Reggie Slater

Reginald Dwayne "Reggie" Slater (born August 27, 1970) is an American retired professional basketball player born in Houston, Texas. A 6'7", 255-lb. power forward from the University of Wyoming, Slater was never drafted by an NBA team but did manage to play in eight NBA seasons for the Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks from 1994–1999 and 2000–2003.

In his entire NBA career, Slater played in 259 games and scored a total of 1,450 points. His best NBA season came during the 1997–98 NBA season as a member of the Raptors, appearing in 78 games and averaged 8.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks in 21.3 minutes per game, all career bests except for blocks. As a result, more than 43 percent of his NBA career scoring and more than 30 percent of his NBA career games played totals came during that season.

Early life

Before Basketball

One day he's walking home from band practice, and he walks past the school gymnasium, right past varsity basketball practice. The coach looks up and sees him and takes in the size (6-foot-3, 190 pounds). The kid passes the eye test, so the coach stops him and asks him why he's not playing – basketball, that is, not the cornet."Well, I've never played, and I'm not very coordinated", the kid says.

The coach invites him to come out for the team anyway, and the kid was right. He's not coordinated. His new teammates make fun of him. At their urging, he tries a dunk. He runs toward the basket with both arms raised high in the air, holding the ball aloft as if he were trying to keep it above water. When he reaches the basket, he can't figure out which foot to jump off of. But this is not the worst of it. The new guy doesn't know the rules of the game; doesn't know that to run with the ball, it must be dribbled first. He shows up for practice in football shoes.^[1]

After Basketball

Business Interests

Prior to retiring from pro basketball, Slater prepared for a transition in his career by purchasing an oil lube business in Houston. He later purchased five more lube businesses, some financed with loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Retirement from the hectic basketball player's lifestyle gave Slater the opportunity to spend more time with his wife and children. While coaching his son's basketball team, Slater realized there were no sports facilities that can hosts tournaments in south Houston, where he resides. Motivated by the desire to help and encourage young people to better their lives through health, fitness, and sports he built Slater's Sports Zone in Fort Bend County. Prior to building the sports complex, Slater contacted the Ft. Bend County Small Business Development Center, a resource partner of the SBA, for technical assistance. With the help of Ft. Bend County SBDC Director Joe Decker, Slater was approved for a SBA 504 program loan to help finance the project. The SBA 504 loan program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing for the acquisition of fixed assets for expansion or modernization.

High School Career

Kashmere High School

Reggie Slater got asked to play by Coach Smitten at Kashmere High school in Houston Texas. He played a lot that first year, and was quickly smitten with the sport. He stayed after practice regularly to work on his game, and he played right through summer. By the time he was a senior, all but one of the Southwest Conference schools were recruiting him.

College career

University of Wyoming

Reggie Slater, a power house basketball player from the University of Wyoming. He is a legendary athlete and now applying his skills from the court to the real world. Reggie is Wyoming's all-time leading rebounder and one of Wyoming's greatest players ever! He is the first player in WAC history to win three consecutive rebounding championships. Reggie Slater graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1992 with a degree in Liberal Arts; however, during his college career he had plenty of mentors from the College of Business.

Professional career

Toronto Raptors

Two nice poster dunks by Reggie Slater (on Luc Longley and Matt Steigenga), at that point a recent call-up from the CBA's La Crosse Bobcats (god, I love that team name) who got himself some staying power in the NBA after playing just like this for a bad Toronto Raptors team. April 14, 1997. One of Reggie Slaters best games against the Bulls, who later won the Championship later that season.

References

External links

• Historical Player Profile at NBA.com
• Reggie Slater at Basketball-Reference.com