Josh Harrellson

Josh Douglas Harrellson (born February 12, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for Fukushima Firebonds of the Japanese B.League.

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.

Harrellson had a difficult home life, and eventually moved in with his AAU basketball coach.

By his junior year, he had grown to 6 feet, 8 inches tall; he averaged 18.1 points and 11 rebounds for the season and was named a first team All-State player.

After taking only one recruiting visit, he signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Western Illinois Leathernecks prior to his senior year.

He averaged 18.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.6 blocked shots, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals during his final season of high school basketball, while leading St. Charles to the Class 4 state semi-finals.

He was named second team All-Metro by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and was again named first team All-State.

He finished his high school career with 1,325 points and 794 rebounds.

After the season, he participated in summer workouts with University of Florida-bound Alex Tyus from nearby Hazelwood Central High School; during these workouts, he became convinced he could play basketball for a higher-profile university.

Before enrolling at Western Illinois, Harrellson asked to be released from his letter of intent, citing rumors that head coach Derek Thomas was about to be fired and his desire to play for a higher-profile school.

Western Illinois refused to grant the request.

Instead of playing for Western Illinois, Harrellson decided to matriculate to a junior college.

His parents divorced following his high school graduation, and he chose Southwestern Illinois College because it was close to home.

Harrellson joined future Alabama forward Chris Hines and future Minnesota guard Devron Bostick on the SWIC basketball team, and during the 2007–08 season, he averaged 14 points and 8 rebounds.

His team compiled a 28–5 record, won the Great Rivers Athletic Conference, and advanced to the National Junior College Athletic Association regional championship game.

Harrellson was named first-team all-conference and all-region.

Standing 6ft 10in, he played center for the Kentucky Wildcats from 2008 to 2011.

In March 2008, Western Illinois fired coach Derek Thomas, and Harrellson was released from his Letter of Intent in April of that year.

Harrellson first expressed interest in transferring to the University of Missouri, but the school had no basketball scholarships available.

He considered scholarship offers from Iowa, Iowa State, St. Louis, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

His final decision was between St. Louis and Kentucky.

Despite his desire to stay close to home, in part because of his parents' recent divorce, Harrellson chose Kentucky because of the chance for better exposure, which would lead to an opportunity to play professional basketball.

In his first year at Kentucky, Harrellson played in 34 games, starting in 2.

He was named to the Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament Team; he posted his first career double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) in the tournament's championship game against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The game was one of only six all season in which Harrellson tallied at least 10 points.

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.

In the 2011 NCAA tournament, he was named to the All-East Region Team.

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 Flying Dragons in the Chinese National Basketball League for a two-month period.

In August 2013, Harrellson joined the Detroit Pistons.

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.