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Trail Blazers’ Duop Reath completes 5-year journey to NBA: ‘He just never gave up’


https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...ear-journey-to-nba-he-just-never-gave-up.html

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Portland Trail Blazers center Duop Reath sat on a chair in the team’s locker room surrounded by reporters. The 6-foot-9 Reath had just scored 11 points in his first NBA game, a 116-110 loss Sunday night at the Los Angeles Lakers.

While every NBA rookie experiences a first game, few do so five years after leaving college and bouncing around in leagues overseas. Along the way, Reath kept working and struggling, improving and hoping.

Then on Sunday, Reath found himself in an iconic arena sinking three three-pointers, grabbing three rebounds and handing out three assists. In between, Reath mixed it up in the paint with Lakers All-Star Anthony Davis.

“It’s been amazing through the ups and the downs,” Reath said of his ride. “To be here today is just a big blessing.”

Reath said his path didn’t produce frustration. Only determination.

“Everything is a part of the journey,” Reath said

While Reath answered questions, Blazers forward Matisse Thybulle ventured over, fresh out of the shower. Thybulle held up his phone and took photos of Reath and became a little emotional.

The two became friends while teammates on the Australian national team during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Thybulle followed Reath’s journey, so the evening brought a smile to his face.

“He went from China to playing in countries in Europe to knocking down threes in the NBA,” Thybulle said. “He just never gave up on the journey.”

Blazers coach Chauncey Billups played Reath for 14 minutes while taking advantage of his shooting abilities. Reath, who had three rebounds and three assists, scored his first nine points off of three made three-point attempts. He ended the night 4 of 10 from the field and 3 of 8 on threes.

“I thought Duop played a good game,” Billups said. “He’s a pick-and-pop 5. We will use him that way. Most of the time I drew up plays for him in the timeouts to get the pops because I knew they were kind of playing a drop and we did a good job of finding him.

Billups also praised Reath’s work ethic on defense which led to a blocked shot.

“He fought like crazy,” Billups said.

Reath was born in South Sudan. His family later moved to Australia where he played both soccer and basketball before ultimately choosing to specialize in the latter. He played two productive seasons at LSU (2016-2018) but went undrafted in 2018. Reath went on to play in the Serbian League, the National Basketball League and the Chinese Basketball Association. He also played NBA Summer League with Brooklyn (2019) and Phoenix (2022).

Last summer, Reath joined Portland’s 2023 summer league team and in October signed a one-year deal before training camp.

After being released on Oct. 21, Reath signed a two-way deal days later. Injuries to several Blazers created an opportunity for Reath to play Sunday

But first, Reath got his feet wet Friday night during the Rip City Remix’s first G League game at the South Bay Lakers by scoring 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting with 10 rebounds. He made 5 of 6 threes.

“Obviously, playing that well a couple of nights ago, that’s helpful,” Billups said. “Everybody here has so much confidence in him … None of us were surprised about how he played in that Remix game. I’ve just been waiting to kind of have him up here with us.”

Reath’s mindset now is to simply keep learning and growing as a player.

“Just try to keep getting better and keep building,” he said. “When our guys come back and get healthy again, just got to keep moving forward. … Just try to compete. Try to find a way to help the team win. Today, my teammates got me the ball when I was open. The credit goes to them.”

One teammate in particular felt the impact of the moment more than the rest.

“A lot of times NBA fans aren’t going to see what it took for a guy to get here,” Thybulle said. “Knowing his story, of what it took and seeing how every step of the way he’s been able to step up and be the player that he is. It sounds like a simple thing, but it really isn’t. Especially as you get higher and higher in these leagues playing against the best players in the world. So, tonight, just to see it kind of come to fruition. First NBA game. Go out there and hit a couple of threes. Play some amazing defense. It almost made me emotional watching it.”

Before the game, Thybulle had no words to offer someone who he knew simply had to go out and complete the mission.

“I told him, ‘I have nothing for you,’” Thybulle said. “I got no words of encouragement. I’m just happy that you’re here. And he said, ‘I’m happy to be here too.”
 
Losing Rob sucks, but it’s nice to see a guy like Reath get a chance in the NBA, even for a moment.
 
Two games will be added to the Blazer schedule.

One home game and one road game in the first week of December.


 
blazerfan11 said:
Two games will be added to the Blazer schedule.

One home game and one road game in the first week of December.


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Oh. I thought we were going to have 9 days off. Still 2 games in 9 days should give plenty of time to work on some things. Maybe Simons can begin practicing with the team at least.
 
