– Monmouth University Men’s Basketball Head Coach King Rice has announced the addition of former NBA first-round pick JR Reid to his coaching staff for the 2018-19 season. Reid played professionally for 14 seasons, and was a consensus First Team All-American at the University of North Carolina as well as a member of the 1988 USA Men’s Basketball Olympic Team. Rice and Reid were teammates for two seasons at North Carolina.
“I’m ecstatic to get the opportunity to join with my good friend and tremendous coach King Rice,” said Reid. “This is a dream come true. I’ve set a lot of goals for myself and to be a coach is one of them, and I’m so thankful Monmouth has given me the chance to do that. I’m so excited to get to work with a group of guys I’ve been able to watch over the last few years and be able to help them mature. I’m really happy for the chance and I can’t wait to get started.”
Reid was the fifth overall selection in the 1989 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets averaging 11.1 points per game and 8.4 rebounds as a rookie en route to being named to the 1990 NBA All-Rookie Second Team. He followed that up with 11.3 points per contest in 1990-91, and in total started 160 of 162 games his first two seasons. Reid was traded to San Antonio in 1992 where he spent parts of four seasons, totaling 8.2 points per contest with the Spurs. The forward also spent time during his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. All told, Reid scored over 5,600 points in the NBA and grabbed more than 3,300 rebounds in 672 NBA contests. He also played in 47 NBA playoff games, including the 1995 Western Conference Finals with the Spurs.
“This is an exciting time to have JR Reid, one of my former teammates, join our program,” said Rice. “We’ve had some of my former teammates here before in Brian Reese and Derrick Phelps and they did an incredible job. Now we get to have a guy who was my big brother and showed me the way when we were in Chapel Hill and taught me how North Carolina Basketball works. He wanted to be a part of our program here at Monmouth to help me on this journey and teach these young men what it’s like to be an MU student-athlete. He has been a part of every level of what we do, from being the top player in the nation coming out of high school to being the top freshman and then being the #5 pick in the NBA Draft and having a great professional career. JR has an enormous amount of knowledge on college athletics and the game that he will pass along to all the kids we come in contact with and coach.”
Reid played three seasons at the University of North Carolina, two of them alongside Rice in Chapel Hill, and in 1988 was a consensus First Team All-American as well as First Team All-ACC. That year, his sophomore campaign, the forward averaged 18 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in 33 contests, playing more than 31 minutes per game under the legendary Dean Smith. As a freshman in 1987, Reid was named ACC Rookie of the Year after scoring 14.7 points per contest and grabbing more than seven rebounds per night. He was named to the NCAA Tournament All-Region Team in all three seasons he played in Chapel Hill, and led the ACC in free throw attempts twice and was second in total rebounds as both a freshman and sophomore. In 1989, Reid was named a Third Team All-American after leading UNC in scoring at 15.9 points per game.
Reid helped the Tar Heels to a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament in all three of his seasons, reaching a pair of Elite Eights and a Sweet 16 in the process. He won 88 games total in three years, with the Tar Heels finishing atop the ACC regular season twice. All told, the forward averaged 16.2 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per contest while shooting a whopping 60.1% from the field in 96 games.
In 1988, Reid was named to the United States Olympic Team to compete in Seoul. He played in six games for the USA, averaging six points and more than three rebounds per contest in helping the team to a bronze medal finish. In the team’s third Group B game against Brazil, Reid led the United States with 16 points and eight rebounds in a 102-87 victory.
Reid was a standout at Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach, VA and was named the 1986 Gatorade and USA Today Player of the Year. He was the MVP of the Capital Classic, netting 29 points, and the McDonald’s All-American game, scoring 23.
Reid is the second addition to the Monmouth coaching staff this offseason, as former MU captain Josh James was named the Director of Operations earlier this summer.
