Utah Jazz Selects Gordon Hayward with Ninth Pick in 2010 NBA Draft

Utah Jazz Selects Gordon Hayward with Ninth Pick in 2010 NBA Draft

SALT LAKE CITY (June 24, 2010) – The Utah Jazz selected Gordon Hayward out of Butler University with the ninth pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.

In the 2009-10 season, Hayward, a 6-8, 207-pound forward, was named the Horizon League Player of the Year after leading Butler to its first ever NCAA Final Four and the 2010 National Championship Game. The 20-year-old sophomore posted 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds in that game, a 61-59 loss to Duke. Prior to the Final Four, Hayward posted game-highs of 22 points and nine rebounds in a win over Kansas State in the championship game of the West Regional, hosted at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.

Hayward was chosen to the 2010 Final Four All-Tournament Team, selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the West Regional and was named a finalist for the Naismith Trophy. He ranked in the top five in the Horizon League in scoring (15.5 points) and rebounding (8.2 rebounds) and led the league in double-doubles with 12. As a freshman, he was named the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year and named to the Foxsports.com National All-Freshman Team after averaging 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds a game.

Hayward concluded his two-year collegiate career having played a total of 69 games (all starts), averaging 33.1 minutes, 14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 steals, while shooting .470 from the field and .369 from three-point range. He was an engineering major at Butler.

A member of the gold-medal winning U.S. Under-19 World Championship team in the summer of 2009, Hayward capped off his senior season in high school with a buzzer-beating layup to win the Indiana Class 4A state championship. Hayward also played high school tennis, advancing to the Indiana singles quarterfinals his senior year.

The Brownsburg, Ind., native is the first-ever Utah Jazz draft selection from Butler and he became the first player drafted in the NBA from Butler since 1974. Hayward is also the first Butler Bulldog ever taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. Butler’s previous highest-drafted players were Jeff Blue (Boston, 1964) and Oscar Evans (Atlanta, 1974), both chosen in the eight round. Hayward is also the second-highest Horizon League player ever drafted in the NBA. Brian Grant of Xavier was taken by the Sacramento Kings with the eight pick of the 1994 draft.