James Kelly (basketball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Free agent | |
|---|---|
| Position | Center / power forward |
| Personal information | |
| Born | August 12, 1993 |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) |
| Listed weight | 240 lb (109 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Pioneer (Ann Arbor, Michigan) |
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 2016: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2016–present |
| Career history | |
| 2016–2017 | Incheon Electroland Elephants |
| 2017–2018 | Changwon LG Sakers |
| 2018–2019 | Hapoel Gilboa Galil |
| 2019–2021 | Maccabi Rishon LeZion |
| 2021 | Detroit Hustle |
| 2021–2022 | Aris Thessaloniki |
| 2022–2023 | Birmingham Squadron |
| Career highlights and awards | |
James Kelly (born August 12, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Birmingham Squadron of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for Owens Community College, University of Miami and Marshall University before playing professionally in South Korea, Israel and Greece.
Kelly started playing basketball junior year of high school, after a four-inch growth spurt. He attended Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he averaged 15 points, eight rebounds, two steals, two blocks and one assist per game and was named the league MVP.[1]
College career
Kelly played two years at Owens Community College, where he averaged 17.9 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, becoming the first player in program history to record 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 100 steals and 100 blocks in his career. Kelly was named First Team All-Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC), First Team All-Region XII and NJCAA D-II Second Team All-American as a sophomore.[1] His time at Owens resulted in a National Top 100 Junior College Ranking and he was considered one of the top Junior College recruits in the country for the 2013 class.
In his junior year, Kelly played at University of Miami, after deciding between Michigan State, West Virginia, and New Mexico. He went on to average 6.0 points, 3.7 rebounds in 17.9 minutes, shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point range.[1] On May 16, 2014, Kelly was transferred from Miami to Marshall,[2] but sat out first season at Marshall per NCAA Transfer rules.
In his senior year at Marshall, Kelly led the team in scoring (20.1 points per game), rebounding (9.8 per game), steals (1.3 per game) and blocks (1.1 per game), becoming one of two players in Herd history to record at least 600 points and 300 rebounds in a single season,[1] the first player to do so at Marshall in over Four Decades. Kelly was named three-time Conference USA Player of the Week (On December 28, January 11 and February 22),[1] C-USA Newcomer of the Year[3] and First-team All-C-USA.[4] He is considered to have one of the best single seasons in Marshall History and one of the greatest players to ever play for Marshall. At the conclusion of the season he was invited to play at the Portsmouth 64 which features the top seniors in the country.