Eagle Staff Report
Former Texas A&M center Chinemelu Elonu was taken by the world champion Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of Thursday night's NBA draft.
The 6-foot-10 Elonu, who declared for the draft and skipped his senior season, was the next-to-last player picked. The NBA has only two rounds, which is 60 picks.
"I was getting a little nervous when there were only a couple of picks left, but I decided early in the night to just leave it all in God's hands," Elonu said. "I was with a lot of friends and family, and they gave me a lot of support. It's an honor to be drafted by the NBA champions. I think I can learn a lot from their big men and become a better player. It's also a exciting to have a chance to play for a great coach like Phil Jackson. I just want to thank everyone at A&M for all they did for me and for making this possible."
Elonu earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors last season after averaging 9.8 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds to go with 53 blocked shots. He set a school record by shooting 66.5 percent from the field.
This is the fourth time in the last five years an Aggie has been drafted into the NBA.
Antoine Wright went in the 2005 first round to the New Jersey Nets. Acie Law IV went in the 2007 first round to the Atlanta Hawks, and DeAndre Jordan went in the 2008 second round to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Notice about comments:
TheEagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. TheEagle.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Full terms and conditions can be read here.
(Requires free registration.)
Posted by: miller58 On: 6/26/2009
Comment Title: BEST OF LUCK TO ELONU
My personal opinions:_____Since Turgeon has been here, A&M has created a bare cupboard of 5 difference maker players._____Right now tu has committed 2 five stars, baylor 1 five star and A&M lags with 2 four star players._____tu has already conmmitted 3 top players for the next 2011 class:__PG/SG Julien Lewis 6-3 190__SF Sheldon McClellan 6-5 175__and PG Myek Kabongo 6-1 165!_____So we need 5 more difference makers in the current class just to catch up, and at least 3 to 5 in the 2011 class to be competitive for the Big 12?_____miller58
Posted by: witherspoon On: 6/26/2009
Comment Title: good job
Nice too see another aggies get drafted...hopefully this will help bring more kids to come to Aggieland to play all sports.. we hav a gr8 track team,baseball n softball teams r good.. womans basketball had a couple girls draft... all n all TAMU is doin pretty good....only team thts really isn't good is tha football team tha heart of all sports... hope tha 09.10 season is a better at least 8 r 9 wins n win a bowl game... beat t.u of course n o.u.. whoop!!!!!!
Posted by: anyone On: 6/26/2009
Comment Title: Best of Luck
There is value in working hard at whatever one chooses to do.....obviously his dedication to improving himself in the area of basketball has paid off......hopefully we will soon hear the game announcers saying JUUUUUUNNNNI0R, OR Eeeeeeeelonu as much or more than the slobber job for Kobe. Stay with your values, Junior!! It was a joy to see you play on the Reed Arena court.
Posted by: On: 6/26/2009
Comment Title: Good luck Elonu!
So happy for Chinemelu, but will miss watching him play. His hard work and natural abilities will be big shoes to fill.
CU fans not excited about A&M; Remember that bad CU team in 2000? McFerrin thoughts
