Isiah Rider - Ridin' Dirty

Isaiah Rider, Jr., sometimes known as J.R. Rider (born March 12, 1971 in Oakland, California) Is a former professional basketball player.

Despite the questions surrounding his character, Rider was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 5th pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. However, he took the league by storm in his rookie year, tallying three 30-point games in December 1993, winning the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest in February 1994 with a spectacular between-the-legs jam, which he titled the "East Bay Funk Dunk" (veteran All-Star Charles Barkley called it the best dunk he had ever seen), and finishing the 1993-94 season as a member of the NBA's All-Rookie First Team.

Rider did win the 1995 ESPN ESPY Award for best NBA play, however: during a December game against the Sacramento Kings, Rider jumped to save a ball from going out of bounds, flinging it blindly towards the general vicinity of the basket... and it somehow went in, completing what T-Wolves announcer Tom Hanneman would term the "Play of the Decade".

Phil Jackson inked Rider as an experiment, as much in his own ability to keep questionable characters in line (such as, previously, Dennis Rodman) as anything else. And aside from a five-game suspension for violating the league's anti-drug program, Rider behaved relatively well, playing in 67 of the Lakers' 82 games that year and leading their bench in scoring. In L.A., Rider was rewarded with his first championship ring.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• basketball

[FreshPrinceJazzSoul]

wow it's the most lucky shot i ever seen

[VeoShock]

LOL. Yes it was. LOL.

[MrRIDER34]

"Isaiah Rider: My testimony, Raw and Uncut." Coming soon.....no stone left unturned. Follow @Isaiah_Rider for the real. One Love

[tellthetruthg]

Too bad he didn't hang out more with Kidd and Payton off the court. I think he's lucky to be alive. If you hang out in the streets and shoot dice in the hood it's just a matter of time before you'll get popped in the head because he's way to big for a kid with a gun to fight him over money. He's already been robbed once that was in the paper. I wonder why he doesn't feel comfortable with people that have made it out and continues to keep it real as the saying goes

[TheDG1973]

The guy could have been an All Star if his head were screwed on straight. He was quite a talent.

[LincMob]

More notable than you or I have ever been.

[tedster24vanilla]

kid, there was a guy in the nba called "JR" Rider. he was unstoppable. JR smith is not in even close, speaking of talent.

[ahtnap]

This is where 38-year-old Isaiah J.R. Rider now finds himself, preparing for his first season with the North Texas Fresh, one of more than 50 teams in the American Basketball Association.

[yonutz92dogg]

legend

[cdbleb3]

The Lakers did exclude Rider from the playoff roster...But it wasnt behavior related, it was because his contributions were falling towards the end of the season. They actually even invited him back for the summer league team (basically to try out for the next season) but he didnt show up.

[gerbschmitt]

2:36 pippen and jordan, owned

[NateCIements22]

yaw dumb isiah's nickname was jr