Ex-UNC player Reid learning ropes of coaching

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The relaxed pace of retirement has been enjoyable for J.R. Reid, but there's only so much fishing and watching television that he can do.

Reid, 42, a former North Carolina and Charlotte Hornets player, recently called Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown to ask how he might get involved in coaching.

Brown advised Reid, whose 12-year, six-team NBA career ended in 2001, to get in touch with the NBA Players Association and enter its coaching internship program. Starting Wednesday and continuing through Saturday, Reid worked at the NBPA's top-100camp at the University of Virginia, helping a team that included some of the top high school players in the nation.

Former North Carolina guard Jerry Stackhouse and ex-Duke point guard Chris Duhon are among the players with North Carolina ties coaching at the camp. Theo Ratliff, an NBA free agent who played for the Charlotte Bobcats last season, also participated.

"I'm getting a little antsy," Reid said in his booming, baritone voice. "I like to give back. We're getting the competitive juices flowing again, working with kids, teaching. Now I just want to take it to the next level."

Coaching is in Reid's blood. He said his father, the late Herman Reid, coached at Princess Anne Middle School in Virginia Beach, where his players included David Robinson and Plaxico Burress before they went on to careers in the NBA and NFL, respectively.

Reid said he hopes to bring the intensity of John Thompson, the compassion of Dean Smith and the humor of George Raveling to the job. He was pleased with the way players on his team at the camp raced after loose balls and responded to instruction, especially Texas-bound point guard Myck Kabongo.

At the camp, veteran NBA assistant Brendan Suhr tutored the current and former NBA players on how to take notes, create practice plans and organize a team. Reid hopes his work at the camp will help him land an NBA assistant coaching or front office job.

He lives in San Antonio, where he was thrilled to see North Carolina arrive for the 2008 Final Four and disappointed to see the Tar Heels lose in the NCAA semifinals. His son Jaylen is a 6-foot-6 rising sophomore who started at Nation's Ford High in Fort Mill, S.C., last season.

"We're all just hopeful that he'll be able to enjoy the sport the way I did," Reid said.

Reid already runs camps in Virginia Beach and Lexington, N.C. He was disappointed when the NBA camp conflicted with the Lexington camp this year, but enlisted former Tar Heels Brian Reese and Melvin Scott to assist during his absence.

Now he hopes to get further involved in basketball in a different way.

"I’m ready to get into something," Reid said. "A lot of guys are. They’re ready to get the competitive juices flowing again, and coaching is the best way to do it."

Ken Tysiac