A Look Back at NBA Player Reggie Theus

Reggie Theus is one of those guys not many folks will remember unless you saw him play during his career and even then I doubt many will be that familiar with his career.  I though, have always been a fan and rank him in my top 5 favorite players of the NBA.  He was a combo guard who played 13 seasons from 1978 to 1991 averaging 18.5 points and 6.3 assists per game while shooting 47% on his career and could get to the free throw line.  He had a solid career making the all-rookie team as well as two all-star teams.  He didn’t get a ton of headlines but played well averaging 20+ points per game four times (high of 23.8 in 82-83) and was top 10 in assists per game three times.

He played 5 ½ seasons for the Chicago Bulls and was traded away a year prior to Michael Jordan being drafted.  He has stated publicly “what if he had remained with the Bulls”.  Things definitely might have been different for him.  Would he have worked in that offense would be a big question but he could play the point well and might have been able to coexist with MJ.  In Chicago he made the playoffs once getting past the first round only to be swept in the second round.  If he had been there for the Jordan era he might have been a big part of that run.   

His next five seasons with the Kansas City/Sacramento Kings he played very well though the team only made the playoffs two years never making it past the first round.  He was a much better passer and was again a consistent scorer.  From there he played one season each for Atlanta, New Jersey and Orlando.  Theus was consistent throughout his career averaging 18 points per game for four of the five teams he played with (he average 15 for Atlanta).  His shooting was steady as he shot 47% over his career and only had two years where he shot below 46% while shooting never shooting above 49%.  He never really shot threes averaging one per game.  He was durable playing in 82 games eight times with five of those being his first five seasons in the league.  He also played 81 games in his final season.  

None of this will probably excite many people.  For whatever reason I grabbed on Reggie Theus as a player.  Maybe it was the look.  I always thought of him as the Billy D. Williams of the NBA and he actually did act mostly in TV series but I kid.  I’ve said it before.  You never know what players you’ll key in on in sports.  Some guy nobody else looks at twice or obscure players.  I seem to have many of those and enjoy looking back at their careers here.