Rest In Peace

http://celticswire.com/2017/10/20/former-boston-celtics-player-justin-reed-passes-away-at-35-from-cancer/



[size=55]Former Boston Celtics player Justin Reed passes away at 35 from cancer[/size]




By: Jared Weiss | October 20, 2017 11:20 am





Former Boston Celtics player Justin Reed passed away Friday morning at the age of 35. Reed was battling Angiosarcoma, a dangerous form of cancer that attacks the inner lining of blood vessels which was located around his spine.


Reed was a swingman drafted in the second round by the Celtics in 2004, who had a strong summer league performance and ended up playing 23 games in his rookie season. In January 2006, Reed was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Wally Szczerbiak trade, where he started six games and averaged 17.7 minutes per game. That was the most successful season of his career, playing in 72 games and averaging 6.3 points in his 40 games with the Wolves.


His value as a rotation reserve earned him a three year, $4.3 million deal with the Wolves that offseason. He played 41 games the following year, starting three times, but eventually fell out of the rotation. That offseason, Reed was traded to the Houston Rockets along with former Celtic Mike James for Juwan Howard and was subsequently released, never playing in the NBA again.


Reed was an effective defender who was able to carve out a role in Boston and Minnesota with his defensive versatility and potency. He was the consummate deep bench three and D player, serving as a specialist in Boston and getting more playing time on a Minnesota team that needed his services. Out of respect for Reed’s Celtics lineage, Celtics legend Bill Russell offered his condolences on twitter.

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[ltr]Sadden to hear of the passing of fellow @celtics #Justin Reed, he was to young to leave so soon. Our thoughts &  are with his family #NBA[/ltr]




8:25 PM - Oct 20, 2017

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Before his NBA career, Reed was a star at Ole Miss and made the All-SEC team in each of his four years. His 1,785 points ranked 17th in SEC history at the end of his college career (now 25th). Reed led the conference in scoring at 18.5 points per game his senior year.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of an all-time Rebel great,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said in a statement, per The Clarion-Ledger. “J Reed epitomized the qualities of what it means to be an Ole Miss Rebel. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to all those who mourn with us.”

Reed was a high school phenom in Mississippi as part of the “Provine Posse” that won the state title in 1998. The group went to Ole Miss to play for their coach Wayne Brent, who joined the Ole Miss coaching staff.

“Justin was the toughest kid that I ever coached,” Brent said. “He played the game so hard, came to practice every day. Probably closest kid I’ve ever been to as far as player-coach (relationship). He was somebody that would call you all the time. Whatever problems he would have, we would solve them together. He was a guy that wasn’t scared to talk to a coach.

“When he came to Provine, he was like, ‘Coach, I’m coming. I’m your son. You just tell me what I need to do.’ We had one of those kind of relationships. We just hit it off from the very beginning.”

Reed’s funeral will be held in his hometown of Jackson, Missippi, where he has established a lasting legacy.



bob
MY NOTE:  35 years old.  Just goes to show, you can have no idea how long you have...




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