For North Carolina, J.R. Stands For Just Remarkable

This was in the summer of 1984. It was a sticky night in Princeton, N.J., and North Carolina assistant coach Eddie Fogler was nervous. His boss, Dean Smith, was arriving in town that evening and Fogler wanted everything just right.

“Do me a favor,” he said to a friend, “when my boss gets here tonight to watch the scrimmages, don’t talk to him at all until they’re over. I want him to concentrate completely. I want to be sure he understands how good this kid is.”

This was at a summer basketball camp. Fogler already had been there for three days, watching all the players, but focusing on one: a junior-to-be named J.R. Reid. He was only 16, but he was already 6 feet 9, he had the wide body of Mark Aguirre and he played with a maturity that had everyone drooling. And, Fogler knew, as long as North Carolina didn’t mess up, Reid probably would end up in baby blue. Almost everyone else at the camp knew that, too.

Smith arrived. “I do want to watch him,” he said coyly, “just in case he wants to come.”

Fogler held his breath as Smith watched Reid play. It certainly wasn’t the first time he had seen Reid, but this was against top competition. Reid swooped and soared. He hot-dogged quite a bit but that was hardly surprising.

“Eddie,” Smith said when it was over, “he has a lot of potential.”

Fogler smiled. From Dean Smith, that was an anointment.

J.R. Reid sat in the emptiness of the Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center last month, his eyes fixed on the basketball floor as if he were imagining the place full, all eyes on him down on that floor. He was smiling comfortably, far more at ease with his own words than a college freshman would be expected to be.

“I just feel very comfortable here,” he said, referring to the entire North Carolina campus, not just Smith Center. “I feel good about myself and the way I’ve fit in with this team, and I feel good about our team. I’m just a freshman. I look to the seniors for leadership. We all do.”

Words to make Dean Smith proud. Senior leadership. A freshman fitting in. Talking about the team.

“J.R. has the potential to be outstanding,” Smith said that same day. “But he still has a lot to learn.”

Of course. If Larry Bird in his current playing form somehow landed on the North Carolina campus as a freshman, Smith would say he had a lot to learn. When Michael Jordan was a freshman, Smith said he had a lot of work to do on his defense and that the only reason he seemed to shoot so well was that the older players set him up for such good shots.

Reid, whose name is Herman Reid Jr. (thus the J.R.), is going to be one of the best players to come through North Carolina. That is saying a lot. Al McGuire has said, simply, “In a few years he’ll be like Magic or the Doctor or Michael. It will just be J.R. and everyone will know who you’re talking about.”

He has already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated with a headline that simply reads, “J.R.,” a fact that annoyed Smith. Reid, dutiful freshman, said, “They should have put Kenny Smith out there.” Of course. Kenny Smith is a senior.

This season, every time someone has praised Reid or compared him to the great players who have gone before, Dean Smith feels obligated to counter.

“He’s the best freshman rebounder I’ve ever seen,” Virginia Coach Terry Holland said.

“Sam Perkins was better,” Smith shot back.

“He’s an all-America right now,” Lefty Driesell said.

“Kenny Smith and Joe Wolf are all-Americas,” Smith countered.

And on and on.

What makes Reid different is his flair. Reid is impossible not to notice. Part of it is the haircut, a flat top he has sported for 18 months, following the fashion trends back home in Virginia Beach, Va. Part of it is his lack of shyness. The son of two school teachers, Reid is more articulate than most 18 year olds, although he chooses his words as carefully as any good North Carolina freshman.

But he willingly admits he enjoys going on the road, hearing the taunts and answering them with his play. “When people get on me, I like it,” he said. “I was prepared for it at Duke and at Virginia (where they chanted, ‘traitor’), and I thought I responded to it pretty well.”

He smiled. At Duke he had 15 rebounds, most of them down the stretch. At Virginia, he had 15 points and nine rebounds.

When someone asked Virginia’s Andrew Kennedy if Reid was tough simply because he is so big, Kennedy shook his head. “Big is one thing,” he said. “Big and quick is another. You can’t catch a break with him.”

There are some who argue that Reid should have been named the ACC player of the year, that he is the most responsible of the Tar Heels for their 14-0 regular-season record. He has averaged 14 points and 7.6 rebounds a game and could do more if he played more minutes and shot more often.

Smith is right about one thing, though: there is room for improvement. Reid makes too many moves. He sometimes pump fakes, or makes head-and-shoulder fakes that aren’t needed because he already is open. He has shot a couple of six-foot air balls this season by faking himself right out of his shoes. He gives up the base line too easily on defense, although he has improved noticeably. And his court vision, especially with the ball in the low post, needs work.

But these are nit-picks. When Reid is in the game, he dominates it, even when he isn’t shooting well.

“I think Coach Smith has worked hard to try to make me better,” Reid said. “When I first got here, I was intimidated by him. Just the thought of me playing for Dean Smith blew my mind. The man is a legend. ... But now, I’m starting to feel more confident. I’m getting better.”