BATON ROUGE - LSU center Justin Hamilton, who left LSU following the 2011-12 season and after graduating in May, was selected with the 45th pick of the 2012 National Basketball Association draft late Thursday evening by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Hamilton, who watched the draft with family at his home in Utah, is the first LSU draft pick since Marcus Thornton was chosen by the New Orleans Hornets in the second round of the 2009 draft.
While the 76ers made the choice, it was announced later by the league that his draft rights would be sent to the NBA World Champion Miami Heat. | NBA Draft Trade Details
Hamilton spent two years at LSU after transferring following his sophomore year at Iowa State. He practiced with the LSU team during his transfer season of 2010-11 and then played for the TIgers during the 2011-12 season, earning second-team All-SEC honors by the league coaches.
Hamilton played in all 33 games, starting 32, while averaging 12.9 points per game and 7.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, while averaging 30 minutes a game. He had 25 games in double figures with four double-doubles, highlighted by a 27-point performance at Florida and 23 points and 16 rebounds against Ole Miss.
Hamilton finished 14th in the Southeastern Conference in scoring, ninth in rebounding, eighth in free throw percentage (78.1 percent, 107-137); ninth in blocked shots (1.3 bpg); and, second in offensive rebounds (3.3 orpg).
Hamilton was also a first-team All-District selection by the USBWA and a second-team All-District selection by the NABC.
Here is what Jay Bilas said on the ESPN coverage of the ESPN draft about Hamilton, figuring in the trade sending Hamilton's draft rights to Miami:
"We've said that Miami needed size, and Hamilton's a guy that has emerged as a pretty good player the last couple of years. He's got pretty good hands and is a big body that can bang and rebound and he can defend in the post. He's got good strength. He's not going to beat you up and down the floor and he's not a tremendous athlete, but he's got a good skill level. And it's his ability to bang and defend in the post is what makes him valuable."
The draft was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
2012 NBA Draft
Round 1
1. New Orleans, Anthony Davis (PF) Kentucky
2. Charlotte, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (SF) Kentucky
3. Washington, Bradley Beal (SG) Florida
4. Cleveland, Dion Waiters (SG) Syracuse
5. Sacramento, Thomas Robinson (PF) Kansas
6. Portland, Damian Lillard (PG) Weber St
7. Golden State, Harrison Barnes (SF) UNC
8. Toronto, Terrence Ross (SG) Washington
9. Detroit Andre, Drummond (C) UConn
10. New Orleans, Austin Rivers (SG) Duke
11. Portland, Meyers Leonard (C) Illinois
12. Houston, Jeremy Lamb (SG) UConn
13. Phoenix, Kendall Marshall (PG) UNC
14. Milwaukee, John Henson (PF) UNC
15. Philadelphia, Maurice Harkless (SF) St John's
16. Houston, Royce White (SF) Iowa St
17. Dallas (traded rights to Cleveland) Tyler Zeller (C) UNC
18. Houston, Terrence Jones (PF) Kentucky
19. Orlando, Andrew Nicholson (PF) St B'nvntre
20. Denver, Evan Fournier (SG) France
21. Boston, Jared Sullinger (PF) Ohio St
22. Boston, Fab Melo (C) Syracuse
23. Atlanta, John Jenkins (SG) Vanderbilt
24. Cleveland (traded rights to Dallas) Jared Cunningham (SG) Oregon St
25. Memphis, Tony Wroten Jr. (PG) Washington
26. Indiana, Miles Plumlee (PF) Duke
27. Miami (traded rights to Philadelphia) Arnett Moultrie (PF) Miss St
28. Oklahoma City, Perry Jones (PF) Baylor
29. Chicago, Marquis Teague (PG) Kentucky
30. Golden State, Festus Ezeli (C) Vanderbilt
Round 2
1. Charlotte, Jeff Taylor (SF) Vanderbilt
2. Washington, Tomas Satoransky (SG) Czech Republic
3. Cleveland (traded rights to Dallas) Bernard James (C) Florida St
4. Cleveland (traded rights to Dallas) Jae Crowder (SF) Marquette
5. Golden State, Draymond Green (SF) Mich St
6. Sacramento (traded rights to Indiana) Orlando Johnson (SG) Gauchos
7. Toronto, Quincy Acy (SF) Baylor
8. Denver, Quincy Miller (SF) Baylor
9. Detroit, Khris Middleton (SF) Texas A&M
10. Portland, Will Barton (SG) Memphis
11. Portland (traded rights to Brooklyn) Tyshawn Taylor (PG) Kansas
12. Milwaukee, Doron Lamb (SG) Kentucky
13. Atlanta, Mike Scott (PF) Virginia
14. Detroit, Kim English (SG) Missouri
15. Philadelphia (traded rights to Miami) Justin Hamilton (C) LSU
16. New Orleans, Darius Miller (SF) Kentucky
17. Utah, Kevin Murphy (SF) Tenn Tech
18. New York, Kostas Papanikolaou (SF) Greece
19. Orlando, Kyle O'Quinn (C) Norfolk St
20. Denver, Izzet Turkyilmaz (SF) Turkey
21. Boston, Kris Joseph (SF) Syracuse
22. Golden State, Ognjen Kuzmic (SF) Bosnia
23. LA Clippers, Furkan Aldemir (PF) Turkey
24. Philadelphia (traded rights to Brooklyn via Memphis) Tornike Shengelia (SF) Georgia
25. Dallas (traded rights to LA Lakers) Darius Johnson-Odom (SF) Marquette
26. Toronto, Tomislav Zubcic (SF) Croatia
27. Brooklyn, Ilkan Karaman (PF) Turkey
28. Minnesota, Robbie Hummel (SF) Purdue
29. San Antonio, Marcus Denmon (G) Missouri
30. LA Lakers, Robert Sacre (C) Gonzaga
