Rodney Rogers

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Rodney Ray Rogers (born June 20, 1971 in Durham, North Carolina) is a former NBA basketball player who last played power forward for the Philadelphia 76ers. He is the cousin of New England Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain.

Rogers played his college basketball at Wake Forest University from 1990 to 1993. He played well in his junior year, when he was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and averaged 21.2 points and 7.4 rebounds. Overall, in college, he averaged 19.3 points and 7.9 rebounds. All those achievements caused him to be drafted 9th in the 1993 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.

Rogers played two years for Denver, spending his rookie year primarily as a bench player before becoming a starter in his second year, thanks to forward LaPhonso Ellis's frequent injuries. Rogers was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers on June 28, 1995 with the draft rights to guard Brent Barry, for the draft rights to forward Antonio McDyess and guard Randy Woods. He would spend four years with the Clippers, being one of their main threats.

In 1999, it was clear that Rogers' role with the Clippers had diminished, so, he signed a contract with the Phoenix Suns on August 2, 1999. That would pay off, as he averaged 13.8 points and won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2000. Also, after toiling in futility for years with the Clippers, he had found a successful team, as the Suns won 53 games but lost in the playoffs to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. He would play with them until February 20, 2002, when he was traded to the Boston Celtics. In those years, he would become a consistent double-digit scorer off the bench.

His stay in Beantown would be short-lived, however, as the New Jersey Nets, who needed a new forward, signed Rogers as a free agent on August 14, 2002. His first year with the Nets was disappointing, as he averaged a career-low 7 points per game in an entire backup role. However, in a playoff game against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 24, 2003, Rogers would sink the game winning shot just after missing two free throws (He got the ball on a tap from teammate Kenyon Martin, who rebounded the ball over Bucks forwards Tim Thomas and Anthony Mason. George Karl would later say Martin was guilty of "man-handling" Thomas, and that it was unfair that Rogers got another shot at winning the game.) The Nets would win the series and go on to make the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. He would see more playing time the next year, mainly due to some frontcourt injuries, but his overall play had declined. He would sign with the New Orleans Hornets on August 3, 2004. He would be injured for most of the first part of the season, but would eventually become a starter for the Hornets. On February 24, 2005, Rogers was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers with injured forward Jamal Mashburn for also-injured forward Glenn Robinson. He was used as one of the Sixers' backup forwards.

Rogers has been a unique player throughout his twelve-year career. He is 6'7" and weighs 235 pounds, and has mostly played as a power forward but has generally played both forward positions effectively. Rogers has also usually been a good three-point shooter, impressive for a player of his bulk. He has mainly been used as an offensive threat off the bench; that comes while not contributing much on defense, however.

[edit] External links

• NBA.com: Rodney Rogers Bio
• NASCAR article on Rodney Rogers