By HAL MORRIS
hmorris@amnews.com

LEXINGTON — In most every pre-draft report, Eric Bledsoe was listed as a first-round pick.

But the former Kentucky guard was nowhere near New York for the NBA draft on June 24 with those expecting to be lottery picks. Instead, he and his mother watched the draft at an Ohio Buffalo Wild Wings when Oklahoma City drafted him with the 18th pick before trading him to the Los Angeles Clippers.

“They just called my name, (my mom) jumped up before they even got it out,” Bledsoe said Saturday at the John Calipari ProCamp. “And before you know, it my agent told me they traded me to LA. But either place, I was OK with it. Oklahoma is good, and L.A. is also good. It was a win-win either way.”

Of course, his good draft night fortune did not lead to a free meal of wings, but he did get plenty of congratulations from the patrons in the restaurant.

“Fans that I didn’t even know knew me were coming up to me. It felt like I was at the draft,” he said. “They showed my picture up on the screen, then everybody saw me.”

Now he’s determined to show he was worth the high draft pick even though he is learning a new position at point guard.

Bledsoe gave himself mixed reviews of his play in the summer league in Las Vegas.

“Turnover-wise, I think I did horrible. But it’s a learning experience. It’s the first time I’ve been at the point guard and I’m just trying to learn how to play the point guard position,” he said. “It’s just guys I’ve never played with. I was kind of throwing the ball where guys should have been, but they weren’t there. I had to recognize who I was playing with, and it led to turnovers.”

He’ll get plenty of tutoring at the position under coach Vinny Del Negro, a former NBA guard, and veteran point guard Baron Davis. Bledsoe said he enjoyed playing for Del Negro, who is in his first season in L.A. after being fired by Chicago.

“Coach Del Negro, he’s going to let us play. He made the playoffs two years in a row, and he had Derrick Rose. Just like Coach Cal (John Calipari), he let’s us run,” Bledsoe said.

“I can learn from Baron, and Baron can teach me a lot at the point guard. He’s real good. He tries to help me when I’m working out, tries to give me points to work on and stuff.”

What Bledsoe would not talk about when asked were the stories about his grades and who paid for his apartment his senior year of high school. UK media relations director DeWayne Peevy said Bledsoe’s lawyers “advised him not to comment on that, and we’ll have a response at a later date.”

Bledsoe kept glancing a highlight reel playing on screen at the Joe Kraft Center, and said it brought back great memories of his one season in Lexington.

“Sometimes you just wish you could have come back, but it is what it is. You can’t help it. Life goes on,” he said.

Bledsoe said he was beyond fortunate to get out of Birmingham, Ala., and come to Kentucky and eventually land as an NBA first-round pick.

“Just growing up where I’m from, it’s not easy making it out. One out of a million make it out, so I’m just one of the few. It was tough,” he said.

He really just had one person — his mother — responsible for seeing him through a rough childhood.

“Seeing he hard work and dedication, just her way of living making sure we get to school, making sure we had food on the table to eat. I kid of cherish it every day,” said Bledsoe.

He says he’s already started trying to pay her back.

“That was my number one priority, making sure she was all right,” Bledsoe said.

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