Ex-Wolf J.R. Rider back in pro basketball

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: October 27, 2009 - 10:28 AM

It's official -- onetime Minnesota Timberwolves bad boy J.R. Rider is back in professional basketball.

Rider, 38, has joined the North Texas Fresh in the reconstituted American Basketball Association (ABA), the team has announced.

"I am personally glad to have him," said Jay Bowdy, owner and CEO of the Fort Worth-based team. "It is a blessing to have someone whose talent I admired so much growing up."

Rider hasn't played organized ball since a 10-game pit stop with the Denver Nuggets in 2001-02. Leading up to this attempt at reviving his career, the shooting guard was working out in recent months and playing pickup ball with local college guys in suburban Phoenix, where Rider now makes his home, said Rider's agent.

"I'm not worried about what others have to say," Rider said in a statement released through the team, which will play its home games in a high school gym with a seating capacity of about 3,000. "I'm excited about being in the North Texas area and a part of the North Texas Fresh organization. I am ready to come out and play ball." Rider had a string of arrests both during and after his career for drug use, assault and other crimes. He also racked up large fines and suspensions during his playing days for offenses that ranged from being tardy to practice to spitting at fans.

Bowdy said Rider still dreams of returning to the NBA. "If we're a steppingstone, we're fine with that," Bowdy said.

Rider's agent, Joe Lee, said last month that his client would love to return to the Timberwolves.

The Fresh is making its debut in the ABA, a minor league that harkens back to the original ABA that made its mark in the 1960s and '70s with a red-white-and-blue basketball and a high-flying style. The current ABA has dozens of franchises across the country. The Fresh opens its season late next month.

Rider was drafted out of UNLV in 1993 as the No. 5 overall pick by the Timberwolves and played three seasons in Minnesota. While he was an offensive force with the Wolves (season averages of 16.6, 20.4 and 19.6 points per game), management grew tired of his off-the-court troubles and traded him to Portland.

He later played for Atlanta and the Los Angeles Lakers before his NBA career flamed out.

One of his brightest NBA moments didn't even come in a game. In 1994, he won the league's slam-dunk championship during All-Star Weekend in Minneapolis, clinching the victory with his "East Bay Funk Day." His in-the-air, between-the-legs move prompted NBA legend Charles Barkley to say, "It might be the best dunk I've ever seen."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

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