At the 2011 NBA Draft held on June 23, 2011 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, the Cleveland Cavaliers starts their rebuilding process post-Lebron James era when it selected Kyrie Irving of Duke University with its first pick.

Irving despite playing only a total of 11 games for Duke in his only year is projected to be the next Derrick Rose, this year’s Most Valuable Player.

Cleveland also won the fourth pick in the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery and they used it for University of Texas forward Tristan Thompson.

The Minnesota Timberwolves took Arizona forward Derrick Williams with the #2 pick. The Utah Jazz then took Turkish big man Enes Kanter third with their first of two lottery selections.

In the last 15 years, only 4 guards were taken number one. Two were chosen for the last two years, this year’s Kyrie Irving and last year’s John Wall by the Washington Wizards. Allen Iverson of Georgetown was taken first by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996, and Derrick Rose of Memphis was the #1 pick by the Chicago Bulls in 2008.

Irving is the second Australian born player to be selected first overall in the NBA Draft behind Andrew Bogut in 2005.

Three of the first six players taken were from Europe, capitalizing on the absence of some American college players who might have gone in their spots and made this a stronger draft. It was the first time four international players who didn’t play at a U.S. college were selected in the lottery.

Here’s the complete list of picks in Round 1:

Pick	Player	Team	School/Club/ Team
1	Kyrie Irving	Cleveland Cavaliers	Duke (Fr.)
2	Derrick Williams	Minnesota Timberwolves	Arizona (So.)
3	Enes Kanter	Utah Jazz (from New Jersey)	Kentucky (Fr.)
4	Tristan Thompson	Cleveland Cavaliers	Texas (Fr.)
5	Jonas Valančiūnas	Toronto Raptors	Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuania)
6	Jan Veselý	Washington Wizards	Partizan (Serbia)
7	Bismack Biyombo	Charlotte Bobcats (from Sacramento Kings)	Fuenlabrada (Spain)
8	Brandon Knight	Detroit Pistons	Kentucky (Fr.)
9	Kemba Walker	Charlotte Bobcats	Connecticut (Jr.)
10	Jimmer Fredette	Sacramento Kings (from Milwaukee Bucks)	BYU (Sr.)
11	Klay Thompson	Golden State Warriors	Washington State (Jr.)
12	Alec Burks	Utah Jazz	Colorado (So.)
13	Markieff Morris	Phoenix Suns	Kansas (Jr.)
14	Marcus Morris	Houston Rockets	Kansas (Jr.)
15	Kawhi Leonard	Indiana Pacers (traded to San Antonio Spurs)	San Diego (So.)
16	Nikola Vučević	Philadelphia 76ers	USC (Jr.)
17	Iman Shumpert	New York Knicks	Georgia Tech (Jr.)
18	Chris Singleton	Washington Wizards (from Atlanta)[	Florida State (Jr.)
19	Tobias Harris	Milwaukee Bucks (from Charlotte Bobcats via New Orleans and Portland	Tennessee (Fr.)
20	Donatas Motiejūnas	Minnesota Timberwolves (from Memphis via Utah traded toHouston Rockets)	Pallacanestro Treviso (Italy)
21	Nolan Smith	Portland Trail Blazers	Duke (Sr.)
22	Kenneth Faried	Denver Nuggets	Morehead State (Sr.)
23	Nikola Mirotic	Houston Rockets (from Orlando via Phoenix traded to Minnesota Timberwolves)	Real Madrid (Spain)
24	Reggie Jackson	Oklahoma City Thunder	Boston College (Jr.)
25	Marshon Brooks	Boston Celtics (traded to New Jersey)	Providence (Sr.)
26	Jordan Hamilton	Dallas Mavericks	Texas (So.)
27	JaJuan Johnson	New Jersey Nets (from L.A. Lakers, traded to Boston)	Purdue (Sr.)
28	Norris Cole	Chicago Bulls (from Miami via Toronto)	Cleveland State (Sr.)
29	Cory Joseph	San Antonio Spurs	Texas (Fr.)
30	Jimmy Butler	Chicago Bulls	Marquette (Sr.)

Here are highlights from Kyrie Irving’s career:

Highschool

College

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Tags: 2011 NBA draft, 2012 NBA season, kyrie irving