BYU NewsNet - BYU's Plaisted at No. 46

The Seattle Sonics picked up former BYU Cougar Trent Plaisted midway through the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft on Thursday, while fellow Mountain West Conference alum and former New Mexico guard J.R. Giddens sneaked in, after being selected by Danny Ainge's Boston Celtics with the 30th, and final, pick in the first round.

The Sonics announced the selection of Plaisted as the 46th overall pick, but the selection is mired by talk of a trade with the Detroit Pistons. All draft-day trades must be approved by the NBA before being finalized.

Plaisted was most recently picked to go at No. 44 to Utah, but when the Jazz opted for Croatian center Ante Tomic, the Sonics/Pistons saw an opening for the only available Cougar in this year's draft.

Plaisted led BYU to its second consecutive postseason appearance in the NCAA tournament. He also averaged 15.6 points and 7.7 rebounds to lead the team to a second-consecutive outright MWC title.

Giddens, the 2007-08 MWC co-player of the year along with BYU's Lee Cummard, wasn't picked to be drafted until much later in the second round. ESPN's Web site didn't pick Giddens to be drafted until No. 50, playing alongside the 2007 No. 1 pick, Kevin Durant.

With their first pick of 2008 hanging in at No. 23, the Utah Jazz weren't expecting to get a great deal. The only sure thing was Utah was looking for a big man, most heavily in former Georgetown star Roy Hibbert. When Hibbert was taken by the Indiana Pacers at No. 17, the Jazz's options were limited.

At No. 23, the Utah Jazz announced the selection of former Ohio State center Kosta Koufas. But they're not complaining.

"We had a lot of big men rated, and I think it was obvious we were going to look big," said Kevin O'Connor, Jazz vice president of basketball operations, via a news conference on KFAN radio. "We had [Koufus] rated pretty high. We're very excited about the player we just got because we got a skilled player who is big enough to defend."

With each passing selection, more and more big men were snatched away from Utah's grasp. Fortunately, O'Connor said, the staff was prepared for that.

"We wrote the 30 names down and took the highest player [then available]," O'Connor said. "We were sick of a lot of things: of looking at each other, of eating pizza, of being in the [Jazz practice facility], but we feel good about what we got."

Former Memphis point guard Derrick Rose faced no surprise in Madison Square Garden, as most NBA analysts had already pegged his place in the 2008 NBA Draft for weeks. At the Garden, NBA Commissioner David Stern only made it official: Rose would spend his rookie season in his hometown with the Chicago Bulls.

For the first time in NBA history, three freshmen were taken as the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 selections, when the Miami Heat took former Kansas State freshman standout Michael Beasley and the Minnesota Timberwolves took USC shooting guard O.J. Mayo. No team picked a senior until the Sacramento Kings grabbed Rider's Jason Thompson at No. 12.

Thompson was only the second player from Rider ever drafted into the NBA.

In all, seven freshmen were selected in the lottery portion of this year's draft, an NBA record.

Miami snubbed rumors floating around the NBA from days earlier they would pass on Beasley in order to pick up Mayo or a number of other guards. In the end, talent won out.

With the clock ticking away on the Knicks, Stern stepped to the podium to announce the selection of Italy's Danilo Gallinari. A chorus of boos and jeers accompanied the Italian as he made his way to the podium and slipped on the bright blue Knicks hat.

Gallinari was never pegged as the most talented, nor the most athletic, player in this year's draft, but with Italian ties in head coach Mike D'Antoni, the pick felt right for the Knicks. New York kept up tradition by being a team to select an Italian in the first round for the third straight season.

Former Stanford center Brook Lopez's position in the draft slipped throughout the night, barely squeaking into the Top 10 overall picks when New Jersey stole the ex-Cardinal from the rest of the league.

The other Lopez wouldn't have to wait long to hear his own name called from the podium. After the 14-team draft lottery, the Phoenix Suns (after trading up with the Atlanta Hawks) snatched up the 7-foot Stanford center with the 15th pick. Lopez's draft stock rose from days earlier, moving up from a projected No. 18.