Better Know a Draft Prospect: Josh Selby
By Editorial Staff
Borrowing a page from the “Meet the Nets!” series, we’re going to take a look at some of the players that the Nets may select with the 27th overall pick. We’re going to cover all of the players listed in yesterday’s post, plus some more players that I feel are worth mentioning, or I believe are a good fit for the team. Today, the player that was drafted by the Nets in more mocks than any other, Josh Selby.
Name: Josh Selby
Position: PG/SG
Measurables: 6’3” 195 lbs
College: Kansas
To call Josh Selby’s freshman season at Kansas disappointing is an understatement. He was listed as the number one overall recruit on Rivals, and ESPN and Scout both had him at number five. However, he failed to make the impact one would expect out of a player so highly rated. Selby missed the first nine games of the season, and missed three more games due to injury. He finished the season as a minor compenent of the team, averaging about 14 minutes per game, with 3.8 PPG and 1.2 APG. There were bright spots in his season though, including a 21 point game against USC.
All that said, there’s a reason Josh Selby was so hyped up coming into college. Selby is a great athlete, and has a ton of scoring ability. If you look at his tape (which I posted at the bottom of the post) you can see that he has NBA speed and can create his own shot. After watching his tape, I get the feeling Sely would be a great fit for the Nets. He could play alongside Deron Williams at the two guard spot and not be forced to carry the scoring load. At the same time, he also will be able to learn from Deron Williams and become more of a point guard, something Selby has said he would like to do.
Could Selby have benefited from another year in school? Yes and no. His time at Kansas exposed some flaws in his game, mainly that he makes some poor decisions with the ball and is not an incredible shooter (shot 37% at Kansas). What Selby needs more than anything else is playing time. He would have definitely gotten it at Kansas, but he will still probably get playing time on the Nets, and he’ll have the benefit of going up against NBA compilation.
If the Nets got Selby I’d have to believe they’d do back flips. Selby is a player that would have gone top 15 if he was able to enter the draft out of high school, and could have gone top 15 if he stayed another year and entered the draft after that. Instead, the Nets might get an opportunity to draft Selby at 27, and take a no risk flyer on a player with a ton of reward potential.