Best win of the season so far. I figure there are many more to come if the team stays healthy, even without Simons.

There were a lot of bad turnovers early on as the players sometimes looked like robots (which I said during game and Billups said after the game.)

Just as notable is that there were also many fantastic passes by several players.


 
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Scoot and Jabari developing some chemistry on court and off.



cued up to 1:34

 
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I hate using per 36min stats with young guys, but Jabari is putting out solid production.

15.2/10.1/1.3/1.6/0.9

So far, his production has been mostly based on effort, which is the exciting thing. He’s going to get so much better at all the other things outside of rebounding as he gains more experience.

Solid bench guy for sure.
 
It’s so hard to ever find GL clips, but wanted to give everyone an update on Rupert, as I’m probably one of the bigger Rupert fans here:





10 games: 14.1/6.5/2.1/1.1/0.3 (2.9 to) on .436/.425/.706

Due to the limited amount of GL tape and the overall style of GL play, I’m not able to actually see how his defense is coming along. I’ll be watching him play when the Ignite come to town though. Based on the tape and stats though, this is what I’ve gathered.

The good:
- his 3pt shot is improving mightily. He’s still shooting 70% from the line, so I’m doubt the sustainability of that percentage. But if you told me he would be a 70% ft shooter after year 1, I would’ve taken it. I hope to see him shoot well enough that he’ll be on the main roster more.

- he looks really tall out there and moves well. His handle is getting better. He looks more like a SG/SF than a SF/PF. With his size, he’ll make it tough on any small guard on both ends if he keeps getting better with his shooting and handle.

- he does fit that mold of player that I like who will can play both on and off the ball. He’s obviously better off the ball than on the ball, but I think he’ll be decent at both eventually. He is a guy who can grab a board and just go though.

The bad:
- biggest concern so far is that he looks more unathletic than I originally anticipated. This isn’t a huge concern if he is agile enough to really bother all guards and SFs, but I don’t think he’s going to be athletic enough to really lock down any of the top wings. He should still be Kyle Anderon+ on defense though, and no one looks more unathletic than SloMo lol.

- his transition game is a mixed bag. When he makes the decision to go to the basket, he will get a bucket. But he hasn’t processed the game fast enough to do anything else in transition besides score. I think he’s still too focused on not losing the ball and not seeing anyone else. His transition game usually will lead to a made basket, strip, or turnover. The majority of his to’s probably come in transition.

Overall, the progress is encouraging, especially considering no one really has real expectations for him.
 
Whyachi said:
reporters keep asking Shaedon tough questions. Keep it simple, just let him play basketball.


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I just watched this and when he finished the thing up with "play basketball" after saying it like five other times I thought it was pretty funny and at the same time he's right. Guys at this level are so good they just need to play within the offense and defense that their coach is running and play the fucking game. I love Shae's interviews, I don't know if they're his favorite thing but I love them.
 
blazerkor said:
@THE HCP is this your handiwork?
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The melt was probably pulled by him, and probably edited together by someone on their social team. most of his editing comes from the truck during the broadcast unless his job has switched up in recent years. anything on any kinda social media site is edited by the social team, if it doesnt look like broadcast footage then its probably tristan (GHS Alum) filming the team during the practice or during the game.
 
cdub503 said:
The melt was probably pulled by him, and probably edited together by someone on their social team. most of his editing comes from the truck during the broadcast unless his job has switched up in recent years. anything on any kinda social media site is edited by the social team, if it doesnt look like broadcast footage then its probably tristan (GHS Alum) filming the team during the practice or during the game.
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Thanks!
 
cdub503 said:
The melt was probably pulled by him, and probably edited together by someone on their social team. most of his editing comes from the truck during the broadcast unless his job has switched up in recent years. anything on any kinda social media site is edited by the social team, if it doesnt look like broadcast footage then its probably tristan (GHS Alum) filming the team during the practice or during the game.
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The melt?
 
blazerfan11 said:
From reddit:
"Melts are a very common term in broadcast. If you work with sports you've received one. It's key plays from every angle put into a playlist plus some broll."
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what he said... VNR is also another term thrown around which is also where it could have came from. Same idea slightly different purpose. Suppose they could be used in the same sentence as a VNR Melt...? cant really remember tbh @Hoopguru
 
cdub503 said:
The melt was probably pulled by him, and probably edited together by someone on their social team. most of his editing comes from the truck during the broadcast unless his job has switched up in recent years. anything on any kinda social media site is edited by the social team, if it doesnt look like broadcast footage then its probably tristan (GHS Alum) filming the team during the practice or during the game.
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#FACTS
 
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