7-Foot Risk Can’t Run And Hide Grizzlies’ Bryant Reeves Improves But Is Still Far From The Top

For a while, “Big Country” looked like a big mistake.

Now the Vancouver Grizzlies point to their big rookie center, 7-foot Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, was one of the few positives in a miserable 18-game losing streak.

Reeves is a long way from Gans, Okla., where he grew up, and from Oklahoma State, where he was a college star. When Vancouver made him the sixth pick in the NBA draft, he found himself headed to a new team in a new country.

He showed up overweight and overwhelmed by the challenge of playing at this level. In his first 12 games, he scored in double figures only once.

But when Grizzlies general manager Stu Jackson decided to trade starting center Benoit Benjamin to Milwaukee for Eric Mobley and Eric Murdoch, Reeves suddenly was the starting center.

The Nov. 27 trade had two purposes, Jackson said, obtaining something for Benjamin before he became a free agent at the end of the season and giving Reeves more playing time.

“It gave Country a chance to be out there and get quality minutes and learn what the league is about,” Jackson said.

Reeves has scored in double figures five of the last six games. Two games ago, against Detroit, he scored a career-high 19. On Sunday night, he had 18 points and 9 rebounds against Toronto.

“The NBA has definitely been a challenge for me, especially at first,” Reeves said. “It’s a different game. But once you get adjusted to it, and get adjusted to the travel and the strength and goodness of all the players you go against, you adjust to it all right.”

Reeves’ weaknesses are obvious - defense and rebounding. A lack of quickness and strength has hurt him in both areas.

“Defensively, he’s a little behind,” Vancouver coach Brian Winters said. “NBA defenses are different, especially at the center position. He’s having to do more things defensively than he ever has before.

“Offensively, he’s finding out he can’t just get his little fallaway jump shots. He has to learn to develop some other ways to score.”

Jackson and Winters said Reeves needs to work on increasing his strength to become successful over the years.

“I think he can be a good center. I think he has the right idea about how to play,” Winters said. “I like his skills. I think he will be a pretty good scoring center. He can pass the ball. He’s got good hands. His body has got to get stronger and more muscular. That’s something that’s going to happen over time.”

Jackson said Reeves will always find it tough to defend and rebound against the other big men in the NBA, but he believes his rookie center eventually will be able to score consistently.

“I know that Big Country is going to be a good center in this league,” Jackson said. “I’m not saying he’s going to be Hakeem Olajuwon, but I do think he’s going to be a piece to our puzzle five years down the road.”

Reeves, who said he’s fallen in love with the city of Vancouver, said he constantly gets encouragement from friends and family back home. The criticism he and the Grizzlies have received don’t bother him, he said.

“If they want to say good things or bad things, that’s up to them,” he said. “I know I have something to do and I know as long as I keep getting better and better every game that I’ll be able to get that accomplished.”

When Toronto played in Vancouver Sunday night, there was the inevitable comparison of Reeves with the Raptors’ Damon Stoudamire, who was picked one spot behind the Grizzlies’ center in the draft. Stoudamire is becoming one of the league’s bright young stars, and he deftly dictated the tempo in Toronto’s 93-81 victory over Vancouver.

But Jackson said he has no second thoughts about the the draft. It’s hard to find good big players in the NBA, he said.

“We had an opportunity to get a young player who could develop and be a part of our franchise in a league where size is at a premium,” Jackson said. “It was the right decision.”