Joel Anthony ’99 playing in the NBA

Joel Anthony ’99 has become the first Selwyn House Old Boy to play in the National Basketball Association. It was announced on October 29 that he would join the Miami Heat as a third-string centre, behind Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning.

Joel attended Selwyn House from 1994 to 1997 and played basketball here, but had not yet grown into an outstanding player at that time. “Actually Joel's basketball skills were pretty rudimentary when he was at Selwyn House,” recalls Midget Basketball Coach Colin Boyle. “However he could certainly jump.”

After Selwyn House, Anthony attended Dawson College, where—ironically—he was cut from the basketball squad.

By the time he graduated from Florida’s Pensacola Junior College in 2004, however, he had come into his own on the court. He made the first team all-conference for 2003-04, averaging 9 points, 7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game.

At the University of Nevada in Las Vegas he really made a name for himself, helping lead the Runnin' Rebels to a 30-7 season his senior year, being named Mountain West Conference defensive player of the year and finishing second in the NCAA in shot blocking.

He was also selected to join the Canadian Senior National Team and participated with the squad in three European tours.

Anthony was picked for the Miami Heat’s summer league team, where he racked up 13 blocks in four games, but suffered a foot injury that left him unable to play for Canada in the 2006 FIBA Americas Championship Olympic qualifying event. Canada lost to Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Joel was not selected in the 2007 NBA entry draft, but Miami signed him to a contract soon after. How did he find out?

“I basically walked into the locker room and saw my name on the locker,” he told the Montreal Gazette. “I was speechless.”

“They only draft the top 60 players in the world, so I wasn't expecting to be taken,” he said. “But now the challenge is to work hard and improve so that I am here to stay.”

Anthony becomes the fourth Canadian in the NBA, joining two-time league MVP Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, Jamaal Magloire of the New Jersey Nets and fellow Montrealer Sam Dalembert of the Philadelphia 76ers.