Bryant Reeves
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Fort Smith, Arkansas | June 8, 1973
Nationality | American |
Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
Listed weight | 290 lb (132 kg) |
Career information | |
High school | Gans (Gans, Oklahoma) |
College | Oklahoma State (1991–1995) |
NBA draft | 1995: 1st round, 6th overall pick |
Selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies | |
Playing career | 1995–2001 |
Position | Center |
Number | 50 |
Career history | |
1995–2001 | Vancouver Grizzlies |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Career NBA statistics | |
Points | 4,945 (12.5 ppg) |
Rebounds | 2,745 (6.9 rpg) |
Blocks | 302 (0.8 bpg) |
Stats at NBA.com | |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Bryant Reeves (born June 8, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Reeves spent his entire career with the National Basketball Association's Vancouver Grizzlies, playing with the team from 1995 until 2001. He was nicknamed "Big Country" by his college teammate Byron Houston after Reeves was amazed following his first airplane flight across the United States,[1] having grown up in the small community of Gans, Oklahoma.[2]
College career
Standing 7 feet (210 cm) tall and weighing between 275 and 300 pounds (125 and 136 kg), Reeves was an imposing physical presence on the court and was primed to become a dominant center in the NBA. He had a strong collegiate career with Oklahoma State University, where he averaged 21.5 points per game as a senior and led OSU to the 1995 Final Four.
Professional career
Vancouver Grizzlies (1995–2001)
Reeves became the Grizzlies' first-ever draft choice, selected sixth overall in the 1995 NBA draft.[3]
Reeves played six seasons with the Grizzlies. After averaging 13.3 points per game in a solid rookie season, he averaged 16.2 points per game in 1996–97 season and was subsequently awarded with a six-year, $61.8 million contract extension. The next season was his best, when he averaged 16.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.08 blocked shots per game. During that season he scored a career-high 41 points against the Boston Celtics.
After 1998, weight-control problems and injuries began to take a toll on Reeves, and his numbers fell off dramatically.[4] He was still the starting center for the Grizzlies, but his minutes per game dropped, and his field goal percentage dropped significantly. Eventually, after the Grizzlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001, Reeves started the season on the injured list due to chronic back pain and was never able to play another game (the only games he played with the team in Memphis were two preseason games). During the preseason play in the fall of 2001, Reeves had experienced back pain and had to be taken off the court on two connected stretchers carried by eight of his teammates.[citation needed] He retired from the league midway through the 2001–02 season.[5]
NBA career statistics
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
Regular season
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995–96 | Vancouver | 77 | 63 | 24.9 | .457 | .000 | .732 | 7.4 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 13.3 |
1996–97 | Vancouver | 75 | 75 | 37.0 | .486 | .091 | .704 | 8.1 | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 16.2 |
1997–98 | Vancouver | 74 | 74 | 34.1 | .523 | .000 | .706 | 7.9 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 16.3 |
1998–99 | Vancouver | 25 | 14 | 28.1 | .406 | .000 | .578 | 5.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 10.8 |
1999–00 | Vancouver | 69 | 67 | 25.7 | .448 | .000 | .648 | 5.7 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 8.9 |
2000–01 | Vancouver | 75 | 48 | 24.4 | .460 | .250 | .796 | 6.0 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 8.3 |
Career | 395 | 341 | 30.6 | .475 | .074 | .703 | 6.9 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 12.5 |
Personal life
Bryant was the subject of Kathleen Jayme's documentary film Finding Big Country in 2018.[6] Following his career, Reeves went back to Oklahoma and is now a cattle farmer and a family man.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ NBA.com player file
- ^ Reeves' Town Reacts When `News' Breaks
- ^ The First Face of the Grizzlies Franchise and a Big Country
- ^ PRO BASKETBALL; Some Scales Tipping Over As N.B.A. Season Tips Off
- ^ Back injury forces Grizzlies' Reeves to retirement
- ^ Dana Gee, "Finding Big Country documentary answers the whatever happened to question". Vancouver Sun, December 4, 2018.
External links
- Historical Player Profile at NBA.com
- Career statistics and player information from NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com
- TheDraftReview.com: Bryant Reeves's NBA Draft History Page
- 1973 births
- Living people
- All-American college men's basketball players
- American expatriate basketball people in Canada
- American men's basketball players
- Basketball players from Arkansas
- Basketball players from Oklahoma
- Centers (basketball)
- Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players
- People from Sequoyah County, Oklahoma
- Sportspeople from Fort Smith, Arkansas
- Vancouver Grizzlies draft picks
- Vancouver Grizzlies players