I had a summit at an East Village bar last night with two members of the SportsAngle brain trust – Frank Pepe of Trumbull Island and Mr. Han, the self-appointed U.S. ambassador to Iceland – and our conversation of course veered toward the Summer of LeBron.
John Starks
NBA, I beg of you: Bring back the J.R. Rider era
I saw this recently – and I implore all NBA teams, someone sign J.R. Rider!
Remember the 1994 Dunk Contest, back when that was cool? You damn right I do. We had a very young Allan Houston doing his thing, Reign Man before he gained like 150 pounds, and the great Robert Pack. Don’t forget my man Pat Ewing in the front row in a sweet purple shirt.
And of course, J.R. Rider with the East Bay Funk Dunk. Often imitated. NEVER, EVER duplicated.
I was more a Penny Hardaway and Warriors-era Chris Webber guy myself, but J.R. Rider’s dunk epitomized 90’s-era basketball – along with White Men Can’t Jump, Lil’ Penny, Jordan, and The Dunk by Starks.
I don’t care what shape he’s in, I don’t care what he looks like, we need J.R. Rider back in the league for fun’s sake. Hell, we need him back in the dunk contest.
While we’re at it, move over LeBron, let’s track down Dee Brown, Ced Caballos and Harold Miner (word to Chris for the reminder about Baby Jordan) and make this a real party.
Ain’t nothing wrong with a little nostalgia.