2006 NBA draft
The 2006 NBA Draft was held on June 28 at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft was broadcast in the United States on ESPN and in 202 countries worldwide.
Round one
| = All-Star |
Round two
2006 Draft Lottery
The main prelude to the Draft, the 2006 NBA Draft Lottery, took place on May 23, 2006 in Secaucus, New Jersey. At the draft, the 14 teams which did not make the 2006 playoffs selected the top 14 picks in reverse order of their records, except for the top three picks, which were selected in the lottery. Statistically, the team with the worst record has the best chance of landing the top pick, the team with the second worst record has the second best chance, and so on. As is the case every year, after the drawing of the top three picks, the remaining 27 first-round draft picks were assigned to each of the other NBA teams: picks 4 through 14 were assigned to the remaining non-playoff teams (only these teams participate in the lottery for the top three picks) in reverse order of their records, and picks 15 through 30 were assigned to the remaining NBA teams, in reverse order (i.e., the team with the best record will pick 30th). Round two also consists of 30 picks; teams select in reverse order of their records in the second round. The lottery only affects the first round; the team with the worst record has the first pick in the second round, regardless of the lottery results (see NBA Draft for more information).
Teams in the lottery
The following teams "qualified" for the draft lottery, by being eliminated from playoff consideration. The NBA held a draw to break ties in the standings . In some cases, the team(s) in question traded their first-round picks to another team.
Here were the odds for each team to get specific picks in the 2006 lottery (rounded to 3 decimal places, with actual results in bold):
| Team | Chances | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blazers | 250 | .250 | .215 | .177 | .358 | ||||||||||
| Bulls (from Knicks) | 199 | .199 | .188 | .171 | .319 | .124 | |||||||||
| Bobcats | 138 | .138 | .142 | .145 | .238 | .290 | .045 | ||||||||
| Hawks | 137 | .137 | .142 | .145 | .085 | .323 | .156 | .013 | |||||||
| Raptors | 88 | .088 | .096 | .106 | .262 | .359 | .084 | .004 | |||||||
| Timberwolves | 53 | .053 | .060 | .070 | .440 | .330 | .045 | .001 | |||||||
| Celtics | 53 | .053 | .060 | .070 | .573 | .226 | .018 | ||||||||
| Rockets | 23 | .023 | .027 | .032 | .725 | .184 | .009 | ||||||||
| Warriors | 22 | .022 | .026 | .031 | .797 | .121 | .004 | ||||||||
| Sonics | 11 | .011 | .013 | .016 | .870 | .089 | .002 | ||||||||
| Magic | 8 | .008 | .009 | .012 | .908 | .063 | .001 | ||||||||
| Hornets | 7 | .007 | .008 | .010 | .935 | .039 | |||||||||
| 76ers | 6 | .006 | .007 | .009 | .960 | .018 | |||||||||
| Jazz | 5 | .005 | .006 | .007 | .982 |
Lottery results
- Toronto Raptors
- Chicago Bulls
- Charlotte Bobcats
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Atlanta Hawks
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Boston Celtics
- Houston Rockets
- Golden State Warriors
- Seattle SuperSonics
- Orlando Magic
- New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Utah Jazz
Eligibility rules
Unlike drafts in recent years, high school players were not eligible for selection. The new collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players union establishes a new age limit for draft eligibility:
- All drafted players, regardless of nationality, must be born on or before December 31, 1987 (i.e., they must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft).
- United States players must be at least one year removed from high school graduation.
Players had until April 29 to declare for the draft. A player who had not previously withdrawn from the draft and had not hired an agent had until June 18 to withdraw from the draft and retain his college eligibility.
The University of Connecticut ties record
The University of Connecticut had a record-tying 4 players selected in Round 1. These players were Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams, and Josh Boone. This tied the record set by Duke University in 1999 (Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon, Corey Maggette and William Avery) and North Carolina (Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants) in 2005.
When Denham Brown was selected in Round 2 by Seattle, UConn became the first school to ever have 5 players selected in the two-round draft.
Draft day trades
The following trades involving 2006 draft picks, or drafted players, have been made pending the initial publication of the draft order, up to and including the day of the 2006 NBA Draft. Unofficial trades include those which have been reported by reputable sports media, but have not been officially announced by the NBA or the involved teams.
- Boston Celtics acquire Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and a second-round 2008 draft pick from the Portland Trail Blazers for Raef LaFrentz, Dan Dickau, and the 7th pick Randy Foye. [1]
- Chicago Bulls trade the 2nd pick LaMarcus Aldridge, to the Portland Trail Blazers for the 4th pick Tyrus Thomas, and Viktor Khryapa. [2]
- Houston Rockets traded the 8th pick Rudy Gay, and Stromile Swift, to the Memphis Grizzlies for Shane Battier, although the deal was not finalized until July 1.
- Portland Trail Blazers trade the rights to Randy Foye to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the rights to Brandon Roy.
- Philadelphia 76ers trade the rights to Thabo Sefolosha to the Chicago Bulls for the rights to Rodney Carney, a second-round 2007 draft pick, and cash considerations.
- Boston Celtics acquire Brian Grant and rights to the 21st pick, Rajon Rondo, from the Phoenix Suns for a first-round draft pick in 2007.
- Boston Celtics acquire the rights to the 49th pick Leon Powe, from the Denver Nuggets for a future second-round pick.
- The Orlando Magic trade 44th pick Lior Eliyahu to the Houston Rockets for cash considerations.
- The Los Angeles Lakers trade rights to the 51st pick Cheick Samb to the Detroit Pistons for Maurice Evans.
- The Toronto Raptors trade the rights to the 56th pick Edin Bavcic to the Philadelphia 76ers for cash considerations.
- The San Antonio Spurs trade the rights to the 59th pick Damir Markota to the Milwaukee Bucks for the better of Milwaukee's two second-round picks in 2007.
- The Dallas Mavericks traded the rights to the 58th pick J. R. Pinnock to the Los Angeles Lakers for a future second-round pick.
- The Minnesota Timberwolves trade the rights to the 37th pick Bobby Jones to the Philadelphia 76ers for a future second-round pick and cash considerations.
- The Portland Trail Blazers acquired the rights to the 45th pick Alexander Johnson along with two future second-round picks from the Indiana Pacers for the rights to the 31st pick James White.
- The Portland Trail Blazers traded Alexander Johnson to the Memphis Grizzlies for a future second-round pick.
Notable undrafted players
All players are American unless otherwise indicated.
- Louis Amundson, UNLV (signed with Sacramento Kings)
- Rashad Anderson, UConn
- Jose Juan Barea, Puerto Rico and Northeastern (signed with Dallas Mavericks) [3]
- Brandon Bowman, Georgetown University
- Mike Gansey, West Virginia (signed with Miami Heat)
- Thomas Gardner (basketball), Missouri (signed with Chicago Bulls)
- Eric Hicks, Cincinnati
- Daniel Horton, Michigan (signed with Miami Heat)
- Carl Krauser, Pitt
- Gerry McNamara, Syracuse
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu, England and George Washington (signed with Dallas Mavericks)
- Steven Smith, La Salle
- Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia (signed with Boston Celtics)
- Allan Ray, Villanova (signed with Boston Celtics)
- Curtis Stinson, Iowa State
- Tarence Kinsey, South Carolina (signed with Memphis Grizzlies)
- Jorge Garbajosa, Spain (Unicaja de Málaga) (signed with Toronto Raptors) -- not eligible for draft
- Robert Hite, University of Miami (signed with Miami Heat)
- Taquan Dean, University of Louisville
- Daniel Artest, younger brother of Ron Artest, signed to Kings practice squad