Tulsa World: Sixers select high school player, Shakur

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Sixers select high school player, Shakur
Small forward Latavious Williams, Arizona-ex Mustafa Shakur are picked.

Nate Tibbetts, Tulsa 66ers head coach

By KEVIN HENRY World Correspondent
Published: 11/6/2009 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 11/6/2009 6:29 AM

Latavious Williams made history Thursday by becoming the first player to jump from high school to the NBA Development League.

The Tulsa 66ers added another first to Williams' resume: first-round draft pick.

Taking a page from the parent Oklahoma City Thunder's youth movement, the 66ers took Williams with the 16th overall pick. The 6-foot-8 small forward from Humble (Texas) Christian Life Center Academy was expected to be the subject of an intense college recruiting battle before deciding to turn professional. He was committed to Memphis at one point.

Thanks to the serpentine style of the NBA D-League draft, the 66ers also had the 17th pick on Thursday, using it to select former Arizona guard Mustafa Shakur. During his four years with the Wildcats, Shakur started all but two games. After spending a year in Europe, Shakur participated in the Minnesota Timberwolves training camp this past summer.

"Our first two picks are two guys who were very high on our board," said Tulsa head coach Nate Tibbetts. "Our staff and the Thunder staff are excited about getting Latavious in here and helping him with his development. (Mustafa) Shakur is a veteran point guard, and I think that's something you have to have to win in this league."

The 66ers picked up another guard with their third-round selection, taking Cecil Brown from UC-Santa Barbara. Brown averaged 9.3 points and 3.2 assists per game during his final college season. Two years ago, Brown was part of the D-League's Los Angeles D-Fenders roster, averaging 12.4 points per game. He played last season in France.

Tulsa's tallest pick of the night came in the fourth round when Jeral Davis, a 7-1 player out of Talladega (Ala.) College was selected. Davis averaged 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds during his senior campaign last season.

In the fifth round, Tulsa took Mitchell Johnson of Jarvis Christian College in Texas. Johnson, a 6-5 forward/guard, was followed by sixth-round pick Keena Young from BYU, who averaged 17.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game during his senior year.

Adam McCoy, a 6-4 shooting guard, was picked in the seventh round after averaging 8.7 points and 1.7 rebounds last season at North Texas. Tulsa rounded out its picks with Maryland-Eastern Shore's Tim Parham, who averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds in eight games with a Turkish club last season.

Training camp opens for the 66ers on Nov. 15 and the first round of cuts come on Nov. 18. Tulsa opens the season at home against the Utah Flash on Nov. 27. By KEVIN HENRY World Correspondent

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