Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Reg strikes back

There is a steely determination in Reggie Theus' voice as he talks about his desire to be an NBA head coach one day.

The former UNLV standout and two-time NBA All-Star wants to make it so bad, he will do anything to get there.

Which is why he agreed to become the head coach of Las Vegas' latest foray into minor league basketball, the Las Vegas Slam of the ABA.

Being a part-time resident -- he has a home here -- Theus is fully aware of the pitfalls of joining a minor league team, but he believes he needs to prove that he can coach no matter what the circumstances are.

"The only way to simulate coaching is to coach," Theus said Wednesday night. "As I thought about this whole thing when I was offered the job, this is what I came up with.

"George Karl coached in the CBA, Phil Jackson coached in the CBA, so if I could ever become half the coach that those two guys are, I'd be proud. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me."

Theus was hired a week ago and had about three days to assemble a team that includes former NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos and former UNLV players Gerald Paddio and Patrick Savoy.

"It's a hell of a challenge, a hell of a challenge," Theus said, smiling confidently.

His team rewarded him with a 112-103 victory over the Kentucky Pro Cats at Cox Pavilion on Wednesday.

There were a few moments in the near-empty 2,500-seat arena that seemed beneath Theus, who has seemingly accomplished everything he set his sights on, from a 13-year NBA career to a successful post in broadcasting. But nothing seemed to faze Theus.

It was Theus who had to tell an official to move a rack of balls from the court before tip-off, and it was Theus who calmed Ceballos down when he wasn't allowed to check into the game because of a rule interpretation.

Little nuisances are worth it to Theus, because he believes he will be rewarded in the future.

Theus has been an assistant coach before and also works with some of the top high school players in the nation. He will be the head coach of a Southern California traveling Amateur Athletic Union team this summer.

Until now, though, he had never been given total control of a team.

"Being the head coach is different from being an assistant coach," he said. "When you look around the league and you see all the head coaches that were former head coaches that have done these jobs, it is an acceptable place to be when you're trying to move up.

"This is hope for me."

Coaching isn't Theus' only ambition.

He has six Los Angeles Lakers pregame shows and a handful of college games left this season to broadcast as part of his job as an analyst at Fox Sports.

For the past seven months, Theus has been taking correspondence classes through California Coast University so that he can earn his degree in business administration.

He decided to go back to school to fulfill the wish of his father, Felix, who died when Theus was a senior in high school.

"My motivation is, I know where I want to be and I know how to get there," Theus said. "I know what it takes and I'm not afraid of hard work."

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