Ramos will stand tall for Puerto Rico this summer, and the Wizards this fall. Wizards Photos

On June 24, 2004 when Russ Granik announced the 32nd overall pick in the NBA Draft, a widespread mix of emotions surely grasped those that still watched the proceedings. From “we got our guy”, to “they got our guy”, to “Peter Who? Who?”, the Wizards second round pick, though promising, was anything but a household name.

So as the guest of a recent radio talk show, Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld sat to shed some light on Peter John Ramos, the Wizards second round draft choice in the 2004 NBA Draft and a player that until recently was largely unknown outside of scouting circles.

When the show host asked about the 7-3 center, Grunfeld was quick to clear up the first bit of misinformation on the nineteen-year-old center.

“He’s seven-three and a half,” corrected Grunfeld, with an energized sound reminiscent of his tone when he first spoke of the Wizards new addition. Widely projected to have been selected somewhere in the first round of the Draft, Ramos slipped into the welcoming arms of the Wizards brass’ in the 32 hole.

As some analysts tabbed Ramos to come off the board as high as 11, it’s a natural wonder if Grunfeld once again unearthed a second round gem. Grunfeld’s penchant for second round steals dates to his days in Milwaukee, when serving in the role of Bucks’ boss he plucked an unheralded guard named Michael Redd from the board with the 43rd overall pick. An All-Star in his fourth year in the league, Redd’s story, as much as any other, serves notice of the quality of talent available after round one, if you know where to look.

Two years later Grunfeld grabbed Shaw’s Ronald (Flip) Murray with the 42nd overall pick; a player that averaged 12.4 points in 24.6 minutes per game last season for Seattle, and with Jason Hart and Dan Gadzuric, two of Grunfeld’s other second round finds, solidified the GM’s well earned rep.

As far as Ramos is concerned, this is one of Grunfeld’s most intriguing prospects yet. Ramos will see his first game action against elite NBA talent this summer as part of the Puerto Rican Olympic team, but after an eye-opening performance in FIBA’s Under-21 Tourney of Americas, some General Managers must be wondering if Grunfeld did it again.

Ramos averaged 20.6 points per game in five tournament games; a dominant performance that was punctuated by a 34 point, 9 rebound performance against the USA squad in the Championship game. While Ramos’ Puerto Rican team fell to the Americans 97-86 in the August 1st final, USA Coach Kelvin Sampson left with Ramos on his mind.

“Ramos is a great player,” said Sampson, coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and two-time Coach of the Year in College Basketball.

As is the case in analyzing many international or high school players, natural questions arose about the legitimacy of Ramos’ 20.5 points per game average playing for Criollos De Caguas of the Superior Basketball league in Puerto Rico last season.

While the top domestic collegiate players can be compared and contrasted by virtue of their play in head-to-head competition, questions remained about how Ramos would fare against future NBA talent, a fact that by and large contributed to his lower than expected draft number.

Against an American squad that read as a who’s who of future first round picks, including UCONN’s Charlie Villanueva, Arizona’s Hassan Adams and Mustafa Shakur, Wake Forest’s Chris Paul and Justin Gray, North Carolina’s Sean May and Indiana’s Bracey Wright, Ramos was the one that emerged with the gaudy stats appropriate of a top prospect.

Ramos’ finished with 103 total points in the eight-team tournament (USA, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Bahamas, Dominican Republic), a total that ranked him as the second leading scorer of the tourney, and also ranked second among tourney leaders in free throws made (23), second in blocks per game (1.2) and sixth in rebounds per game (7.6).

The youngest Wizard will soon to travel to Greece to play for his country in the Olympic Games; games which the Wizards will surely be watching. But in the meantime it has to be wondered if the Draft was reheld today, just how high would this guy go? And how far does his 7-3 ½ potential reach?

Ramos recently returned from Greece where he served as a reserve center for the Puerto Rican Olympic team. Ramos and Puerto Rico advanced to the medal round with a 3-2 record in the preliminary round, including a 92-73 win over the United States in their first game. Puerto Rico fell to Italy in the quarterfinals and also lost to the host team, Greece, in finishing sixth in the twelve team tournament. The tournament marked Ramos' first organized game against an opponent comprised entirely of NBA players.