When Jerry Tarkanian looked at his UNLV roster for the 1975-76 season, he saw a need for change.

Reggie Theus was the newest addition, a sharpshooting talent out of Inglewood High School who could score in too many ways to sit on the bench. So Tarkanian, then just three years into a historic 20-year stay as coach, decided to pick up the pace. The Runnin' Rebels finally would start to live up to their name.

"The best way to (get Theus playing time) was I had to get the tempo up, so we went to full court, and I loved it so much, we stayed with it for a while," Tarkanian said. "Reggie guarded the ball well for us. He ran well. When you feel like you're going to be undermanned, you've got to look for every way that you can win a game."

More than three decades later, Theus is trying to do the same. The Kings, whose roster is long on youth and athleticism and short on star power, want to run. Scratch that; they need to run. And Tarkanian, whose style became the hallmark of his storied run, said Theus is more than capable of teaching them how.

"Reggie understands that (up-tempo) game very well," Tarkanian said. "Sacramento isn't going to beat people one-on-one. They have to beat them collectively as a team."

The irony is that becoming a running team is much more a marathon than a sprint. The process requires a team's dedication to its new method and a commitment to pushing the gas pedal every time down the floor. Not to mention the right personnel.

For the Kings, it can hide their deficiencies and showcase their strengths. The lack of a dominant post player doesn't lend itself to the sort of halfcourt offense most of the NBA employs, nor does that style make the most of guards who can beat their opponents down the floor and convert the perimeter looks that often come out of the break. Add a point guard stable that is ready and willing to play their fast-paced part and frontcourt players known for their shooting and passing skills, and you begin to see why Theus and Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie figured the time was right for run-and-gun.

While playing up-tempo doesn't mean layups on the break every time, it often leads into secondary scoring options or transition into a motion offense dubbed "strong" that, if executed properly, is the antithesis of the Kings' low-assist, high-turnover, one-on-one approach of 2007-08. If the plan works, the conceptual shift also could aid the Kings defensively, fewer turnovers meaning fewer possessions to defend.

Theus' background could pay off

From a teaching standpoint, Theus may have the perfect storm of experience from which to draw. Under Tarkanian in 1976 and 1977, Theus and the Rebels broke NCAA scoring records while averaging 107 and 106 points per game, respectively. And that was before the three-point shot or a shot clock to ensure opponents didn't hide the ball on the other end just to slow the pace. As Theus noted, minimal media and lack of television coverage meant the era came and went without much fanfare but was ahead of its time in every way.

He played under another renowned runner, Paul Westhead, although their season together came before Westhead earned the reputation as the godfather of the run-and-gun by taking small-school Loyola Marymount to the big time from 1985 to 1990. After winning a championship as the Los Angeles Lakers' coach in 1980, Westhead joined Theus in Chicago in 1982.

Theus averaged a career-high 23.8 points in his fifth season, the Bulls averaged 111, and the end result wasn't nearly as impressive as the high-scoring numbers. A 28-54 record led to Westhead's firing and, eventually, brought him to the Southern California school.

Westhead, a coaching nomad of 30-plus years who is now an assistant with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, agreed with Tarkanian that Theus understands the style well enough to teach it.

"That is a key component for success," Westhead said. "But ultimately, it comes down to the commitment from the players to want to run."

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