Can Jarace Walker join the list of Houston NBA Draft lottery picks? A look back at Cougar greats ft. Hakeem Olajuwon and Elvin Hayes
Houston Cougar's power forward Jarace Walker declared for the draft in late March after a stellar freshman season. He averaged 11.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game in the just ended season. Can he join some famous Cougars by being a lottery pick in the 2023 draft?
Houston have endured something of an NBA drought in terms of producing players that went straight to the NBA, with only four such instances in the last two decades. Their last prospect who ended up in the NBA was Quentin Grimes who was picked 25th by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2021 and immediately traded to the New York Knicks.
There have been a few greats even in that small number of Cougars' players who have made it into the NBA with the most famous of course being their 1984 star, Hakeem "the Dream" Olajuwon. He was picked first overall in a star-studded class.
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Notable Houston players to have played in the NBA
There have been twelve first round picks in Cougar's history and that number will almost definitely be thirteen on draft night. Out of those, four have been picked in the top five.
Elvin Hayes was picked first in 1968, Dwight Davis was picked third in 1972, Otis Birdsong was picked second in 1977 and Hakeem Olajuwon was, of course, picked first in 1985 in the most competitive draft class.
The most famous of them, Hakeem Olajuwon, who was picked first by the Houston Rockets and he delivered two back to back NBA titles. He picked up the first hattrick of MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP, the first ever player to do it.
If Hakeem did not exist, Elvin Hayes would definitely have been Houston's greatest alumni. His college statistics were mind-blowing; he averaged 31.0 points and 17.2 rebounds per game!
He was picked first by the San Diego Rockets and the Houston Mavericks in 1968 in both the NBA and ABA drafts. He's the first rookie to have led the league in scoring, averaging 28.4 points. Just for kicks, he led the league in rebounds the next season.
Elvin Hayes ended his NBA career as a one-time champion in 1978 with the Baltimore Bullets. He is currently eleventh on the NBA's All-time scoring list with 27313 points, ahead of legends like Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan.
Jarace Walker got to meet his idol Hakeem Olajuwon in April and they had a thirty-minute conversation that involved Hakeem giving him pointers. Afterwards, the star-struck forward could not hide his admiration for his idol.
He explained how Hakeem's career trajectory is influencing him:
“He’s played the game at the highest level and been successful and that’s where I’m trying to get to. All I could do is listen and soak it in.”