SYRACUSE, NY -- Donte Greene, who spent the 2007-08 campaign at Syracuse University, was selected by Memphis in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday night. The 28th overall selection, Greene was then traded to Houston along with Memphis' second-round pick in the 2009 draft for the draft rights to Darrell Arthur.
"Donté is an athletic small forward with legitimate size who can slide over to the four spot," said Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey on Greene in a release distributed by the Rockets. "He can shoot the ball. He was a freshman at Syracuse. He's someone who is very athletic, and we think he has a great future and a lot of talent to get where we got him at 28 (overall pick)."
In his only intercollegitae season, Greene led the Orange by averaging 17.7 points per game, the second-best freshman scoring average in SU history. His 620 points ranked 18th all-time with the Orange. Greene added 7.2 rebounds per outing, the third-best mark on the squad. His 251 boards represented the fifth-best total for a Syracuse freshman. He converted a squad-best 90 three-point baskets, a record for Syracuse freshman. The total ranks fifth on the all-time three-point basket ledger.
Greene was a second team All-BIG EAST Conference selection and earned a spot on the BIG EAST Conference All-Rookie Team. He was the conference rookie of the week five times. He earned a spot on the league's weekly honor roll once. Greene was a first team National Association of Basketball Coaches pick and made the United States Basketball Writers of Association District II squad. He was a Rivals.com Second Team Freshman All-American and a collegehoops.net All-Freshman honorable mention selection.
Greene is the first Syracuse player taken in the NBA's first round since Hakim Warrick was taken by Memphis with the 19th pick in the 2005 draft. Greene joins 14 other SU performers who have been taken in the first round, a group started by Dave Bing in 1966.