※ This article was written in mid-to-late December 2022, and was published in the January 2023 issue of the Basket Korea webzine

. Considering the days when there was not much information about foreign players, it was even more so. At that time, there was a person who walked all over the professional stage. He was Reginald Townsend, who boasted the best fan service.

While in college,
Townsend went on to Saint Joseph University. The St. Joseph Hawks are a team in the NCAA A-10 (Atlantic 10) Conference. He has also produced NBA players. Jameer Nelson, who played mostly for the Orlando Magic from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s, is a prime example. When Dwight Howard led Orlando, Nelson was the starting point guard, and his number 14 was permanently retired from St. Joseph University.

Townsend struggled a bit in his first year of college. Because he couldn’t play much of the time. As a freshman, he started in 22 games in the 1992–1993 season, but averaged only 4.8 minutes per game. It was natural that he couldn’t play an active part. All he did was put up 1.4 points per game. Since he didn’t stand out in high school, there were limits to taking on many roles from his freshman year.

However, from the following year he gradually secured his place. In the 1993-1994 season, he played 28 games, 18 of them as a starter, taking chances. Due to the injury of Bernard Blunt, who also played professional basketball, an opportunity came to Townsend. 

Townsend played 23.4 minutes per game. Compared to the previous season, the playing time has increased significantly. He played a role under the goal with an average of 7.6 points (2-point shot success rate: 52.8%, 3-point shot success rate: 100%, free throw success rate: 63.9%) and 3.4 rebounds. It didn’t stand out, but it showed potential.

Since he was in the 3rd grade, he has been a major power player. In the 1994-1995 season, he started as a starter in all 29 games, and scored 14.7 points (2-point shot success rate: 58.1%, 3-point shot success rate: 0%, free throw success rate: 69.0%), 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists in an average of 30.9 minutes. He averaged the most points on the team and had the second highest rebound average on the team.

However, St. Joseph only recorded 9 wins and 7 losses in the regular season. They finished the season tied for fourth in the conference. They passed the first gate of the conference tournament, but lost in the semifinals to the Massachusetts Minutemen, who almost dominated the conference. Failed to advance to the finals.

The 1995-1996 season, Townsend’s senior year. St. Joseph’s is 9-7, 3rd in the conference division. However, it failed to cross the second hurdle of the conference tournament. He passed the round of 16, but knelt down in the quarterfinals.

At this time, Townsend played in all 32 games as a starter and played an average of 34.6 minutes, posting 14.8 points (2-point shooting success rate: 51.2%, 3-point shooting success rate: 100%, free throw success rate: 76.1%), 6.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists. His scoring average was the highest on the team, and his rebounding numbers also increased. His rebounding average was eighth in the conference. However, it was not easy for Townsend to continue playing in the United States, as St. Joseph did not play in the tournament.

Townsend, who finished college in Cheongju,
came to Korea through the 1997 KBL foreign player draft. He was called up by Cheongju SK (now Seoul SK) in the 6th place in the first round.

SK was a new club. As the power of native players did not stand out, Townsend was a big part of the team. He started as a starter in every game, playing over 39 minutes per game. He stood out averaging 27.4 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

There were many days when Townsend and Townsend’s partner, Dwight Maibet, combined for two-thirds of the team’s goals. However, despite the performances of Townsend and Mybet, SK could hardly laugh. As I mentioned earlier, it was because there was no clear domestic power. At least Son Gyu-wan (current coach of Carrot, Goyang) and Yun Je-han worked hard, but they showed many ups and downs because they were rookies. Above all, there was no big man. So, on days when Townsend’s fouls accumulated, SK struggled even more. Because of that, Townsend became the main target of the opposing club.

Nonetheless, Townsend had a very successful season at SK. Many foreign players had a hard time adapting to Korean basketball and Korean culture, but Townsend was a passing score in every way. However, SK recruited Seo Jang-hoon during the offseason the following year. While embracing Seo Jang-hoon, who was the biggest rookie, SK preferred a player who could be with Seo Jang-hoon. Despite Townsend’s outstanding individual performance, he was the reason he was not with SK. 

Townsend, who was unable to sign a new contract with SK in Wonju, offered a business card to the draft of a foreign player the following year. However, no team called Townsend. Although he was highly regarded as a substitute candidate, Townsend seldom made a connection with the Korean stage.

He was also not selected in the 1999 foreign player draft. At this rate, it didn’t seem easy for him to play for KBL. However, when Brian Reese of Wonju Sambo (now Wonju DB) was released, Townsend got his chance.

Unlike SK, Sambo was a team with solid local power. Led by Heo Jae (currently president of Carrot), Shin Ki-seong (currently a commentator at SPOTV) and Yang Kyung-min were lined up. With Townsend coming in here, Sambo started to gain strength with offensive basketball.

