Nine of the first 20 players selected were at least 6-foot-11, and 11 are 6-10 or taller ... only three of the first 20 were less than 6-8, with 6-6 Jason Richardson -- taken by the Golden State Warriors fifth -- the shortest player in the top 20.

There were a record four international players taken in the first round, four college seniors, and as expected, a record four high school players were selected among the first eight picks ... three of the first four.

Kwame Brown's skills were too good for the Wizards to pass up.(AP)

All of those are a first, including Georgia prepster Kwame Brown becoming the first ever to be the top choice overall in the draft, with none other than the Washington Wizards and team president Michael Jordan setting the new precedent.

The Chicago Bulls acquired two high school 7-footers, by drafting Chicagoan Eddy Curry with the fourth pick overall, then swapping forward Elton Brand to the Los Angeles Clippers for the rights to Los Angelino Tyson Chandler, who was thrilled about staying home, but that lasted only a short time when news of the trade spread like wildfire.

As of just after the draft, seven trades had been made, beginning with the Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies swapping Shareef Abdur-Rahim and the No. 27 pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Lorenzen Wright, Brevin Knight and the third pick overall, with which they chose Spaniard Pau Gasol, who became the highest chosen international player to have never played in the United States before. The Hawks later chose point guard Jamaal Tinsley with that 27th pick and swapped him to the Indiana Pacers for a future No. 1.

The other huge deal came after Seton Hall freshman forward Eddie Griffin unexpectedly slipped to the New Jersey Nets at seven. And the Nets then shipped the 6-9 Griffin to the Houston Rockets in exchange for all three of their first-round picks: Richard Jefferson (13th), Jason Collins (18th) and Brandon Armstrong (23rd). It seemed inevitable that the Hawks and Rockets would do a deal, and once the Hawks got underachieving Maryland forward Terence Morris in the second round, they sent him packing for Houston for a future first rounder.

The Orlando Magic remained a very active team, tabbing DePaul center Steven Hunter and big guard Jeryl Sasser in the first round, and point guard Omar Cook in the second round before sending him to Denver for a future No. 1 pick. Then they dealt forward-center Michael Doleac to Cleveland in exchange for the Cavs' 20th pick, North Carolina center Brendan Haywood. And that's not to mention how the Magic dangled Mike Miller and their picks to move up to No. 4 so they could have a shot at one of the younger and higher quality big men.

Other foiled trades had the Seattle SuperSonics dealing Gary Payton to Vancouver for Abdur-Rahim in a package, and the Nets almost talked the Clippers into dealing the second pick and Keyon Dooling in exchange for Stephon Marbury.

Even as the day ended, talk of Payton continued, especially considering how many big men the Hawks now have with no point guard to get them the ball. But with Aaron Goodwin the agent for both Abdur-Rahim and Payton, it now explains the conciliatory six-paragraph fax he sent out to the Seattle media Tuesday night to thank the fans for supporting Payton during his 11 years. The Hawks, Pacers and Miami Heat remain prime targets for Payton to land considering the Sonics, who drafted 6-10 swing forward Vladimir Radmanovic, are still in dire need of some quality big men.

And it isn't as if Marbury is locked in just yet, with talk of him being dealt to Phoenix for Jason Kidd still out there.

So as youth dominated, the draft served to indicate even further how young the NBA is becoming -- four 18-year-olds, seven 19-year-olds and five 20-year-olds in the first round alone -- it will be interesting to see just how far these players go in this draft based primarily on potential.

This makes you think when a 7-1 senior center like Loren Woods, questionable back notwithstanding, isn't taken until the middle of the second round when the Minnesota Timberwolves used their only pick on the Arizona shot-blocker.

"It's difficult to imagine what these players are going to look like in four years," one NBA general manager said. "It's why I didn't pull the trigger on a top five pick when I could if I wanted to trade a veteran. Who knows how good any of these kids are going to be?"