Isaiah “don’t call me JR” Rider was awesome!  There, I said it.  In 1994 Isaiah Rider became the second Timberpup to ever represent the franchise during All Star Weekend, with Doug West being the first when he participated in the 1992 dunk competition.  As many of you probably know, Rider won the competition in his rookie season with his “East Bay Funk Dunk”.  The reaction from the players and the crowd was priceless.  Not to mention Rider’s own pose after he flushed it down.  “Epic” may not be too strong of a word here if you are/were a Wolves fan.

I’m not trying to make a player comparison by ANY stretch of the imagination, but you could argue that Rider’s rookie year was actually the year the Twolves finally started to turn the corner in the league.  Rider and next year’s draft pick, Donyell Marshall, were supposed to bring this team to the playoffs.  That clearly never happened, but thankfully, KG wasn’t too far behind.

I digress.  This is/was one of my favorite moments in team history.  Unfortunately, in the following year’s dunk competition, Rider lost his crown to Harold Miner, i.e. Baby Jordan.  That never panned out either, huh?  It’s always fun to watch these positive moments in franchise history.

Let’s go Wolves!