As expected, Blake Griffin was selected with the first overall draft pick. Not quite as expected though was Ricky Rubio falling to the number five slot.

The Spanish phenom point guard was selected with the fifth pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2009 NBA Draft.  Rubio fell, most-likely because of a combination of his agent’s demands to play in California, his contract buyout, pre-draft chatter, and underwhelming workouts.

All those factors seemed to have dulled the hype that was built up from Rubio’s performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The other international player that was supposed to go in the top five picks was Hasheem Thabeet.  The center from Tanzania and Co-Big East Player of the Year was taken by the Memphis Grizzlies with the #2 pick.

As of 17:30 PST, the draft board looks like this:

#1. Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers)
#2. Hasheem Thabeet (Memphis Grizzlies)
#3. James Harden (Oklahoma City Thunder)
#4. Tyreke Evans (Sacramento Kings)
#5. Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves)
#6. Jonny Flynn (Minnesota Timberwolves)
#7. Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
#8. Jordan Hill (New York Knicks)
#9. DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors)
#10. Brandon Jennings (Milwaukee Bucks)

Versatile forward James Harden was taken third by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Tyreke Evans was selected #4.  Interesting that the Kings went with Evans; rumors must have been true that Rubio didn’t perform so well with his secret workout in Sacramento this past week.

Minnesota also had the sixth overall pick, and picked combo guard Jonny Flynn out of Syracuse. Stephen Curry was taken #7 and is the son of former NBA player Dell Curry.