At one time, the world was Josh Selby’s oyster. Now he’s just hoping for a chance to play. Basketball life after high school has not been kind of Selby, and the one-time All-American is now left wondering how strong of an NBA future he might have after all, falling to the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft after not hearing his name through the entire first round.
This comes after an injury-shortened collegiate career where he was one and done in Bill Self’s system at Kansas. The hype never matched the on-court talent at Kansas, so it was no surprise when Selby declared for the draft. But the potential displayed coming out of high school seemed enough for most draft analysts to consider Selby a mid-first round talent, or at least a guy who would fall toward the bottom half.
Instead, Selby has to listen to David Stern read the card for “Jimmy Butler” with the final pick of the first round and wonder when his name might be called. Several names into the second round, Selby is still waiting knowing there’s more work to be done in the future than perhaps anyone actually realized.