After getting eight of the first 32 in the first-round of the MLB Draft, the Golden State shows its strength in basketball by having five of the first 21 picks in the NBA.

By Ronnie Flores, Managing Editor

Sure, there are other places in America that have produced more household NBA names such as New York and Michigan. But it's no secret that the state of California, and in particular the greater Los Angeles area, is quickly catching up to its East Coast counterparts when it comes to producing top basketball talent.

This was clearly evident last Thursday at the NBA Draft in New York City when California products dominated the proceedings and the hoopla that surrounds the annual event. The five players that graduated from California high schools tied the record for most Golden State products taken in a single first round. That scenario last took place at the 1997 NBA Draft and first occurred in 1979.

Former Artesia of Lakewood standout James Harden, a 6-foot-5 sophomore out of Arizona State, was the first Golden State native to be selected when the Oklahoma City Thunder took him at No. 3. Despite what was considered a sub par showing in the NCAA Tournament, the Thunder couldn't pass up Harden's combination of talent, work ethic and high character, the latter which seems to be a more important factor in professional sports drafts each year.

Harden, whose bowtie generated a slew of reactions from lifestyle editors and bloggers, became the highest California product taken since Tyson Chandler was the No. 2 pick out of Dominguez of Compton in 2001. Harden's journey to the NBA has humble beginnings as he wasn't the most athletic kid growing up, to say the least, entering Artesia as a 5-foot-11, 155-pounder with average skills and a burning desire to become a better player.
Harden's big day also had a personal feel to it for us as it made us recall the days when his older brother, Akili Roberson, was tearing up the football field as an option quarterback at Locke High School in the early 1990s. Roberson also attended preseason football camps produced by ESPN RISE and was the second person to congratulate Harden (after agent Rob Pelinka) when NBA Commissioner David Stern called his name

Taken at No. 9 by the Toronto Raptors was Compton High product DeMar DeRozan, a 6-foot-7 freshman out of USC. The Moore League's all-time leading scorer with 2,810 career points between 2005-2008, most pundits feel DeRozan's best basketball days are ahead of him. He started to show glimpses of what kind of pro player he can become towards the end of his freshman year with the Trojans.

In contrast to Harden, DeRozan's arrival at Compton High was highly-anticipated by the prep basketball community. Big things were expected from him in a Tarbabes' uniform after the child prodigy first started dunking basketballs in sixth grade.

Austin Daye, picked at No. 15 by the Detroit Pistons, is a perfect example of how the NBA Draft has evolved over the years from a judgment of which players are the most talented coming out of college, after three or four years, into a projection of how good the best American and foreign-born teenage players might turn out to be. Daye, a 6-foot-10 sophomore from Gonzaga, wasn't a dominant player for the Zags by any means. Coming out of Woodbridge High School in Irvine, he was similar to Harden as an overlooked national prospect in the extremely deep Class of 2007, the one that produced No. 1 pick Blake Griffin and dominated the early picks of last year's draft.

Daye's length and upside was just too much for the Pistons to pass up at that No. 15 spot. It bodes well for Daye (whose father, Darren, was the 1979 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Basketball out of Granada Hills Kennedy) to be picked up by an established franchise with a host of veteran players because there  won't be as much pressure on him to produce right away. We can easily see a scenario where Daye can be mentored by another lanky and long California wing who was a steal in the NBA Draft for the Pistons seven years ago, Compton Dominguez's Tayshaun Prince.

Taken two spots after Daye by the Philadelphia 76ers was Jrue Holiday, the 2008 Mr. Basketball winner from Campbell Hall of North Hollywood. The 6-foot-4 Holiday didn't have a breakout freshman season at UCLA, but pro scouts love his package of skills and competitiveness. No guard in this draft can finish with his off-hand quite like Holiday and his body coordination is off the charts as well. It's worth nothing that although Holiday was the Mr. Basketball choice ahead of DeRozan, on our ballot to vote for the best basketball prospects on the West Coast for the Long Beach Press Telegram's Best of the West team, we had DeRozan ahead of Holiday.

