Have the Grizzlies Found a Hidden Gem in Wayne Selden?

To say there was little interest in Wayne Selden when he entered the NBA might be an understatement. Despite a solid three-year career at Kansas, the shooting guard went undrafted in a class that many think will prove to be one of the worst in NBA history. Selden opted to stick around and develop his game in Lawrence, unlike fellow 2013 Jayhawks Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, and his game did improve during his time on campus; as a junior, in '15-16, he emerged as a three-point shooter and put up the most efficient and prolific season of his career. But few scouts saw major NBA potential in the 21-year-old, and his name was not called on draft night.

Still, a player that puts together as good a college career as Selden doesn't just disappear without a sound. Sure enough, the Memphis Grizzlies gave him a shot, and signed him before training camp. They cut him loose before the season started, but must have liked what they saw; after a three-game stint with the Pelicans and some time in the D-League, where he averaged 18 points per game, the Grizzlies brought Selden back into the fold late in the year and signed him to a multi-year deal. And now, three games into Memphis' first round matchup with San Antonio, Selden is doing something that very few rookies from his class can claim: making a difference in the playoffs.

Grizzlies coach David Fizdale probably hadn't planned on leaning on Selden in the postseason, to be fair. But when Tony Allen was lost to a calf injury, he had little choice but to plug Selden into the starting lineup. For the first two games of the Grizzlies first round series with the Spurs, Selden looked exactly as lost as you would expect a rookie to look against Gregg Popovich's merciless basketball machine; he scored just five points on ten shots, and looked at times like a player who was a little bit too aware of the moment. For Game 3, Fizdale brought Selden off the bench, and rather than be disappointed by what could be perceived as a demotion, Selden thrived. He played 28 minutes with the second unit, scoring 10 points, hitting a pair of key threes, and doing this:

Yeah…you need another angle of that dunk. pic.twitter.com/10VAWmf9Ci
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) April 21, 2017

An equally notable stat from Selden's Game 3 is that he was a +11 for the game. After looking like a liability early in the series, he seemingly had no problem with the collection of present and past All-Stars on the Spurs' deep roster. Selden looked like he belonged, in other words, and his newfound comfort did a lot to help the Grizzlies to their first win of the series. To pull off what would be a shocking upset—or even to push the Spurs harder than they did in the first two games—Memphis will need contributions from players other than their big three of Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph. On Thursday night, Selden showed that he could be one of those contributors.

No matter how this postseason shakes out, he's going to be a part of the Grizzlies for the foreseeable future; given the team's salary cap situation, bargain-priced contributors like Selden will be hugely important. If he's really going to make an impact, though, Selden will need to tighten up his game in a number of areas; his brief pro career offers a small sample size, but NBA teams do not want their backcourt players shooting .636 from the free throw line or carrying assist-to-turnover ratios that hover around 1:1. It's never wise to overreact to one game, but on Thursday night, Wayne Selden looked like he deserved to be in the NBA, and more specifically looked like just the sort of imperfect-but-determined player that the Grizzlies have routinely turned into contributors during the Grit And Grind era. If he can thrive in a playoff series against Pop and his guys, it seems unwise to count Wayne Selden out.