Bryant Reeves
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 8, 1973 Fort Smith, Arkansas |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
| Listed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Gans (Gans, Oklahoma) |
| College | Oklahoma State (1991–1995) |
| NBA draft | 1995 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall |
| 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 Basketball-Reference.com | |
Bryant Reeves (born June 8, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player. Reeves spent his entire career with the NBA'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, having grown up in the small community of Gans, Oklahoma.
7 feet tall and weighing between 275 and 300 pounds, Reeves was an imposing physical presence on the court and was primed to become a dominant center in the NBA. After 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, Reeves became the Grizzlies' first-ever draft choice, selected sixth overall in the 1995 NBA draft.
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. 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. He retired from the league midway through the 2001–02 season. In an episode of Open Court in 2014, Shaquille O'Neal named Bryant Reeves the toughest player to guard.
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