Townsend melted well into Sambo, centered on Heo Jae. As the burden was reduced compared to his time in SK, he played more leisurely. His chemistry with his existing players stood out. Also, he helped call Wonju fans to the stadium with his extraordinary fan service.

Townsend also threw 3-pointers intermittently. Even in his college years, he was fairly weak on three-pointers and free throws, but in the 1999–2000 season, he tried several positions on offense. He began to diversify his scoring routes. He didn’t make many 3-point attempts, but he did occasionally throw 3-pointers when he got a chance from the perimeter. Going in and out made Townsend a tricky player to block. Sambo also gained strength with Townsend’s easy settlement.

However, the limitations were also clear. Townsend hasn’t managed his weight well since his days at SK.

Because of this, the offensive and defensive switching was significantly slower than other foreign players . He mainly played as a forward in the US, but in the KBL he had to defend the opposing big man as a center. Of course, he is from a forward, so he may have an advantage in horizontal defense, but because of his overly bloated body, horizontal movement was also limited. Rather, the opposing big man shook Townsend several times.

In particular, Sambo could not show its strong side against Daejeon Hyundai (now Jeonju KCC) and SK at the time. This is because Hyundai has solidly built up an inside force centered on Johnny McDowell and Lorenzo Hall, and SK has added the best defender in the league, Roderick Hannibal, to the mighty twin towers of Seo Jang-hoon and Jackie Jones.

On the other hand, Sambo’s big man team was weak. There were no big men other than Townsend. The foreign player he played with was Jaren Cobb, a forward, and there were almost no native big men to support Townsend and Cobb. Jeong Kyung-ho (currently the head coach of Goyang Carrot) took his place, but Jung Kyung-ho could not make a big profit because of the slow speed of switching between offense and defense. It was difficult to put Jeong Kyung-ho on the sambo bench because he was weak even in physical fights with foreign opponents.

Moreover, Townsend missed 11 games due to injury. Despite this, Sambo consistently maintained a top-three finish. Despite Townsend’s hiatus, Sambo’s ability to stay at the top of the league was outstanding. However, in the end, Townsend’s injury gap showed limitations. In the 1999-2000 season, the regular league finished in 4th place.

Sambo, who was in 4th place, met Anyang SBS (now Anyang KGC Ginseng Corporation) in the 6th place playoff. However, Sambo, where Townsend was active, showed less than expected performance at the first gate of the playoffs. Because Townsend’s performance was not perfect after the injury.

Given his weight-management problems, not being able to play while recovering from his injury was a problem for Townsend. Townsend struggled against SBS’s Daryl Prue, and Sambo, a domestic big man, was weak against SBS’s Yoon Young-pil. Sambo lost to SBS with 1 win and 3 losses. Failed to advance to the quarterfinal playoffs. 온라인카지노

In Daejeon,
Townsend did not re-sign with his team after the 1999–2000 season. Because his performance wasn’t good after his injury. However, he took a chance as a substitute foreign player. However, since he entered KBL at the end of the season, he could not play many games.

The team that called Townsend was Hyundai. Hyundai, which advanced to the championship match for three consecutive years, made changes in the 2000-2001 season. McDowell-Lee Sang-min (former Seoul Samsung manager)-Chu Seung-kyun (current SPOTV commentator) were still the center, but Damon Flint added a new addition. Flint, who was a swingman in college, started out as a power forward in Hyundai, and showed mobility and a wide range of offense and defense. However, the inferiority coming from the height was great. Because of this, Hyundai could not use much force in the regular league. As a result, Hyundai finished the regular season in 6th place.

Hyundai barely made it to the playoffs. The team we met in the playoffs in the 6th round was SK, which we faced in the 1999-2000 championship match. SK did not have full strength due to Seo Jang-hoon’s injury, but finished the regular season in 3rd place with Jones-Hanibal-Cho Sang-hyun (Current Changwon LG coach) at the forefront.

It was expected that Hyundai would not be easy. Plus, Flint missed the playoffs with an injury. Hyundai had no choice but to search for a replacement player. Hyundai’s choice was Townsend. Townsend, however, was not the body of the previous season. It looked like he had gained a lot more weight. It wasn’t easy for him to play the game properly. The speed of switching between offense and defense was slow, and facing the best center in the league called Seo Jang-hoon throughout the series acted as an Achilles heel.

Townsend has consistently performed below expectations. McDowell and Chu Seung-gyun fought hard, but Hyundai was unable to exert their strength. In the playoffs, he raised the white flag against SK for the second year in a row. After the playoffs in modern times, Townsend was no longer seen in professional basketball.