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Like Fathers, Like Sons In NBA Draft
June 25, 2009
By JIM O'CONNELL NEW YORK (AP) - There must be something about basketball bloodlines. Three players whose fathers played in the NBA were chosen in the top 15 picks of the draft Thursday night. Stephen Curry, whose father Dell played in the league for 16 seasons, was taken with the seventh pick by Golden State. The nation's leading scorer last season as a junior at Davidson with a 28.6 average, Curry led the Wildcats within a game of the Final Four as a sophomore. "You always dream that you want to do what your dad does, especially I went to the gym, shootaround, the locker room and all that stuff and that's all I know," Curry said. "I wanted to follow in his footsteps but I didn't think it would be a reality until pretty much my sophomore year in college." Gerald Henderson, whose father with the same name played for 13 years in the NBA and was on three championship teams with Boston and one with Detroit, was selected 12th by Charlotte. Henderson was a third-team All-America at Duke last season as a junior, averaging 16.5 points. "He just told me I made it," Henderson said of what his father told him when he was selected. "I worked so hard to get to this point, and he just congratulated me and told me I made it. It's good to hear those words." Austin Daye, who left Gonzaga after his sophomore season, was taken 15th by Detroit. His father Darren played five seasons in the NBA. Daye averaged 12.7 points and shot 43 percent from 3-point range for the Zags last season. "I was able to be a sponge growing up, absorb all the things that he said," Daye said of his father. "He's been a great mentor and he's definitely the person I looked up to the most." At least one son of a former NBA player has been taken in the last seven drafts. The run started in 2002 with Mike Dunleavy and continued with Luke Walton (2003), Jackson Vroman (2004), Sean May (2005), Ronnie Brewer (2006), Al Horford (2007) and Kevin Love and Patrick Ewing Jr. (2008).
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