Salmons Selected In First Round Of NBA Draft
June 26, 2002
Coral Gables, FL (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami guard John Salmons (Philadelphia, PA) was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 26th pick of the first round at the National Basketball Association Draft held Wednesday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.
Salmons is the 14th Hurricane in school history to be selected in the NBA Draft and the first since Tim James in 1999. He is the third Hurricane to be chosen in the first round joining Rick Barry, who was selected with the second overall pick by the San Francisco Warriors in 1965, and James who was a first round selection in 1999 by the Miami Heat (25th pick overall).
Salmons (6-7, 210) was a second-team All-BIG EAST selection last season after averaging 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game for the 24-8 Hurricanes.
He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile players to ever play at the University of Miami, and is the only player in UM history to surpass 1000 career points (1287), 600 rebounds (687), 400 assists (433) and 150 steals (192). During his four seasons Salmons guided Miami to an 86-39 (.688) record marking the most wins in a four-year period in school-history.
Included in his four seasons were three NCAA Tournament appearances, one NIT appearance, the 1999-00 BIG EAST regular-season title and the school’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2000.
MIAMI DRAFT HISTORYPlayer Team Year Round Overall PickDick Miani New York Knicks 1956 Knicks' 10th selectionMike McCoy Detroit Pistons 1963 3rd 21stRick Barry San Francisco Warriors 1965 1st 2ndMike Wittman St. Louis Hawks 1967 5th 49thRusty Parker Atlanta Hawks 1968 5th 61stBill Soens Philadelphia 76ers 1968 11th 145thDon Curnutt New York Knicks 1970 10th 170thWayne Canaday Portland Trail Blazers 1970 15th 218thWillie Allen Baltimore Bullets 1971 4th 60thTito Horford Milwaukee Bucks 1988 2nd 39thJoe Wylie Los Angeles Clippers 1991 2nd 38thConstantin Popa Los Angeles Clippers 1995 2nd 53rdTim James Miami Heat 1999 1st 25thJohn Salmons San Antonio Spurs 2002 1st 26th
