Reggie Theus

Reginald Wayne Theus (born October 13, 1957) is an American basketball coach and former player.

He played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a two-time NBA All-Star.

He is currently the men's basketball head coach and athletic director at Bethune–Cookman.

He was the head coach for the NBA's Sacramento Kings and in college with the New Mexico State Aggies and the Cal State Northridge Matadors men's teams.

He was also an assistant coach for the Louisville Cardinals under Rick Pitino.

Theus was one of four children of Felix and Willie Mae Theus.

His parents divorced when he was four.

His father had a janitorial business and died before Reggie's senior year in high school.

For a brief period, Reggie ran his father's business after his death.

Theus attended Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California.

Growing up, he also attended Monroe Middle School in Inglewood.

As a senior at Inglewood, Theus averaged 28.6 points and 15.5 rebounds per game.

Theus played college basketball at UNLV for head coach Jerry Tarkanian from 1976 to 1978.

In three seasons with the Runnin' Rebels, Theus averaged 12.9 points, 4.4 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.

After attending UNLV and having a successful college career, Theus was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 9th pick of the 1978 NBA draft.

A 6'7" guard, Theus averaged 16.3 points per game during his first season and was the runner-up for the 1979 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He was second on the team in scoring behind Artis Gilmore, a future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Paired in the backcourt with fellow UNLV alumnus Ricky Sobers, Theus followed his rookie campaign with a sophomore season in which he averaged 20.2 points and 6.3 assists for the 1979-1980 Bulls.

He garnered the nickname "Rush Street Reggie" while playing in Chicago for owning an apartment on that street and having an active social life around that area, being frequently spotted at the city night spots.

Theus played for five coaches in five and a half seasons in Chicago: Jerry Sloan (1979–1982), Phil Johnson (1982), Rod Thorn (1982), Paul Westhead (1982–1983), and Kevin Loughery (1983–1984).

Theus averaged 18.8 points and 5.6 assists in 441 games in Chicago.

Theus continued his impressive play with the Kansas City Kings and Kansas City won 12 of their first 17 games after Theus joined the team.

Theus, who became one of the best players to ever don a UNLV uniform, shot 81 percent from the free-throw line for his career while amassing 1,177 career points (21st on all-time scoring list), 401 career assists and 389 career rebounds in just 91 collegiate games.

As a sophomore, Theus helped lead UNLV into the national spotlight as the Rebels went 29–3, advancing to the school's first Final Four in Atlanta.

Despite losing by a single point to University of North Carolina in the semifinals, UNLV defeated UNC-Charlotte in the third-place game and set NCAA single-season records for most points in a season (3,426), most 100-point games (23) and most consecutive 100-point games (12).

He averaged 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 81.8 percent from the free-throw line and 49.7 percent from the field as a sophomore.

As a junior, Reggie was named a second team All-American after averaging 18.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

In 1981, Theus appeared in his first All-Star Game as the Bulls were 45–37 and made the 1981 NBA Playoffs.

The Bulls won their first round series, defeating the New York Knicks 2 games to 0, with Theus scoring 37 points with 11 assists in the 115–114 Bulls win in the final game.

The Bulls faced the Boston Celtics in the next round and were swept 4–0 as the Celtics went on to win the NBA Championship.

Theus was the leading scorer in game 3 with 26 points, and he averaged 19.8 points and 6.3 assists over the six playoff games.

In 1982-1983, Theus averaged a career high 23.8 points per game as the Bulls leading scorer, but the Bulls finished 28–54.

He averaged 16.4 points and 8.0 assists in 30 games with the Kings, as the Kings qualified for the playoffs under Coach Phil Johnson, who had coached Theus in Chicago in 1982,.

Newly hired Bulls coach Kevin Loughery decided to bench Theus for the first half of the 1983–1984 season.

On February 14, 1984, Theus was traded to the Kansas City Kings for Steve Johnson and three second round draft picks, a move that saddened many Chicago fans who enjoyed Theus' enthusiasm and energy; however, this indirectly freed up a spot for a shooting guard on the Bulls, part of a series of events that eventually led to their drafting of Michael Jordan that off-season.

The Bulls finished 27–55.

In the 1984–85 season, the Kings moved to Sacramento, California.

In the 1985–86 season, Theus averaged 18.3 points and a career high 9.6 assists as the Kings made the playoffs again, losing to the Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson and the Houston Rockets 3–0 in the first round, as Theus averaged 15.0 points and 6.3 assists in the series.

Over his four seasons with the Kings, Theus became a key scorer and distributor, averaging 18.8 points and 8.1 assists in 346 games with the Kings.

On June 27, 1988, Theus was traded by the Kings to the Atlanta Hawks with a third round pick for Randy Wittman and a first round pick.

He averaged 15.8 points and 4.7 assists for the Hawks in 1988–89, playing in the backcourt with Doc Rivers and alongside Hall of Famers Dominique Wilkins and Moses Malone.

In 1989, Theus was inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame and in 1997 he became one of only eight players in school history to have his jersey retired by the Rebels.