Josh Douglas Harrellson (born February 12, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for Osaka Evessa of the Japanese B.League. Standing 6\'10", he played center for the Kentucky Wildcats from 2008 to 2011. He was selected by the New Orleans Hornets as the 45th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, but was traded to the New York Knicks. He signed with the Miami Heat in 2012. In 2013, he joined the Brujos de Guayama in Puerto Rico, but he was released on May 18 so that he could join Chongqing Fly Dragon in the Chinese National Basketball League for a two-month period. In August 2013, Harrellson joined the Detroit Pistons.\n', '

Harrellson first played organized basketball as a freshman at St. Charles High School. Coach Gary Wacker helped develop Harrellson\'s skills, and he was named a first-team All-State player his junior and senior years. He signed a National Letter of Intent to play for Western Illinois University, but never enrolled there, choosing instead to attend junior college at Southwestern Illinois College. After one year at Southwest Illinois, he was recruited to Kentucky by then-coach Billy Gillispie. Gillispie was fired after Harrellson\'s first season, and Harrellson played sparingly the next year under new coach John Calipari. Due to the ineligibility of star recruit Enes Kanter, Harrellson received significantly more playing time his senior year, during which he averaged 6.4 points per game and led the Southeastern Conference in rebounding with 8.8 per game. In the 2011 NCAA Tournament, he was named to the All-East Region Team.\n', '

Harrellson had never played organized basketball prior to 2003, his freshman year at St. Charles High School. St. Charles boys\' basketball coach Gary Wacker noticed Harrellson, who stood six feet, four inches tall as a high school freshman, when he came to the football coach\'s office to ask about tryouts. When Harrellson showed up too late for football tryouts, Wacker encouraged him to try playing basketball. Wacker later recalled that, when he first started practice, he could not dribble or make a left-handed layup, and Harrellson himself conceded that he was "pretty much the worst player on the team." Before the end of his first season, however, he was playing on the junior varsity team, and by his sophomore year, he was playing with the varsity team.\n', '

Return to Josh Harrellson Autograph Profile