The Number

Saturday, June 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

2: Number of Mountain West Conference players selected in this week’s NBA draft. J.R. Giddens (right), the talented but sometimes troubled swingman from New Mexico, went No. 30, the last pick of the first round, to the NBA champion Boston Celtics. Giddens played his first two college seasons at Kansas before being involved in a bar fight and then transferring to New Mexico. Trent Plaisted, the 6-foot-10 center from BYU, was picked No. 46 by Seattle and promptly traded to the Detroit Pistons. Plaisted, who left BYU after his junior season, is the 44th Cougar to be drafted. UNLV didn’t have a player selected, but still leads the MWC in players drafted by the NBA (49). One player from the Silver State was picked: UNR center JaVale McGee, by the Washington Wizards in the first round.