Remember this name: Taj McDavid. It may soon become synonymous with the name Brandon Roy.

McDavid was a high school senior that declared for the NBA draft in 1996 for no apparent reason. That trend continues today with the announcement that Roy, a 6-6 high school senior from Garfield High School in Seattle, has applied for the draft.

According to Danny O'Neal of the Seattle Times, Roy said last night that he sent a certified letter on May 8 stating his desire to enter the draft.

"Basketball has always been my dream," he said. "It doesn't close the door to college, but I feel I'm ready to make the next step. If I go to the (NBA predraft) camps, and they say I've got to work on my game, then I've got to get in the gym and work at college.

"If they say I'm ready, then I'm going to the next level of basketball."

As long as he doesn't sign with an agent, he has until June 19 to reclaim his college eligibility. Taking just three classes now, he graduates from Garfield on June 15.

"If it's anything in the second round, I think I'll go to college," he said.

Dan Raley of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that Roy was encouraged to go straight to the NBA by Bob Hopkins, fired after just 23 games as Sonics head coach in 1977 and a Sonics assistant coach for Bill Russell four seasons before that.

Roy said his AAU coach, Lou Hobson, and Jamal Crawford, the Rainier Beach High School alumnus now with the Chicago Bulls, also helped talk him into taking the bold step. Crawford went to the NBA after playing less than a full season at the University of Michigan.

The NCAA recently passed a rule that would allow high school seniors to declare for the draft, yet still play in college as long as he doesn't sign with an agent or a team.