SANTO DOMINGO.- The center Al Horford was picked by the Atlanta Hawks Thursday night in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York, becoming the first Dominican to be selected in an National Basketball Association (NBA) draft and the Latino with the highest draft ranking.

The former Florida University star, born in Puerto Plara (north) was the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft.

"I don't know what it was," Horford said while making his way through the rounds of interviews after the selection. "I was fine up until that last five minutes. My dad was a lot more nervous than I was the past few days. I was the calm one, and then I broke out in the sweats waiting to hear my name."

Horford's name is one that the Hawks tossed around for weeks, ever since lottery night a month ago when they won the rights to those two lottery picks.