NEW YORK - Blake Griffin was the consensus No. 1 pick. Shaq to the Cavs was the consensus blockbuster.
On a day of head-turning trades around the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers started last night's draft with the obvious choice: Griffin, the only player considered a sure thing in a class full of question marks.
Griffin was the consensus college player of the year after leading the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game while averaging 22.7 points last season for Oklahoma. The Clippers said they would take the forward with the top pick just hours after they won the draft lottery last month, and never considered changing their minds.
The Clippers are hoping Griffin turns out better than their last No. 1 overall pick. They opened the 1998 draft by taking center Michael Olowokandi, a bust who is out of the league.
"Hopefully I can bring something they don't have," Griffin said.
The Memphis Grizzlies then grabbed Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet, a dominant rebounder and shot-blocker who doesn't have strong offensive skills.
After the two big men, the rest of the first round was expected to be dominated by point guards, with perhaps 10 or more expected to go in the top 30 picks. Seven guards went in the first 10 selections.
The Minnesota Timberwolves took two of them with the fifth and sixth picks. They snapped up Spanish teenager Ricky Rubio at No. 5, a pick they acquired from Washington earlier this week, before going for Syracuse's Jonny Flynn with the next pick.
It was thought Rubio might go as high as No. 2, but that never worked out for Memphis. Instead the Grizzlies went with Thabeet, the 7-foot-3 native of Tanzania who switched from soccer to basketball just a few years ago. He has rapidly developed his defensive skills, but still has work to go on the other end. "I've been around great guys, coach Calhoun, the UConn program helped me out a lot," Thabeet said.
Oklahoma City took high-scoring Arizona State guard James Harden with the No. 3 pick and Sacramento followed by drafting Memphis freshman and Chester native Tyreke Evans - who like Griffin was wearing a purple tie. So was Stephen Curry, the NCAA scoring leader from Davidson who went at No. 7 to Golden State.
Jordan Hill (New York), Demar DeRozan (Toronto) and Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee) rounded out the top 10, but Jennings didn't come out to don his Bucks hat and shake hands with commissioner David Stern. His agent, Bill Duffy, released a statement saying he had advised Jennings and his family not to attend the draft and wait in the green room because he was unsure of his client's draft position.
However, Jennings - the point guard who skipped college to spend a year playing in Europe - came out from behind the stage, wearing the Milwaukee cap, to greet Stern and wave to the fans after the 14th pick was announced.
A run of forwards followed before the 76ers grabbed another point guard, UCLA's Jrue Holiday, who was considered a top 10 pick but tumbled to No. 17. Minnesota followed with its third point guard of the draft, Ty Lawson of national champion North Carolina, and Atlanta grabbed another playmaker, Wake Forest's Jeff Teague, at No. 19. Utah kept up the run by selecting Eric Maynor from Virginia Commonwealth.
The Denver Nuggets have traded a future first-round draft pick to Minnesota for the rights to Ty Lawson.
The Nuggets, who lacked a first-round pick for the fourth straight year, landed Lawson in exchange for a future first-round pick they acquired from Charlotte last year.
