Toney Douglas: First round draft pick

New York City, N.Y. - Thursday night, late in the first round of the National Basketball Association’s annual draft, former Florida State guard Toney Douglas was selected by the Los Angles Lakers, who were selecting for the New York Knicks with the 29th overall pick.

In front of a packed WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden, NBA Commissioner David Stern called Toney Douglas’ name and a dream became a reality for yet another former Florida State basketball player.

“At the end of the first round, this is a very good player to get,” analyst Jay Bilas said of Douglas.

Douglas is the first Seminole to be drafted into the NBA since All-American Al Thornton was taken with the 14th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

Since 2004, only two ACC schools, North Carolina and Duke, have had more players selected in the NBA draft. UNC leads with 7 draftees followed by Duke (6) and Florida State (4).

That number for FSU now stands at five draft picks as Toney Douglas joined Tim Pickett, Von Wafer, Alexander Johnson and Al Thornton as former Seminole greats who have realized childhood dreams of playing against the best basketball players in the world in the NBA.

During his time at FSU, Douglas led the ACC in scoring during his senior season, earned All-American Third Team honors, was the ACC Player of the Year Runner-Up, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-ACC First Team selection. He led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade and into the ACC Tournament championship game for the first time in school history.

Douglas was drafted by the NBA Champion Los Angles Lakers but traded to the New York Knicks for cash considerations and a future second round draft pick.