With the 24th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, the Rockets selected Luther Head, a guard out of Illinois.
Head’s senior year with the Illini was an incredible one. The Illini made it all the way to the NCAA Championship behind the leadership of Head and future All-Star Deron Williams. The team would eventually fall to the North Carolina Tar Heels but Head’s draft stock rose throughout the season.
Meanwhile, for the Rockets, the team was coming off of a rough Game 7 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round after a promising 51-31 campaign in the first season of the Tracy McGrady era.