American basketball player and coach
Rex Andrew Walters Sr.
(born March 12, 1970) is an American professional
basketball
coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the
Charlotte Hornets
of the
National Basketball Association
(NBA).
[1]
[2]
Previously, he was the associate head coach
[3]
at
Wake Forest University
under
Danny Manning
. Prior to Wake Forest, he spent time at Nevada
[4]
under
Eric Musselman
. He has made head coaching stops with the Grand Rapids Drive
[5]
(NBA G-League), the
University of San Francisco
and
Florida Atlantic University
.
Walters pedigree for coaching began as a player, receiving tutelage from some of the game legendary coaches.
[6]
Roy Williams
at the
University of Kansas
and the NBA's
Chuck Daly
,
Larry Brown
and
Pat Riley
all mentored Walters during his years as a player. Walters played college basketball at
Northwestern
and
Kansas
. In 1993, he received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from the
University of Kansas
. After Kansas, he played professionally for ten years, including seven seasons in the NBA from 1993 to 2000. Walters has been active on Apple Podcasts hosting his own show
Real Talk Basketball with Rex Walters
.
[7]
Biography
[
edit
]
Born in
Omaha, Nebraska
on March 12, 1970, Walters played high school basketball at
Piedmont Hills High School
in
San Jose, California
, but graduated from
Independence High School
in
San Jose, California
.
[8]
Walters is
biracial
; his mother is Japanese and his father is
white
.
[9]
In an interview with Rick Quan, Rex Walters responded to the question of feeling that he was a pioneer for
Asian Americans
. He responded: "I consider myself
Japanese-American
. I just don't look it. People are always surprised. Now we got a guy like
Jeremy Lin
breaking barriers, I'd like to think I played a small part in that". He later added, "People ask me who I am? What I am? I am a Japanese-American, I take great pride in that."
[10]
Walters is known as a hard working, selfless person with a great passion to motivate and lead others. Walters daughter, Addison Walters is currently with the Minnesota Timberwolves staff serving as a Video Associate.
[11]
Playing career (College)
[
edit
]
(1988-1990) Walters played at
Northwestern University
(1988-1990) and was All Big 10 honorable mention leading the team in scoring (17.6PPG, 3FG% - 47.3%, FT% - 79.4%, 125 assists).
[12]
(1990-1993) In 1990, he transferred to Kansas, playing two seasons. In 68 starts under
Roy Williams
, he averaged 15.6 points per game, leading the Jayhawks in scoring during both his junior and senior campaigns. KU combined to go 56-12 overall in 1991-92 and 1992?93, winning back-to-back Big Eight titles and reaching the
1993 Final Four
. Walters was named to the All-Big Eight team both seasons and was Big Eight Male Athlete of the Year as a senior in 1993. As a junior, Walters averaged 16.0 points per game as the Jayhawks went 27?5. In his senior season, KU had a record of 29?7, with Walters scoring at a clip of 15.3 points per game.
Walters was an outstanding scorer from all areas of the court at Kansas, shooting nearly 51% from the field, 42% from three-point range and 85% at the free throw line. His college career originally began at Northwestern University, where he earned honorable mention from the Big 10 in 1989-90 after leading the team in scoring (17.6 ppg), three-point shooting (47.3%), free throw shooting (79.4%) and assists (125) as a sophomore. The 6'4" (1.93 m)
shooting guard
was selected by the
National Basketball Association
's
New Jersey Nets
with the 16th pick in the
1993 NBA draft
.
Playing career (Professional)
[
edit
]
Walters’ professional playing career spanned 10 seasons, including seven seasons in the NBA with the
New Jersey Nets
(1993?95),
Philadelphia 76ers
(1995-98) and
Miami Heat
(1998-2000). He also had stints with
Baloncesto Leon
(2000), the
Kansas City Knights
(2000?01; 2002?03) and
CB Gran Canaria
(2001-02).
The New Jersey Nets selected Walters with the 16th overall pick in the
1993 NBA draft
. As a rookie, Walters led the team in field goal percentage (.522) and hit 14 of 28 three-point attempts. His role expanded in 1994-95 and his statistics improved in nearly every category.
In 1995?96, Walters was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers and started the last eight games of the season. He played in 59 games for Philadelphia in 1996?97, making 16 starts behind
Allen Iverson
and
Jerry Stackhouse
. He led the team in three-point shooting with a .384 mark while averaging 6.8 points a game. He played in 38 games in 1997?98, splitting the season between Philadelphia and Miami, which signed him after he was waived by the Sixers in January of ’98. He appeared in 33 games (13 starts) for the Heat in 1998-99 and averaged 3.1 points a game.
[6]
After leaving the NBA, Walters played for
Leon
and
Gran Canaria
in Spain.
