<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Other than wondering what the Sonics were going to do, the NBA draft used to be something that happened to somebody else for those of us living in the state of Washington. Occasionally there was a reason to care, such as a period from 1984-87 when four graduates of state high schools were taken in the first round. But for years, such occurrences were an anomaly. From 1947, when the first NBA draft was held, to 1992, only eight graduates of state high schools were selected in the first round. And two ? Detlef Schrempf and Christian Welp ? were imports from Germany, whose basketball maturation was credited more to their home country than their new state. But since 1997, the number of first-round draft picks yielded by state high schools has almost equaled the number from the first 50 years. Starting with the selection of Kamiakin's Scot Pollard by Detroit in 1997 ? granted, most of his basketball maturation occurred in California ? there have been seven players from the state taken in the first round.</div> Source