Next up was Etiwanda's Darren Collison at No. 21 to the New Orleans Hornets. The 6-foot-1 Collison actually started at point guard in front of Holiday as a senior and led UCLA to three consecutive Final Fours as an underclassmen. Collison was the teacher in college, but with the Hornets he'll be the understudy behind all-pro Chris Paul.

Taken with the first pick of the second round at No. 31 by the Sacramento Kings was Collison's Etiwanda teammate, Jeff Pendergraph. The 6-foot-10 Arizona State product teamed with Collison to lead the Eagles to a 31-2 record during their senior seasons in 2004-2005. It goes to show you just how tough California high school basketball is because even with two NBA draftees in its line up, Etiwanda was unable to advance to a CIF state title game. The closest the Eagles came was in 2003-2004, when they lost in the SoCal Div. I Regional Final, in overtime, to Fairfax of Los Angeles.

The final California prep alumnus taken in this year's Draft was Chase Budinger, taken No. 44 overall by the Pistons. At the conclusion of his prep career at La Costa Canyon of Carlsbad, the 6-foot-7 Arizona junior was considered by veteran observers to be the best San Diego County prep basketball player since Bill Walton of La Mesa Helix, the No. 1 pick of the 1974 NBA Draft. Budinger, similar to Holiday, was selected Mr. Basketball at the conclusion of his senior season at LCC in 2006.

This year's draft could have produced a record six first round picks from California, but No. 10 pick Brandon Jennings concluded his prep career at famed Oak Hill Academy in Virginia after playing his first two years at Dominguez of Compton.

The 6-foot-1 Jennings, the 2008 EA SPORTS Mr. Basketball USA, is a trailblazer of sorts for many of his off-court decisions. From the flattop hairdo he decided to rock at the 2008 McDonald's All-American Game, his decision to turn professional after graduating from Oak Hill, to deciding not to wait in the "Green Room" as a possible lottery selection, Jennings has a unique way to make himself a lightening rod for attention.

Jennings, after a year of playing professional basketball for Lottomatica Virtus Roma of the Italian Serie A League, did not get reassurances he was going to be a top 14 choice. He obviously wanted to avoid being the last player waiting in the "Green Room," an awkward situation made famous by the Orlando Magic's Rashard Lewis when he went directly from high school to the NBA in 1998. Jennings' longtime friend and workout partner Marcus Williams, also a product of Oak Hill Academy who played at Crenshaw of Los Angeles before leaving for Virginia, had the same situation happen to him at the 2006 NBA Draft.

Jennings decided to spend time with his family and closest friends at a nearby private function instead of waiting with the other high draft choices to hear his name called. After he was picked at No. 10 by the Milwaukee Bucks, Jennings decided to make an appearance at the draft. Although it occurred after the 14th pick, Jennings made an appearance on stage with a Milwaukee Bucks cap on, not greeting Stern until after acknowledging the crowd with a "I told you so" gesture.

Jennings wasn't able to play college basketball for one season, but he was paid nicely to play with older professional players. Some felt it was hard to gauge just where Jennings might fall in the draft because of his limited playing time in Italy, but the schooling he got overseas was much more realistic to what he'll be dealing with in the NBA than playing a 30-game schedule against college talent. More important than the actual games, he got to practice against men without the constraints placed on practice time by the NCAA.

Jennings was, without much dissention, the most talented player in the prep Class of 2008 that included some of Thursday's draftees. Unless there was a major injury or catastrophic event, it's a head scratcher to think he could have fallen too far out of the lottery. Getting paid to prepare for the NBA Draft turned out to be a pretty shrewd move for the Jennings camp and he reiterated that in an interview following his appearance with (and without) Stern.

"I don't regret it at all...I still went top 10," Jennings said of his overseas experience. "I think you'll see more kids doing it and I hope they do it. It's a great experience overall. You just learn a lot."

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