[13]
In addition to his playing career, Walters had a minor role in the 1994 film
Blue Chips
starring
Nick Nolte
and
Shaquille O'Neal
.
Coaching career
[
edit
]
(2002-2003)
Blue Valley NW High School
, Assistant Coach, qualifying for the Kansas Class 6A State Tournament.
(2003-2005)
Valparaiso University
, Assistant Coach accomplishing much with head coach
Homer Drew
. The Crusaders were the
Mid Continent Conference
Regular Season and Tournament Champions (2004) advancing to the
2004 NCAA tournament
. Walters was ranked the 20th best assistant basketball coach in the country at the mid-major level by
The Hoop Scoop online
in 2005.
[14]
[15]
(2006-2008)
Florida Atlantic University
, Head Coach.
[6]
[16]
(2008-2016) The University of San Francisco, Head Coach. April 15, 2008 Walters was hired
[17]
to replace
Eddie Sutton
who was hired to replace
Jesse Evans
.
[18]
(2016-2017) On June 29, 2016, Walters was named the head coach of the
Grand Rapids Drive
.
[19]
Two players were called up to the Detroit Pistons during his time,
Jordan Crawford
and
Ray McCallum
.
(2017-2018) On July 1, 2017, Walters was named an assistant coach for the
Detroit Pistons
.
[20]
Working for
Stan Van Gundy
the
Detroit Pistons
had a defensive rating of 10th in the NBA.
[21]
(2018-2019) Walters was hired by
Eric Musselman
as Special Assistant to the head coach at
Nevada
. The Wolf Pack were pre-season #5 in the nation,
Mountain West Conference
Champions and a 7 seed in the
2018 NCAA tournament
.
(2019-2020) Walters joined the Wake Forest basketball program in May 2019 as an Associate Head Coach under
Danny Manning
.
[3]
(2020-2021) On November 16, 2020, Walters was hired as assistant coach by the
New Orleans Pelicans
.
[22]
(2022-Current) On August 2, 2022, Walters was hired as an assistant coach by the
Charlotte Hornets
.
[23]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Regular season
[
edit
]
Playoffs
[
edit
]
Head coaching record
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Pistons announce Grand Rapids Drive's new head coach, D-League team's GM"
. June 29, 2016.
- ^
"Pistons tab a 'basketball junkie' in Rex Walters to coach D-League affiliate Drive"
.
- ^
a
b
"Rex Walters - Men's Basketball Coach"
.
Wake Forest University Athletics
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Rex Walters - Men's Basketball Coach"
.
University of Nevada Athletics
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
Packey (June 30, 2016).
"Pistons hire Rex Walters as new coach of Grand Rapids Drive"
.
Detroit Bad Boys
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Rex Walters - Men's Basketball Coach"
.
Florida Atlantic University Athletics
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Real Talk Basketball With Rex Walters on Apple Podcasts"
.
Apple Podcasts
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Rex Walters"
.
Basketball-Reference.com
. Retrieved
March 26,
2011
.
- ^
Hua, Vanessa (April 10, 2006).
"Asian American basketball leagues boost game skills and ethnic pride"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. p. A1.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"Rex Walters"
.
YouTube
.
- ^
"Minnesota Timberwolves Announce Coaching Staff Additions"
.
Minnesota Timberwolves
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"1988-89 Northwestern Wildcats Roster and Stats"
.
College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Walters Added to Doherty's Staff: Former Kansas and NBA player joins men's basketball staff"
. CSTV Networks, Inc. April 20, 2005. Archived from
the original
on April 26, 2005
. Retrieved
April 21,
2008
.
- ^
TN, Streamline Technologies | Nashville.
"Former Valpo Assistant Named Head Coach at FAU"
.
www.valpoathletics.com
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Valparaiso Beacons men's basketball"
,
Wikipedia
, August 14, 2021
, retrieved
November 23,
2021
- ^
"Rex Walters - Men's Basketball Coach"
.
University of San Francisco Athletics
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
Chu, Bryan (April 14, 2008).
"USF Hires Rex Walters"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. Retrieved
April 14,
2008
.
- ^
"Purdy: The confusing union of Eddie Sutton and USF"
.
The Mercury News
. February 26, 2008
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Grand Rapids Drive gets new head coach, GM"
. June 29, 2016.
- ^
"Pistons hire Rex Walters as assistant coach"
.
- ^
"2017-18 Detroit Pistons Roster and Stats"
.
Basketball-Reference.com
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
.
- ^
"Pelicans announce 2020-21 coaching staff"
.
NBA.com
. November 16, 2020
. Retrieved
November 17,
2020
.
- ^
"Charlotte Hornets Finalize Coaching Staff"
.
www.nba.com
. Retrieved
March 23,
2023
.
External links
[
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]
Links to related articles
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# denotes interim head coach
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