Etiwanda High School may have fallen short of a California state championship in 2005, but the Eagles were big winners during Thursday’s NBA draft with two players chosen among the top 31 players.
Darren Collison and Jeff Pendergraph, the two leaders on an Etiwanda team that went 31-2 in 2005, were taken with picks No. 21 and 31. Collison went to the New Orleans Hornets while Pendergraph was drafted by the Sacramento Kings, but his draft rights were later sent to the Portland Trailblazers in a trade.
Darren Collison of Etiwanda, 2005
Photo by Louis Lopez
Etiwanda was one of the top-ranked teams in the nation in 2005, winning the CIF Southern Section IAA championship. The Eagles’ only losses that year were to Dominguez midway through the season and to Fairfax in the Southern California Division I semifinals.
Collison was the star of the team, leading the Eagles in scoring at 20.7 points per game with four assists and two steals. Pendergraph led the team in rebounding at 9.4 a game. He also blocked 2.3 shots and averaged 10.5 points per game.
Both Collison and Pendergraph ended up in the Pac-10 with Collison playing at UCLA and Pendergraph starting at Arizona State.
A total of four high schools had two players chosen in Thursday’s draft. Joining Etiwanda were Episcopal Academy (Merion Station, Pa.), Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) and Oklahoma Christian (Edmond, Okla.).
Episcopal Academy teammates Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington both went in the first round. Henderson, the son of former NBA guard Gerald Henderson, went to the Charlotte Bobcats with the 12th pick while the Timberwolves chose Ellington with the 28th selection.
Henderson and Ellington graduated from the Pennsylvania school in 2006 after leading the Churchmen to a 28-4 record and the Inter-Academic League championship (Episcopal Academy did not participate in the Pennsylvania state championships).
Henderson and Ellington both left Episcopal Academy to play in the ACC. Henderson starred at Duke while Ellington was named the MVP of the 2009 NCAA tournament while helping lead North Carolina to the national championship.
One of Episcopal Academy’s losses in 2006 was to Oak Hill Academy, which was led by Ty Lawson, Ellington’s future teammate at North Carolina. Lawson led the Warriors to a 40-1 record in 2006 with the only loss coming against Montrose Christian, which was led by Kevin Durant. Lawson was one of two Oak Hill Academy players selected in the first round Thursday, joining Brandon Jennings. Lawson was the No. 18 pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but his draft rights were traded to the Denver Nuggets. Jennings, meanwhile, was selected No. 10 by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Jeff Pendergraph of Etiwanda, 2005
Photo by Louis Lopez
Lawson and Jennings never played together at Oak Hill Academy. Jennings only played at the Virginia school his senior year of 2008 after transferring from Dominguez (Jennings played on the Dominguez team that defeated Etiwanda in 2005). Jennings, who played in Italy last year after deciding not to attend college in the United States, was the MaxPreps National Player of the Year in 2008.
Lawson, Jennings and Ellington are three out of 10 players chosen in the first two rounds who earned All-American status in high school. Besides earning the MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors, Jennings won similar honors from Gatorade and was also the Naismith National High School Player of the Year.
Lawson was a USA Today first team pick (MaxPreps did not select All-Americans in 2006) while Ellington was a two-time selection, earning third team honors as a junior in 2005 and second team recognition as a senior in 2006.
Other MaxPreps All-Americans from 2008 include Tyreke Evans of American Christian (Aston, Pa., now defunct), who was chosen No. 4 by the Sacramento Kings, and Jrue Holliday of Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.), who went to the Philadelphia 76ers. Both were first team selections while second-team pick Demar DeRozan of Compton (Calif.) went No. 9 to the Toronto Raptors and third-team honoree B.J. Mullens of Canal Winchester (Ohio) had his rights traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder after being drafted No. 24 by the Dallas Mavericks.
Nick Calathes of Lake Howell (Fla.) was a MaxPreps second team pick in 2007. He fell to the second round to the Timberwolves. Jonny Flynn of Niagara Falls (N.Y.), a third team pick in 2007, went to the Timberwolves with the No. 6 pick.
Other USA Today All-Americans included Tyler Hansbrough of Poplar Bluffs (Mo.), who was a second team selection in 2005. He went to the Indiana Pacers with the 13th selection. Jon Brockman of Snohomish (Wash.), who was a third team selection in 2005, was chosen No. 38 by the Trailblazers, but was traded to the Kings for Pendergraph.
Chase Budinger of LaCosta Canyon (Calif.), a 2006 third team All-USA Today selection, was traded to Houston after being chosen No. 44 by the Detroit Pistons.
California had the highest number of first round picks with five, followed by North Carolina and Pennsylvania with three each. Besides Holliday, Collison and DeRozan, James Harden of Artesia (taken No. 3 by the Thunder) and Austin Daye of Woodbridge (chosen No. 15 by the Pistons) were all first round picks. Evans, Henderson and Ellington were Pennsylvania’s first round selections while Stephen Curry of Charlotte Christian (No. 7 by Golden State), Jordan Hill of the Patterson School (No. 8 by the Knicks) and Eric Maynor of Westover (No. 20 by Utah) were the North Carolina first round picks.
For the second year in a row, a pair of brothers were chosen on draft day. No. 1 pick Blake Griffin and his brother Taylor (chosen No. 48 by Phoenix) joined the Lopez brothers, Brooke and Robin, both of whom were chosen in the first round last year.
Taylor Griffin was the Gatorade state player of the year in Oklahoma as a senior and led Oklahoma Christian to a pair of 3A state titles in 2004 and 2005. The team also won a state championship in 2002. Blake teamed with his brother for the two 3A state titles and then won two of his own at the 2A level in 2006 and 2007. Like his brother, Blake was the Gatorade state player of the year as a senior in 2007.
