The day a player gets selected in the NBA Draft is a dream come true.
But the dream can feel like a nightmare along the way. There can be some agonizing moments, especially when you’re projected to be taken in the first round and that doesn’t happen.
Michigan State’s Draymond Green had to wait longer than he wanted, but the Golden State Warriors finally ended his agony when they took him Thursday night with the 35th pick overall.
Green watched the draft with an estimated 100 friends and family at the Dow Event Center in his hometown of Saginaw, Mich.
“It’s been a long night, but we made it,” Green told reporters. “I’m not the first guy to slide … and I’m not going to be the last.”
Green (6-foot-7, 235 pounds) dropped because he’s considered a “tweener” -- too small to be a power forward, too slow to be a small forward.
But he is a versatile player who was a first-team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year, averaging 16.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season for the Spartans.
He’ll be motivated, no doubt, by the snub.
“It just wouldn’t fit my story if I went in the first round,” he said.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas called taking Green at No. 35 “a real good value.”
“I thought he was a late first-round talent,” Bilas said.
So did many of the analysts who do mock drafts. They were projecting Green as a possible fit starting with Indiana at No. 26 overall.
Instead, one by one, numerous teams opted to go in a different direction.
Indiana took Duke’s athletic 7-footer, Miles Plumlee. Miami selected Mississippi State’s 6-11 Arnett Moultrie and traded him to Philadelphia.
Oklahoma City went with Baylor’s Perry Jones III, who was projected much higher but slid because of concerns over a knee injury.
Chicago then chose Kentucky guard Marquis Teague, and Golden State, with the final pick of the first round, took Vanderbilt’s Festus Ezeli.
Thirty picks, no Green.
There’s a big difference financially between the last pick of the first round and anyone selected later on in the draft.
First-round picks receive guaranteed two-year contracts at a minimum of $1 million annually. Second-round picks are not guaranteed any money.
Green’s frustration continued for four more picks into the second round before the Warriors came calling with what amounted to their third pick of the night.
Golden State, which was 23-43 last season, selected North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes No. 7 overall and then Ezeli No. 30 before taking Green.
Green is the first Michigan State player drafted since Goran Suton in 2009 (second round to Utah). The Spartans haven’t had a first-round pick since Marice Ager and Shannon Brown in 2006.
