Isaiah Rider

At 53 years old, Isaiah Rider has this physical status:

Isaiah Rider Jr. (born March 12, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player. Rider was born in Oakland, California, and he was raised in Alameda, California.

He played both baseball and basketball at Encinal High School before embarking on to a college education with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and a National Basketball Association career.

Source

Early life and college career

The 6'5" (1.96 m) Rider played for Encinal High School in Alameda, California, just south of Oakland) and was one of the state's top rated players. Rider attended two junior colleges, Allen County Community College in Iola, Kansas, where he averaged just over 30 points per game; and Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California (33 points per game), before finding a home at UNLV.

Rider led the Runnin' Rebels to a 26-2 record (18-0 in conference) and a number 7 ranking in the final Associated Press regular season poll, but was unable to see it on national television because UNLV was serving an NCAA-imposed suspension stemming from previous infractions. UNLV was allowed to defend its NCAA crown the previous year, but Duke lost in the Final Four to Duke in a "plea bargain." (In exchange, the Rebels were forbidden from participating in postseason play and national television for the 1991–92 season.) He finally got the nation's attention in his senior year, where he averaged 29.1 points per game (2nd in the country behind University of Texas-Pan American's Greg Guy), was named the Big West Conference Player of the Year and earned 2nd-American honors. UNLV lost the Big West Conference title to New Mexico State in the regular season and failed to qualify for the NCAA's 64-team Tournament field. The Rebels did earn a spot in the National Invitation Tournament, but Rider was suspended for the NIT due to academic concerns surrounding allegations that he had someone bribeing for him on some of his college classwork. The Runnin' Rebels were disqualified from the NIT in the 1st round 90-73 to Southern California due to a star player on the bench.

Professional career

The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Rider with the 5th overall pick of the 1993 NBA draft. Rider started his NBA career strongly, spending the 1993–94 season as a member of the NBA's All-Rookie First Team. He won the 1994 NBA Slam Dunk Contest (he brashly predicted that he would win on draft day) with a dunk that he described as "The East Bay Funk Dunk."

In a match against the Sacramento Kings on December 22, 1994, the Rider became known for a miraculous shot made. Rider came out and threw the ball over his shoulder to keep it in play, and the ball went through the hoop as a three-point basket, with one announcer describing it as the "Play of the decade" in the game.

Although Rider averaged 19 points per game over his three years with the Timberwolves, his play has diminished after his rookie season. He began a pattern of off-court misdeeds. He was found to be insubordinate to Timberwolves' leadership and was involved in an incident in which he kicked the female boss of a sports bar, for which he later was found guilty of fifth-degree assault. Minnesota's first-round draft pick in 1997 or 1998 had lost patience with Rider, who was eventually sent to Portland. Even before the trade Rider was arrested for marijuana possession, he was detained for use of marijuana. He had an unlawful cell phone at the time of his detention, but it had been modified to charge calls to someone else's bill at the time of his deposition. He was later found guilty of misdemeanor marijuana use and pleaded no contest to being in possession of an unlawful cell phone. He had been jailed in Oakland three weeks earlier for playing in public.

Rider led the Blazers in scoring (19.7 points per game, 15th in the NBA) and three-pointers attempted (135, 8th) and attempted (420). Against the Toronto Raptors on February 1, 1998, Rider tallied a season-high 38 points (15-25 FG), as well as 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Rider averaged 13.9 points per game and led the team in scoring 13 times during the 1998–99 season.

Rider was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a trade that brought Steve Smith to the Blazers following the 1998–99 season. Rider was the last piece of the puzzle in the Eastern Conference during the lockout season. So they sent Smith and Jim Jackson, another talent who hadn't quite reached his potential. Since Smith had been one of the team's most popular players, the switch didn't go well with Hawks fans. Coach Lenny Wilkens didn't want the trade either, but they did try to integrate Rider into the scheme.

Riders were pacing the Hawks in scoring on the court, pacing them in scoring. However, his off-court activities in Atlanta erupted. The league demanded that he attend drug therapy after learning that he had smoked marijuana in an Orlando hotel room. He refused and was fined $200,000 before he agreed to attend. He was banned by the Hawks many times and fined a total of $200,000 by the team. Even after Wilkens benched him in March with the Hawks long out of contention, Rider continued to be late for games and practices, prompting the Hawks to threaten a three-game suspension for another occurrence. He appeared late for a March game in Detroit, and rather than serve a three-game suspension, he requested his outright release. The Hawks followed orders.

During the 2000-2001 season, Rider appeared in 67 games for the Lakers, leading their bench in scoring with a 7.6 average. In March 2001, he was suspended for five games for failing to comply with the NBA's anti-drug policy. Despite being left off the playoff roster in favour of Tyronen Lue, Rider was given a championship ring by the franchise. Rider stated that he wanted to return to the Lakers after the season.

The Denver Nuggets signed Rider to help them revive their moribund offense prior to the 2001–02 season, but Rider was restricted to just 10 games before he was cut on November 20, 2001. At the time, the rider refused to call it "retirement," but he maintained that if given the opportunity, he'd still play.

Riders had 563 NBA games (424 starts) and a total of 31:42 minutes per game. In his 9-year NBA career, the rider has scored 9,405 points.

Source