Foreign players make their presence felt

A record 21 international players were chosen in the NBA draft on Thursday, including nine taken in the first round.

The first international player picked was 2.13m Darko Milicic of Serbia and Montenegro by the Detroit Pistons, the second overall pick.

"Darko Milicic is not going to have to come here and be the savior," said Detroit president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, referring to the high expectations on No. 1 draft pick LeBron James who heads to Cleveland. "We're going to push [Milicic] to be the best he can be. But, he's not going to be judged on whether he carried us this year. We think that's an excellent situation for him and for us."

Next in the international brigade was 1.69m French swingman Mickael Pietrus, going 11th to the Golden State Warriors.

Serbia Montenegrin teammates Zarko Cabarkapa (17th, Phoenix) and Aleksandar Pavlovic (19th, Utah) from Buducnost broke the top 20, while a third player from that club -- 2.23m center Slavko Vranes went 39th to the Knicks.

Boris Diaw of France (21st by Atlanta) was among the first round international picks, followed by Zoran Planinic of Croatia (22nd by New Jersey), Carlos Delfino of Argentina (25th by Detroit), Ndudi Ebi of England (26th by Minnesota) and Leandro Barbosa of Brazil (28th by San Antonio).

San Antonio traded the 28th pick, Brazilian point guard Leandro Barbosa, to Phoenix for a future first-round pick.

Maciej Lampe, an 18-year-old from Poland who plays in the Spanish League, was taken by the New York Knicks as the 30th pick.

His selection by the Knicks was met with an eruption of cheers by the thousands of fans at the draft. Lampe turned and pointed at his new fans and they cheered even louder.

"The crowd was great. I thank them very much for supporting me. Hopefully, I'll be able to pay them back one day," he said.