sharp longrange shooting touch, an ability to score off the dribble and a nose for driving to the basket, though he comes to the league with some questions about focus and effort after an uneven oneand-done college season.
The Golden State Warriors selected Memphis center James Wiseman with the second overall pick.
Wiseman averaged 34.2 points in three games as a freshman for the Tigers before a 12-game suspension by the NCAA because his family received money during the recruitment process. While serving the penalty, the 7-foot-1, 240pound Wiseman decided to turn his attention to the draft.
LaMelo Ball then went to the Charlotte Hornets, the next stop on a lengthy basketball journey that sent the guard from high school in California to stops as a professional in Lithuania and Australia.
Commissioner Adam Silver announced the picks from ESPN headquarters in
Bristol, Connecticut. The draft was originally scheduled for June 25 before multiple delays caused by the virus pushed it back out and out of its usual home at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
ELSEWHERE
●Warriors: Guard Klay Thompson suffered an apparent leg injury during a workout in Southern California Wednesday, a source confirmed with the Bay
Area News Group. He will undergo testing in the coming days to determine the severity. Thompson, 30, was set to return from a torn left ACL he suffered in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals that sidelined him for the entirety of last season.