Te Rangi’s long road to redemption
Playing the best basketball of his career, Reuben Te Rangi knows how close he came to losing everything.
The 24-year-old swingman will be a key figure for the Tall Blacks against Arab nation Jordan in their Fiba World Cup Asian zone qualifier in Christchurch tonight.
Te Rangi arrives in sparkling form, having scored in double digits in 10 straight games for the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL).
In his seventh ANBL season and third with the Bullets, Te Rangi is the league’s 17th leading scorer with a career-best 13.9 points per game.
Te Rangi’s hoop dreams hit rock bottom in 2014 when he was charged with serious assault, sentenced to 160 hours of community service, and six months supervision for his part in a brawl in a New Plymouth night club following an NBL game for the Southland Sharks. Tall Blacks team-mate Shea Ili and former New Zealand international Leon Henry were also involved in the unsavoury incident.
Four years on, Te Rangi has turned his life around.
It could have easily been the end of his pro ambitions, but he has worked tirelessly behind the scenes and developed as a person and basketballer.
‘‘Experiences like that make you grow up a little bit faster than expected. Coming out on the other side, I’m proud of where I am and happy to be playing some good basketball and doing the job I love,’’ Te Rangi told Stuff.
Te Rangi is remorseful for his behaviour and had to earn back the trust of his coaches, teammates, and the basketball community. He has paid them back in the best possible way and is a vital member of the Tall Blacks squad, filling in as captain last year for the Asia Cup in Lebanon.
‘‘For me, I’ve just seen the big picture. It doesn’t just affect you, it affects everyone else. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned, seeing the bigger picture of every situation you’re in.
‘‘You’ve got to take a step back and see what you had and it was definitely a scary time.’’
The Tall Blacks, who sit top of their qualifying group with a 7-1 record, would book their World Cup ticket with two games to play, if they can beat Jordan and Syria on Sunday in Wellington.
Jordan have a 5-3 record and present a stern challenge, despite their demanding travel schedule to New Zealand, touching down in Christchurch on Monday.