Those who have spent a lot of time around Xavier Henry always notice one thing first: his ever-present smile.
Thursday night, at a little before 7:30 in the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Henry’s smile started to falter a little bit. The ninth and 10th picks of the draft had been made, and he hadn’t heard his name called.
“Nine is where it all opened up. I had great workouts from nine, 10 through about 15, and I knew I had a great chance of going around then, and then they took a couple of guys before,” Henry said. “Me and my brother, we were calm but we were just thinking, okay, so where did I do best, next and where are my next best options to go.”
Then the New Orleans Hornets selected his former teammate Cole Aldrich with the 11th pick, and Henry’s smile came back. He couldn’t be upset about “one of my best friends in the whole world” going before him.
“I could imagine how big his smile was out there,” Aldrich, who was almost immediately traded to Oklahoma City, said.
Then when the Memphis Grizzlies took the podium with the 12th pick in the draft, it was Henry’s turn. The smile probably still hasn’t left his face.
Henry is an interesting fit for the Grizzlies, who already have an established star at shooting guard in O.J. Mayo, but could use a boost at almost every other position on the floor. If starting small forward Rudy Gay signs somewhere else as a free agent, Henry would likely slide into a starting role in that position, though he projects as a shooting guard long term in the NBA.
As a small forward, he’d have to show a more aggressive, slashing mentality than he did at Kansas, when he was largely relegated to a role as a spot shooter alongside All-Americans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich.
“Everybody pinned me as a great three-point shooter and a great role player who is coachable,” Henry said. “I am all those things, but that’s just mostly what I had to do at Kansas. In the workouts I set out to be the most aggressive player and that’s what I did. I was always the most aggressive and the most assertive and I made it a point to get to the hole and convert.”
Henry’s coach at Kansas, Bill Self, said he could see Henry fitting in as a scoring threat off the bench.
Aldrich’s fit will be more natural in the immediate sense with the Thunder, who lack an inside presence of Aldrich’s caliber. He’ll also have the benefit of playing alongside a ready-made tutor in Nick Collison, another former Jayhawk big man.
“To have him down there of course with Durant is an unbelievable opportunity,” Self said. “But still yet to have Nick down there to mentor him, that will be great.”
Aldrich was traded along with former Hornet Morris Peterson to the Thunder for the 21st and 26th picks in the draft — which turned into Iowa State’s Craig Brackins and Washington’s Quincy Pondexter.
Kevin Durant, the NBA’s scoring champ last season, was in New York and witnessed Aldrich becoming his newest teammate.
“I think he will be a game changer for us,” Durant said.