With family and friends anxiously huddled around the TV at his Snohomish

home, former Husky forward Jon Brockman got a call from friend and former UW frontcourt mate Spencer Hawes.

“You’re my rookie,” Hawes told Brockman.

Sure enough, just moments later, the Portland Trail Blazers would make Brockman the No. 38 overall pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, having already traded those rights to the Sacramento Kings for former Arizona State forward Jeff Pendergraph and guard Sergio Rodriguez.

The announcement would trigger a wild celebration at the Brockman household with Husky coach Lorenzo Romar taking part as a guest.

“It was almost like a Selection Sunday when you realize you got picked for the NCAA tournament and what see you are,” said Romar. “You couldn’t hear a word from the television at that point. Everyone just threw their hands up and stood up and applauded. It was a great scene.”

Brockman, Washington’s all-time leading rebounder and second leading scorer, is the fifth Husky to get drafted since Romar became head coach in 2002, following in the footsteps of Bobby Jones, Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson and good friend Spencer Hawes.

“It’s truly a dream come true to get drafted in the NBA,” Brockman said Thursday night. “I don’t think I could ask for a better situation playing alongside my former AAU teammate, college teammate, and now NBA teammate. I don't know if that's ever been done before. But it's a dream come true and I'm overwhelmed.”

As a senior, Brockman earned All-Pac-10 honors with averages of 14.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, leading Washington to its first outright conference title since 1953.

Yet at just 6 feet 7 inches tall, some wondered whether the undersized Brockman’s bruising style could carry over to the next level.

The Snohomish High graduate seemed to silence some of those doubters with his output during April’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, leading all players in rebounding at 16.3 per game, four rebounds more than the next closest player.

But Romar insists it was more than Brockman’s gritty, physical play that caught the attention of the Kings’ front brass.

“The team that drafted him appreciates what he brings to the table, and that’s the other intangibles—finish and make plays [offensively],” Romar said. “He can really run the floor, and that’s another thing that impressed Sacramento. He’s a strong presence defensively when he gets a low base to the ground and he gets physical with people. It wasn’t just that he was a hard worker and a rebounder.”

It was after his Portsmouth performance that Brockman and his agent decided to pass on the NBA’s annual pre-draft combine in Chicago, decline interviews with the media and forego individual workouts with teams.

All the secrecy led some observers to wonder whether Brockman had secured an informal deal with a team prior to the draft. But Brockman, speaking to reporters for the first time in weeks Thursday night, said his decision to lay low was a strategy formed to gain stock and climb draft boards by “being that forbidden fruit, that one thing that they [teams] can’t have.”

“It was tough for me. It wasn’t easy at all,” Brockman said. “I’m not the kind of guy who doesn’t want to tell people what’s going on, or anything like that. But really I was just following the advice of my agents. “

And that advice had gotten Brockman considerable interest from four other teams – Milwaukee, San Antonio, Cleveland and Portland.

But Brockman says he’s just happy to end up only a short plane trip away from friends and family.

And happy for the chance to play alongside Hawes again.

“I don’t know who’s more excited,” said Romar. “Jon or Spencer.”

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at news@dailyuw.com