The EnviroNZ Franklin Bulls are excited to announce the signing of American star guard, 6'2, Josh Selby for the 2021 Sal’s NBL season.
The club is working with the League and New Zealand Immigration on applying for a critical worker exemption to help bring Selby to the Bulls and continue the tradition of having skilled international players working alongside local players and entertaining the wider community.
Josh Selby, the former NBA star with Memphis Grizzlies, is set to land in New Zealand to play for the first time down-under with the Bulls this season. Selby, the All American Point Guard, is excited to come to New Zealand and compete in the Sal's NBL. Selby who has been playing in Europe and was planning to return there, has instead decided to take the chance to come to New Zealand to help bring a Championship to Franklin.
"Josh is a professional, through and through. He is high level and is going to demand excellence from our team in 2021. We are excited to have a player of his calibre as our floor general this season. We are just excited for our future Bulls players as they will get to be part of Josh's journey and see the man play on their home-court in Pukekohe," said GM Scott Kelso
The coaching team have been working through to ensure the point guard position is filled by a player that can lead and is driven to win. That man is Josh Selby.
"Josh is excited to come and play in New Zealand and we are over the moon that we will have his talent and knowledge as part of our squad. He's a special player and his ability to lead and his work ethic will be a great example to our younger players, who have aspirations of making it as a professional one day," said Head Coach Jamie Reddish.
The Sal's NBL are working with New Zealand Immigration and Sport NZ to help bring import players into New Zealand and making sure all precautions are taken by the teams.
Kelso says, "This year we celebrate 40 years of our league. It would be sad for our import players, all of them to not be allowed into New Zealand as critical workers. They are crucial to our business and we would be financially impacted if they weren't able to come. But more importantly our locals kids wouldn't get to see them play, meet some pretty awesome role models and have the chance to see some awesome basketball played at home, especially in 2021, our inaugural home season."
Josh is expected to be with the team after Managed Isolation in April, should he be allowed to enter New Zealand.
