CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Hornets will welcome a home crowd Friday night for their Uptown Opener.
The Hornets will be without a few key star players, including Body White and Kon Knueppel, all listed as out.
The Hive is still in good hands with their new forward Naz Reid. If the season opener was a preview of what fans should expect, Reid will fit in nicely.
Reid told Channel 9’s DaShawn Brown he’s ready for the challenge.
“I just never quit,” Reid said, “When things do get tough, I’m not backing down, I’m not shying away, I’m kind of like going into the fire.”
Reid comes to Charlotte after spending his entire NBA career in Minnesota. Once undrafted, the New Jersey native eventually earned the NBA’s 6th Man of the Year.
Reid says the grind hasn’t stopped.
“It just changed my mind completely,” Reid says, “from high school, kind of just like God-given talent, you know, kind of was able to be higher in the ranks doing all the All-Star games and so forth and so on. To where I went to college, it wasn’t the best year, but I felt as though, I mean, I kind of wanted to make that transition to the NBA.”
When asked what his gritty mindset means and where it comes from, Reid says it’s a “household thing.”
“The little things are the big things to me, diving on the floor, contact, getting the ball at the highest level,” Reid says, “All that is like gritty grit.”
When asked about what excites him the most about starting in Charlotte, Reid called it a “different opportunity.”
“Also, in my eighth year, I kind of know how it is to be in a play-offs,” Reid said, “I know what it feels like to win a game. I know how to adjust.”
The Charlotte Hornets home opener is at 7 p.m. against the Atlanta Hawks on Channel 9. You can catch the pregame coverage on TV-64 at 6:30 p.m.
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