By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
When Davon Reed needed a place to relax prior to last week’s NBA draft, the Princeton Day School graduate turned to an old friend and a former coach.
“There was a lot leading up to that moment,” former Princeton Day School basketball coach Paris McLean said after his former player was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 32nd pick in the NBA draft.
“It was years and years of hard work by Davon. And at the end, prior to the draft, he took so much more time and effort working out for 18 teams over the course of a few weeks. The day of the draft, (PDS graduate) Kenny Holzhammer contacted me. He and Davon go way back to their days growing up in Ewing. Kenny said Davon was looking to relax what do you think? They came over to Princeton Academy and it was just us and Davon’s little brother putting up shots and having fun and talking about everything but that draft. That was great.”
McLean was with Reed later that night when he found out he would be chosen with the second pick of the second round of the draft. After a standout career at the University of Miami, Reed now gets a shot at playing in the NBA.
“It was a crazy process from the start,” Reed said in an interview on the Suns’ official website. “I tried to wake up on my own time. I didn’t set an alarm or anything. I went to go clear my mind in the gym. I shot with some of my old friends and my old high school coach and my little brother.
“I just talked to them and had lunch with my brother and my mom. After that I just had to get ready for the big day. It just seemed like time was flying by all day. I was very excited and very anxious and feel blessed to have been picked 32.”
At Miami, Reed averaged 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals in 33 games as a senior for the Hurricanes. In addition, he won the ACC’s Skip Prosser Award in 2017, presented annually to the conference’s top scholar-athlete in men’s basketball.
On the day of the draft he returned to his roots and connected with his former coach, who is now the Head of the Lower School at Princeton Academy.
“I think it speaks to the power of athletics and team and community that a place like PDS can provide,” McLean said. “How many years have passed since Kenny Holzhammer has played there and Davon has played there? It was great that we were all together with Davon. His family, friends, AAU coach, we were all there to see how the draft played out. We had thought maybe Indiana at No. 47 looked good because they had taken two big men earlier. But then Josh Hart went higher than projected. Josh went at 30 and Davon had worked out for the Suns twice, so we started to think maybe he’d go 32 to the Suns.”
Reed joins a Suns team that went 24-58 last year, which was the second worst record in the NBA. But the team added Josh Jackson of Kansas with the fourth pick, plus Reed and Alex Peters of Valparaiso in the second round.
“There is no way to prepare for this,” Reed said. “I was just talking everything one day at a time since I started this process and it all boils down to this moment.”
McLean looks at the situation in Phoenix and can see a perfect fit for Reed, who scored 2,102 points in his four-year career at PDS.
“It is a great opportunity to step in and contribute,” McLean said. “They need some shooting and toughness on defense and Davon fills the role of 3 and D player. It’s great for Davon and we’re all proud of what he has done. We always said during our time at PDS, players, coaches, everyone is family. On draft night we were together and Jordan Page was there and so was Tavon Brittingham. It is so much about relationships and building them through the game, which we have done.”
