HOUSTON, Texas The NBA’s Houston Rockets will now have an Ole Miss touch, as the team recently traded for Justin Reed and hired Elston Turner as an assistant coach.
The Rockets acquired Reed, a former four-time All-SEC Rebel (2001-04), and point guard Mike James from the Minnesota Timberwolves for power forward Juwan Howard.
Entering his fourth NBA campaign, Reed spent the past 1 1/2 seasons in Minnesota and appeared in 41 games with the Timberwolves in 2006-07. The 6-foot-9, 238-pound forward averaged 2.6 points in 7.8 minutes last season but turned in outings of 19 points and 17 points in his final five games in a T-wolves uniform.
A Jackson, Miss., native, Reed began his career with the Boston Celtics, who selected him with the 40th overall pick of the 2004 NBA Draft and made him the first SEC player drafted.
"He's really tough," said Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who worked with the Celtics before coming to Houston. "He's a good individual and team defender. He has advanced in his years in the pros. He really didn't get much of a chance in Minnesota last year, and he's in competition for minutes."
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Elston Turner has spent more than two decades in pro hoops as a player and coach.
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Turner is reunited with new Houston head coach Rick Adelman, whom Turner served as an assistant under for six seasons in Sacramento. He became Adelman's lead assistant with the Kings and will be in that same capacity with the Rockets. Before that, Turner held assistant coaching positions with the Portland Trailblazers and the CBA.
A two-time All-SEC forward and four-year letterwiner at Ole Miss (1978-81), Turner’s career in professional basketball has spanned more than two decades. The Knoxville, Tenn., native was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 1981 NBA Draft and played eight seasons in all -- three with Dallas, three with Denver and two in Chicago.
Turner was honored as part of the SEC Basketball Legends 2007 class at the conference tournament in Atlanta back in March.
