NEW YORK CITY Former Nevada forward JaVale McGee was picked in the first round of the 2008 National Basketball Association Draft, held Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
McGee was selected in the first round by the Washington Wizards and was the 18th overall pick in this year’s draft. McGee joins Kirk Snyder as one of only two players in school history to be drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, while McGee marks the fourth Wolf Pack player to be drafted in the last five years (since 2004). In 2004, Kirk Snyder became the first first-round draft pick in school history when he was taken as the 16th pick overall by the Utah Jazz.
A 7-0, 237-pound sophomore from Flint, Mich., McGee earned second-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors and was named to the league’s All-Defensive Team this season after leading the conference in blocked shots and ranking among its leaders in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. He paced the WAC and ranked 14th in the nation with 2.79 blocks per game this season. He also led the Wolf Pack and ranked second in the WAC with 7.3 rebounds per game, was second on the squad and 10th in the WAC in scoring at 14.1 points per contest and finished tied for eighth in the league in field goal percentage at 52.9 percent this season.
McGee ended his Nevada career ranked fourth on the school career charts with 120 blocked shots. He averaged 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 66 career games for the Wolf Pack.
