Our congratulations to Kemba Walker, who was selected with the 9th pick overall in tonight's NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats.
After a run of international players clogged up the top half of the lottery, Kemba became the second straight U.S. point guard taken, one pick after Kentucky's Brandon Knight and one pick before Naismith Award usurper Jimmer Fredette.
Kemba is the second UConn national champion alpha dog taken by Charlotte in that franchise's brief history, as of course Emeka Okafor was drafted No. 2 overall in 2004.
Instant reaction: I have no idea if Kemba is a good fit for that lineup (D.J. Augustin is already in place there), and the Bobcats are about as generic a franchise as it gets. But hopefully Kemba can elevate a pretty uninspiring lineup to a playoff berth in the East.
And hey, playing with No. 7 pick Bismack Biyombo (actual scouting reports: "You can't run plays for him" and "Can't score") can't be much different from that year he played with Hasheem Thabeet.
You can catch Bobcat fans' reaction over at our SBNation brothers at Rufus on Fire. We'll be both here and on Twitter for the rest of the night, so let us know what you think of Charlotte's pick.